IESA Headlines

2010 IESA Class A State Track and Field Meet This Weekend

A total of 2,237 athletes from 225 schools will converge at Corwin Clatt Stadium in the EastSide Centre at East Peoria Friday-Saturday (May 14-15) for the 26th 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 79th 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 243 member schools entered the 2010 Class A state series and 92.5 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 get under way Friday at 1:00 p.m. Competition Saturday begins at 9:00 a.m. with the finals in the hurdles and 100, 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 $8.00 for adults and $4.00 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 fourth 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

Defending team champion Erie will be hard pressed to repeat while perennial contenders Bloomington Holy Trinity and Carthage may be the teams to beat. Mendota Holy Cross is the dark horse in the race for team honors.

Carthage, which finished second last year with 39 points, is strong in the sprints and has three potent relays. Bloomington Holy Trinity has five individual qualifiers and a pair of strong relays. The Carthage 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 relays can take the gold medal, while the 4 x 100 relay should score points, too. The Bloomington Holy Trinity 4 x 200 relay has a shot at the gold medal and the 4 x 400 relay can place high.

Mendota Holy Cross is led by sprinter Brooke Carroll, who is one of the favorites in both the 100 and 200 and can score points in the long jump. In the state meet, first place is worth 10 team points.

This could be the year that youth is served in the running events. Three contenders for the title in the 400-meter dash are Cecee Ricca of Peoria St. Philomena, Katie Person of Forreston and Rachel Cobert of Erie, all sixth graders. Fifth grader Anna Sophia Keller of Effingham Sacred Heart is a challenger in both the 800-meter and 1600-meter run. Sixth grader Adrian Siebers of Liberty could win the 800. Sixth grader Jacki Graham of Liberty could win the 1600. Seventh grader Leah Hutchison of Toledo Cumberland will be strong in both distance races.

Meegan Massey of Milford St. Paul's will be a contender in both the shot put and discus. Her mark of 30-04 in the sectional was the best among the 41 state qualifiers and her mark of 91-01 is third in the discus.

Class 7A Boys

Normal Epiphany scored 27 points last year to finish third in the team standings. If workhorse Jake Reinhart can carry the load, Normal Epiphany will be the team to beat.

Reinhart's performances in the sectional make him a contender for the individual titles in the 100, 200 and high jump. He is among the leaders in the two sprints and posted the top mark in the high jump at 5-2. He also runs a leg on the school's 4 x 400 relay which is among the leaders coming into the state meet.

Sixth grader Brady Rude of Rock Falls St. Andrew is among five strong contenders for the 400-meter dash title. The others are seventh graders Tyler Schuring of Arthur, Ben Adkins of Brimfield, Nate Humphrey of Cambridge JHS and Drew Winterton of Waterman Indian Creek.

The only other individual event where sixth graders are strong challengers is the pole vault. They are sectional leader Brock Mammoser of Newton St. Thomas and Tanner Hull of Bloomington St. Mary's. Mammoser finished seventh in the state meet last year at 8-6 and posted a height of 9-7 in the sectional. Hull went 9-3 in the sectional.

Dominic Reynolds of East St. Louis Jackson will be a contender in both the 800 and 1600-meter runs. As a sixth grader, he finished second behind Heyworth's Brian King in both races at last year's state meet. Heyworth is a Class AA school this year. Reynolds ran 2:18.44 for second in the 800 and 5:09.53 for second in the 1600. His challengers probably will be Peter Keller of Effingham Sacred Heart, Bryson Reyes of Sterling St. Mary's and Logan Hollis of Toulon Stark County.

Thomas Wolken of Royal Prairieview Ogden and Wyatt Witty of Bismarck-Henning will challenge in the shot put and discus. Marques Cooper of East St. Louis Jackson threw the shot put 42-04.5 in the sectional to lead the 42 qualifiers in the event, while Dean Arendt of Jacksonville Our Savior threw the discus 130-09 in the sectional to post the leading mark in the event.

