IESA Headlines

2008 IESA Class A State Track and Field Meet This Weekend

(Revised May 8, 2008)

A total of 2,403 athletes from 225 schools will converge at Corwin Clatt Stadium in the EastSide Centre at East Peoria Friday-Saturday (May 9-10) for the 23rd Annual Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) Class A State Final Track and Field Meet.

IESA began the state series in boys track and field in 1932. This will be the 77th year for the boys. IESA began the state series in girls track and field in 1972. This will be the 37th year for girls. A total of 238 member schools entered the 2008 Class A state series and 95 percent (225) of the schools entering athletes in the qualifying sectionals advanced at least one qualifier to the State Final Meet.

There are 14 events in each of the classes. There will be a grand total of 56 events. Preliminaries and finals are conducted on the same day in the respective field events which are spread over the two days. In the 100-meter dash and hurdles, there will be preliminaries and semifinals on Friday with the finals on Saturday. Timed finals are the format in all other running events. The best times from all the heats or sections in a respective running event determine final places in that event.

Field event competition begins Friday at 12:00 noon. The running events will get under way Friday at 1:00 p.m. Competition Saturday begins at 9:00 a.m. with the finals in the 100 and hurdles, and the remainder of the running and field events. The complete time schedule for the weekend, and the complete event-by-event listing of qualifiers, can be found on the IESA Web Site www.iesa.org. From the home page, go to the Track and Field icon in the box on top of the home page then click on Class A Schedule and/or Class A Qualifiers. Also visit the FanZone icon on the home page for information regarding the meet that spectators should know.

Single-session tickets will be on sale at the stadium each day. Tickets are priced at $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for students K-8 and seniors. Gates open to the general public at 11:00 a.m. Friday and at 8:00 a.m. Saturday.

This year, for the second time in IESA track and field history, the athletes winning medallions will be recognized on the infield after the conclusion of their event. The time schedule has periods for presentation of the medallions to the individuals and relay team members built into it.

Here is a look at each of the four meets within the State Final Meet:

Class 7A Girls

Assumption Central A&M and Mt. Pulaski will match their standouts in the battle for the team title that traditionally has been closely contested in recent years. Last year, Lexington won its second straight with 38 points, finishing ahead of Assumption Central A&M by 2 points and ahead of third place Altamont by 4 points. In 2006, Lexington won the title with 45 points to the 43 of runner-up Tremont and the 41 of third place Kewanee Wethersfield.

Mt. Pulaski is led by Jessica Awe, a 5-3 setter on the school's state champion Seventh Grade Class 2A volleyball team. In track and field this spring she brings the best sectional times in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, as well as the third-best long jump to the state meet. Awe's sectional time in the 100 was :13.20 and her 200 mark was :27.80. She went 14-05 in the long jump.

Kaitlyn Corzine of Assumption Central A&M is the long jump leader from the sectionals going 14-10. She also is the sectional leader in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:35.50. In the 100-meter hurdles, she is ranked third with a time of :17.00.

Normal Epiphany could figure in the chase for the team title if Emily Brelesfoard and Sarah Bell continue to perform well this weekend. Brelesfoard brings the top time in the 1600-meter run of 5:44.80 and the third-best mark in the 800-meter run with a 2:38.00. Bell is the pole vault leader, clearing 7-6 in the sectional.

Class 7A Boys

Ryan Pearce of Villa Grove could score enough points in the three individual events where he is the sectional leader to bring the team title to his school single-handedly. Last year his brother Tyler Pearce won the Eighth grade Class A discus title with as toss of 145-07. This year Ryan posted the sectional best of 142-05 in the discus. Ryan also is the leader in the shot put with a sectional throw of 43-00.5 and he has the best 200-meter dash time from the sectionals with a :21.20.

Perennial powers Carthage and Wood River Lewis & Clark tied for the team title last year with 36 points. Wood River Lewis & Clark moved from Class A to Class AA this year. An individual or relay state champion earns 10 points for winning that event. Nine schools boast sectional top individual performers. In the relays, Rock Falls St. Andrew is top-seeded in the 4x200 and 4x400.

The only other school to have a multiple event sectional leader is Jerseyville St. Francis Holy Ghost. Mitch Kimball is the leader in the long jump with a sectional mark of 17-03.50 and in the high jump with a mark of 5-05.

The 400-meter dash could be the race of the meet. The top-seed from the sectional is seventh grader Tyler Suits of Rantoul St. Malachy, who stormed to a time of :59.60 in the sectional. The top nine qualifiers in the 400 ran 1:01.30 or faster and two of them are sixth graders. Sixth grader Clay Duba of Carrollton GS is the No. 3 seed at 1:00.90 and sixth grader Sam Asmus of Heyworth is No. 6 seed at 1:01.20. Asmus runs a leg on his school's No. 4 seeded 4x200 relay and a leg on the school's No. 4 seeded 4x400 relay. The seventh grade Class A boys 400-meter dash record is :54.96 set in 1992 by Josh Halley of Minonk Dana Rutland.

