Logan County track and field
athletes shine at IESA State Tournament
[May 19, 2026]
Lincoln has a 2026 state champion in track and field and his
name is Cruze Komnick from Chester-East Lincoln.
Komnick stood on top of the podium in first place for the 200m race
this past weekend at the 2026 IESA Class 1A and 2A State Track and
Field Championships at EastSide Centre in East Peoria.
Komnick, a 7th grader at CEL, had a winning time of 25.70 in the
200m.
But hang on, Komnick is a triple threat. He won three medals at
State.
Komnick also placed second in the 100m with a time of 13.09.
And Komnick was the last leg of the 7th grade 4x100 relay team that
finished in 7th place with a time of 53.68. Bennett Wilson, Eli
Maynard and Owen Coleman joined Komnick on the track for the 4x100
relay.
The top eight finishes earn a medal and a spot on the podium at the
state meet.
A number of other Logan County athletes also won medals in the 2026
IESA Class 1A and 2A State Track and Field Championships at EastSide
Centre in East Peoria this weekend.
In addition to the athletes from Chester-East Lincoln achieving
great success, athletes from West Lincoln Broadwell, Hartsburg-Emden
and Mount Pulaski also earned their spots on the podium. Each and
every athlete worked hard to get to this point of competing on the
last weekend of the track and field season.
Chester East Lincoln
In addition to Komnick’s success at State, other Panthers also
reached the podium.
The Panthers SMR 1600m relay team earned a fourth place finish in
the 7th grade girls division. Izzy Toft, Luci Gallagher, Aubrey
Shull and Maya Leesman ran the inaugural event for junior high
athletes with a time of 4:57.22.
The Panthers 4x200 relay team consisting of the same four athletes
mentioned above finished in 7th place with a time of 2:01.97.
Gallagher, Shull and Leesman are all 7th graders while Toft is a 6th
grader.
Liam Brandt, an 8th grader, returned to State this year and he
finished in 19th place in the shot put and 21st in the discus.
The Panthers are coached by Erica Maynard and Evan Maynard, with
Kaylee Winebrinner and Heather Murphy serving as assistant coaches.
“This group showed up all season,” said Erica Maynard. “They were
ready to practice, willing to be coached and eager to support their
teammates. We as coaches can teach technique but we cannot teach
heart. Luckily, this group has it."
“As for our state champion, he may be the most humble human being I
have ever met,” added Maynard. “He is a natural athlete and deserves
all three of those medals around his neck.”
Coach Evan Maynard echoed those sentiments about Komnick.
“Cruze is one of the best athletes I’ve seen since I’ve started
coaching and to go along with that he is probably the most humble
young man I’ve ever met,” said Maynard. “He’s an extremely hard
worker inside and outside of the classroom, he’s very kind and
helpful to others around him and he is a great leader. I could not
be any more proud to call myself his coach.”
West Lincoln Broadwell
Last season the 8th grade girls team from WLB won the Class 1A State
Track and Field Championship. This season it was a 7th grader, Piper
Craig, coming home with the best finish among the girls.
Craig earned a second place medal in the 7th grade high jump. She
jumped 4’ 6.75” for the Wolverines.
Craig also finished in 8th place in the 100m with a time of 14.39.
She finished in 9th place in the 400m with a time of 1:06.21. Craig
was just shy of medaling here by .03 seconds.
Audrina Wilson finished in 12th place in the 100m hurdles.
Colby Bowman medaled in the 110m hurdles for the second year in a
row at State.
Bowman, an 8th grader, returned to State in the 110m hurdles and
this time he earned a second place medal with a time of 16.82. His
time last year was 18.58. A very impressive improvement.
Brodie Glenn, an 8th grader, finished in 9th place in the 100m with
a time of 12.60. Glenn finished in 10th place in the 200m with a
time of 25.14.
Ryker Fricke placed 18th in the discus.
Ryker Fricke, Jaylen Matherly, Hunter Craig and Hudson Glenn
finished in 20th place in the SMR 1600m.
“It was a great weekend for Piper and all of the WLB athletes who
competed,” said Angela Craig, one of the coaches and Piper’s mom.
“Piper just picked up the high jump this year. She was kind of just
in a rut not clearing more than 4’2” at a few meets and I even asked
her if she was sure she wanted to do it. That meet she jumped 4’6”.
She shut me up. Her friend, Sophia Goodman, was our only high jumper
and encouraged Piper to do it. They had a good time cheering each
other on. She had success throughout the season in the 100m, 200m
and 400m. She was even part of several relays where they got close
to running qualifying times.”
“Colby is very impressive, too,” added Craig. "He just glides over
the hurdles and makes it look so easy. He started out the season
with a little injury that limited his events, and he battled it
throughout the season, but hurdles remained his priority. He had
goals and he got there!”
“Brodie Glenn, an 8th grader, also qualified this year in the 100m
and 200m,” said Craig. “He came up shy of qualifying in the 100m
prelims by .06 seconds placing 9th on Friday night. Saturday he came
back to run the 200m. He ran a personal best at 25.14 placing 10th.
During the season he was also constantly winning his events and knew
he could be one of the best in the state.”