Class 8A Girls

Dani Aurit of Marseilles ES won the 800 and 1600-meter runs last year in Class 7A and is one of the leading candidates in both events this year. She is joined by six other champions from a year ago in this year's Class 8A state meet.

The 800-meter race could a sizzler. Joining Dani Aurit in it are Olivia Rohr of Springfield Christian and Graci Bastert of Carthage. Other contenders in the 800 are Baylie Garrett of Illiopolis Sangamon Valley and Jess Clarke of LeRoy, Zoe Mead of Princeton St. Louis, Sydney Billingsley of Lexington and Rylee Anderson of Seneca. All of them posted sectional times under 2:39. Dani Aurit won the 800 last year in 2:26.31 and the 1600 in 5:24.21.

In the 1600, Olivia Rohr, Jess Clark and Savannah Bauldauf of Seneca appear to be the top challengers to Dani Aurit.

Carthage's Graci Bastert won the 400 last year in 7A in a time of 1:03.25 and returns to defend that title. Her chief challengers appear to be Tegan Beard of Toledo Cumberland, Katelyn Rhea of Camp Point Central and Alyssa Anderson of Aurora Christian.

Returning in the 100-meter hurdles is 7A winner Laykin Miner of Erie, who won in a time of :16.84 last year. Caroline Dodds of Champaign Judah Christian won 7A pole vault last year at 7-9 and posted a top sectional mark of 9-2 this year. Molly McGraw of Bloomington Holy Trinity won 7A high jump in 5-3 and went 5-5 in the sectional.

Taylor Dorch of Dallas City was 7A long jump champion last year and qualified for this year's 8A meet in 14-11. The long jump sectional leader is Graci Bastert of Carthage at 15-8. Molly McGraw jumped 15-5 in the sectional.

Karly Goodman of Arthur won 7A shot put last year and ranks second out of the sectional behind Rosa Gonzalez of Elwood GS, who has a toss of 32-9. Mackenzie Joop of Champaign Judah Christian returns in the discus but has her work cut out for her. Her sectional mark of 90-8 is sixth best coming into the state meet. The leader is Molly Hill of Brownstown at 96-7.

Class 8A Boys

The team title in this year's meet may be up for grabs until the final event Saturday, while seven of the 11 individual event winners from 7A last year will compete this weekend in 8A.

Tyler Barnas of Walnut Bureau Valley North is seeking to repeat in the 110-meter hurdles. He won 7A last year in a time of :16.07. He also is a strong contender in the 400-meter dash.

Braxton Phelps of Carthage won both the 100 and 200 in 7A. He will be challenged by Cameron Donaby of Madison, Austin Boehs of Winchester, Aaron Johnson of Joliet Union, Palise Neal of Decatur Hope and Broc Smith of Tuscola East Prairie in both events.

Chase Connelly of Bismarck-Henning appears to be the one to beat in the 800-meter run, but 13 of the 38 runners in the event posted sectional times of less than 2:20. John Leverenz of Danville St. Paul is one of seven runners in the 1600 to run faster than 5:10 in the sectional. One of the challengers in the 1600 is Nick Hess of Rantoul St. Malachy who also will compete in the 110-meter hurdles, the high jump and on the school's 4 x 400 meter relay over the weekend.

Eight of the 39 competitors in the long jump went 18-0 or better in the sectional. The leader is Johnathan Harrell of Aurora Christian at 18-11. Matt McCoy of Lewistown Central won 7A pole vault at 9-3 and posted a leading 11-6 in the sectional. Virginia's Tyler Ring won 7A high jump at 5-8 and is a contender to win again. The sectional leader is John Goeckner of Effingham St. Anthony at 6-0.

Jason Fry of Stewardson-Strasburg won both the 7A shot put and discus and is the leader in both events coming into the 8A state meet. Fry won shot put last year in 41-01.5 and went 48-6 in the sectional. He won discus last year in 140-2 and threw it 163-6 in the sectional.