West Carroll’s star sprinter Emma Randecker was at it again Thursday, highlighting the three Rockford-area girls track and field conference meets with some more of her dominance.
The senior ― who won state in the Class 1A 100-meter dash last year, took second in the 200 and placed fifth in the 400 ― even got a PR in the 400 run during the NUIC girls meet in Dakota on Thursday, right after calling her shot.
“I’m hoping to go low 57s and PR in this 400; that’s what I need right here,” Randecker said just seconds after blowing past her competition in the 100 dash and less than 10 minutes before winning the 400 in 57.24. “This is just a good time to do it. I want to be running some of my best races right now.”
Randecker sure was on Thursday. She won the 100 and 200 dashes and that 400 run in commanding fashion.
She posted a 12.43 in the 100 dash, a 25.19 in the 200, and that personal record of 57.24 to win the 400 at the NUIC meet. Forreston’s Bree Schneiderman took second in all three, and Lena-Winslow won three out of the four relays in impressive fashion. Fulton won the team title, with Le-Win placing second as a squad.
But this was another Randecker showcase, and there should be two more to come.
“I’m hoping for more PRs,” she said, before adding: “and some gold medals.”
Randecker and West Carroll will join all 10 of the other Rockford-area Class 1A teams in the Lena-Winslow Sectional next Thursday.
The top two finishers in each event at all levels, and those that eclipse the state standards, will qualify for the IHSA state meet, slated for May 22-24 in Charleston.
NIC-10 girls meet
Guilford junior Zariah Burnett won the IHSA 3A state high jump championship last year, but that was the only event she entered that she couldn’t win during Thursday’s NIC-10 girls track and field meet in Freeport.
This was her first meet back in full capacity after suffering a hamstring injury during the indoor season, and she still won three events in solid fashion. Burnett won the 100 dash in 12.14, the 200 in 25.57 and the long jump with a flight of 17-feet-8.
But Hononegah’s Jordan Dimke, who finished second at state behind Burnett last year, won the conference high jump title with a make at 5-3 1/2. And Auburn’s Jaeda Benford, who came into the postseason with the third best clearance in the state at 5-7, took second Thursday by soaring over the bar at 5-3 1/2 as well. Dimke won on misses, and Burnett took third with a clearance of 5-1 1/2.
Burnett’s Guilford teammate Natassja Bowman, who placed eighth at state in the discus at last year, easily won both the shot and discus at Thursday’s NIC-10 meet. Boylan, led by Nora Wedwick’s 400-run victory, Lily Shields’ win in the 1,600 run and Gabrielle Kohnle’s win in the 3,200 run, edged Guilford by 20 for the NIC-10 team title.
All of this sets the table for an exciting sectionals battle next week.
All eight of the NIC-10’s Class 3A teams will take part in the Huntley Sectional starting at 4 p.m. Wednesday while Boylan and Freeport will take part in other 2A sectionals.
Big Northern Conference girls meet
Oregon, sparked by two hurdle victories by Jillian Hammer and a 400-run victory from Grace Tremble, outpaced runner-up Lutheran in the final team standings to win the BNC girls conference championship Thursday.
Lutheran’s Abagail Baumann won the 800, 1,600 and the 3,200 runs, and her teammate Gabriella Davis won the 200 dash and took second in the 100 and 400. But it wasn’t quite enough to earn the team the overall championship.
Winnebago’s Karsyn Palmer won the shot put and the discus events as Winnebago took fourth behind G-K, and Rockford Christian’s Natalie Forward claimed the conference title in the pole vault as the Royal Lions placed sixth behind Byron.
Now, all of those 1A teams will go to battle in the Lena-Winslow Sectional, which will kick off at 4 p.m. Thursday, as the postseason begins in earnest.
“Now it’s time to really get faster, and really show what you can do,” said Freeport’s Ta’niah McElroy, who got second in the 100 dash at the NIC-10 meet, and joined her sister Ta’Leiah to help Freeport to wins in both sprint relays. “This is when it gets really fun.”
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: West Carroll star Emma Randecker is one of several to shine at conference track meets
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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