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“Both of these 8th grade boys are great leaders and will do great
things in high school,” added Craig.
“We also had 7th grader, Audrina Wilson, running the 100m hurdles at
state,” continued Craig. “She has big goals for next year to
continue to improve and get back on the track at state.”
“We also had Ryker Fricke, a 6th grader and the only 6th grader at
state, throwing 7th grade discus. Ryker has his heart set on getting
back there next year. He’s got a good throwing coach, Coach Fricke.
He also calls him grandpa.”
“The boys qualified in the 1600m sprint medley relay too,” said
Craig. “They ran against 8th graders and our team consisted of 6th
graders and a 5th grader. This team consisted of Ryker Fricke,
Jaylen Matherly, Hunter Craig, Hudson Glenn, Kaleb Eigenbrod and
Bowden Fink. They got the experience and now are hungry for more.”
“We are looking forward to next season and getting more of our
athletes to state, “ said Craig. “We had over half of the team this
year as first-year kids. They gained a lot of experience this year.”
One final note from Craig.
“We wish Coach Battin a happy “retirement” as she ends her long
tenure of coaching WLB track and field.”
WLB is coached by Tiffany Battin, Angela Craig and Mark Fricke.
Hartsburg-Emden
The Stags did very well at State over the weekend in East Peoria and
they had their own triple threat athlete in Owen Ferguson.
Owen Ferguson, an 8th grader, finished in second place in the mile
with a time of 5:01.44.
Ferguson also improved his time and place in the 800m this year.
Ferguson finished in 4th place with a time of 2:12.55 here to earn a
medal.
The relay team of Alek Lueck, Owen Ferguson, William Boerma and
Graham Hampton stood on the podium in the fourth place position
earning a medal for the 4x400m relay team. They finished with a time
of 3:57.70.
Courtney Cecil, an 8th grader, returned to State in the high jump to
earn a medal. She tied for 6th place by jumping 4’ 7.5” this year.
Last year Cecil finished in 10th place in the high jump with a jump
of 4’ 2”. What a great improvement here by Cecil.
McKenna Lucas and Alex Vetter coach the track and field athletes at
Hartsburg-Emden.
"We are incredibly proud of everything our athletes accomplished
this season,” said Lucas. “From day one, they showed tremendous
dedication, hard work, and commitment to improving every single day.
It has been especially rewarding to coach many of these 8th graders
since they were in 5th grade and watch them grow not only as
athletes, but as leaders and teammates as well. They have set a
great example for the younger athletes in our program. We are
excited to see what our 5th thru 7th graders accomplish next season
and hope to continue building on this success with another trip back
to the state meet.”
Mount Pulaski
Some new names joined a couple familiar names at State this year for
the MPGS Toppers Track and Field team.
One outstanding individual even broke a school record that stood for
over twenty years.
Mount Pulaski competes in Class 2A competition.
The SMR 1600m relay team consisting of Broxton Davis, Luke Olson,
Cooper Kretzinger and Sronte Siebert took fifth place with a time of
4:07.04, earning a medal in the first year for this event. Isaac
Davis was the alternate for this relay team.
Sronte Siebert also broke the school record in the 800m while at
State. Siebert, an 8th grader, finished in 11th place with a time of
2:13.17. He shaved a solid six seconds off his time from last year
which is highly impressive.
Addison Deibert, an 8th grader, finished in 11th place in the long
jump. She jumped 14’ 6.5” or 4.43 meters.
“The coaching staff (Mindy Switzer, Rob Siebert and Beth Guy) and I
would like to congratulate all of the trackletes, not only ours but
also the representatives from the Logan County schools, that made it
to state,” said Jamie Anderson. “To be a few amongst the 2800
athletes from class 1A and 2A, that’s a pretty awesome achievement
in itself.”
“It was an exciting weekend,” Anderson added. “We definitely are
proud of how our kids competed at the state level. Our 8th grade
4x1600m medley team (Luke Olson, Broxton Davis, Cooper Kretzinger,
and Sronte Siebert) went into the state finals with one of the top
four times in the state and left with the 5th place overall. This is
a new event in track and field and it’s an awesome accomplishment to
be one of the top teams in 2A.”
“Our other competitors this weekend were Isaac Davis, who finished
9th in 7-2A high jump at 1.50m and tied for 14th in 7-2A long jump
at 4.95m, Addison Deibert, who finished in 11th place in 8-2A long
jump at 4.43m and Sronte Siebert, who finished in 11th with a time
of 2:13.17 in the 800m.”
"Sronte broke the school record in the 800m run, which Seth Deibert
had held since 2005 (2:14.52),” said Anderson.
“We definitely had a good team this year,” continued Anderson. “The
8th grade girls finished in second place at the county tournament,
while the 7th and 8th grade boys also finished in second place.
Congrats to all of our trackletes at MPGS and those from Logan
County too!”
Congratulations and keep up the great work, kids!
Final results from each of the events can be found at
athletic.net.
[Teena Lowery w/photos from Erica Maynard,
Angela Craig, Amanda Bowman, McKenna Lucas and Rob Siebert] |