Class 8A Girls

Seven girls who won 10 of the 11 individual events last year in the seventh grade meet return in their events this year as eighth graders. Three of the six were double winners a year ago.

Olivia Herzog of Findlay Okaw Valley won the shot put and discus last year and returns this week as the sectional leader in both events. She threw the shot 32-02 to win the seventh grade title and threw it 38-08 in the sectional. In the discus, Herzog won last year with a toss of 97-07. She hit 102-07 in the sectional. Her first cousin Walter Herzog won the seventh grade boys 800 and 1600-meter runs last year and competes in both events this weekend in the eighth grade boys meet.

Altamont's Johanna Haywood won the 100 and 200-meter dashes as a seventh grader last year. In the finals of the 100 she posted a time of :13.00 and had the third-best sectional time of :13.10. The leader in the 100 is Katie Croak of Prospect Heights St. Alphonsus. In the 200, Haywood won last year with a time of :26.85. She posted the third-best sectional time at :28.00. The leader is Kristin Allen of Mason City Illini Central at :27.40.

Kaley Ummel was a workhorse for Lexington's powerful seventh grade state championship teams the last two years. She won both the 800 and 1600-meter runs and anchored the winning 4x400 relay in seventh grade last year. She won the 800 last year in 2:28.94 and posted the sectional best time of 2:30.00 this year. In the 1600, she won last year in 5:21.81 and brings the sectional best time of 5:32.90 to this year's meet. Lexington has the No. 2 seed in both the 4x200 and 4x400 relays this year.

The other champions from seventh grade last year competing in the eighth grade meet this weekend are Madison Renfro from Assumption Central A&M, Kaitlin Phillips of Hinckley, Grace Shadid of Metamora St. Mary's and Alyssa Winchester of Ottawa Wallace. Shadid won the pole vault last year at 8-0 and posted the 12-best sectional mark at 6-6. Winchester took the high jump a year ago at 4-11 and qualified at 4-8 in the sectional good for the No. 14 seed. Renfro won the 100-meter hurdles a year ago with a time of :17.13 in the finals and comes into the weekend with the No. 5 seed time of :16.80.

Kaitlin Phillips of Huntley won the 2007 seventh grade 400-meter dash in a time of 1:02.44. As a sixth grader in 2006, Cassidy Strohl of Heyworth won the seventh grade 400 in a time of 1:04.66. Phillips comes into this year's meet with a sectional time of 1:06.00, the sixth best mark. Strohl ran 1:04.40 in the sectional and is the No. 4 seed behind third-seeded Katie Einck of Normal Epiphany who posted a 1:04.30 in the same sectional. The top sectional time was 1:02.30 by Greenview's Kristen Rohrer. Katelyn Hammarlund of Arlington Heights Our Lady of the Wayside is the No. 2 seed at 1:03.90.

Class 8A Boys

Seven seventh grade individual champions from a year ago return for this weekend's eighth grade meet, including Walker Herzog of Findlay Okaw Valley who won both the 800 and 1600-meter runs. His first cousin Olivia Herzog won the shot put and discus in seventh grade last year and returns in both in this weekend's eighth grade girls meet.

Herzog won the 800 last year in a time of 2:16.12 and posted the No. 6 seed this year with a time of 2:19.80. He won the 1600 last year with a time of 5:01.10 and ran 5:11.10 in the sectional this year to post the No. 8 seed. Top seed in the 1600 is Zach Quinn of Heyworth who turned in a 5:05.10 in the sectional. Top seed in the 800 is Oliver Moews of Bloomington Holy Trinity at 2:15.70.

Joliet Laraway's Jeremy Lindsey won the 400-meter dash last year in seventh grade and shares the top seed in the event with a sectional time of :55.70. Oliver Moews of Bloomington Holy Trinity also ran :55.70 in the sectional.

Nick Allen of Bunker Hill Meissner was high jump champion last year winning in 5-06. He soared 5-11 in the sectional and is top-seeded in the event. Mitchell Mammoser of Newton St. Thomas is a two-time pole vault champion and is the No. 1 seed this year going 10-0 in the sectional. He cleared 9-1 in 2006 as a sixth grader to win the seventh grade title and then soared 10-5 last May to win the 2007 seventh grade title.

Chris Young of Rantoul St. Malachy was the 110-meter hurdles champion in seventh grade last year and is the third-seeded qualifier in the event this year with a sectional time of :16.30. Kendall Summers of Hamilton is top-seeded at :15.40.

Long jump champion last spring in the seventh grade meet was Terry Yelm. He went 17-08.5 to win the title and comes into this year's eighth grade meet with a sectional leap of 18-00.25 to rank at the No. 4 seed. The leader is Alex Cassidy of Decatur Johns Hill at 19-0.

Cody Bolen of Hartsburg-Emden was shot put champion last year in seventh grade with a toss of 42-06 and is the No. 1 seed in the eighth grade meet this weekend with a sectional mark of 50-06.

One member of the IESA Scholar Attitude Award presented by State Farm class of 2008 has qualified for 8A boys meet competition this weekend. He is Michael Fitzgerald of Peoria St. Philomena, who will compete in both the 800 and 1600-meter events.