CHARLESTON ― Only three girls from the Rockford area advanced to Saturday’s Class 3A finals of the IHSA girls state track and field meet.
Two of them won state championships, and one took second.
And one of the champs is a freshman.
“It’s kind of hard to believe, but I did it,” Guilford freshman Allison Stibal said after she soared 18-feet-7 1/2 inches to win the 3A long jump state title on May 23. “And now I’ve got to keep defending my state championship for a few years, I guess.”
And in 1A, Lena-Winslow took third place as a team after pure dominance in the relays. And dominance in the high jump, where sophomore Brooklynn Kaiser took home the title with a make at 5-5.
Over in 2A, Freeport twins Ta’Leiah and Ta’Niah McElroy closed out their careers with a bang.
Here are the day’s highlights for Rockford-area competitors:
3A high jump highlights big day
Stibal won her state title early on in the meet.
“I hit my big jump on my last one, and dang it felt good,” Stibal said. “That was my best ever, and I didn’t even know… I was like ‘Oh my gosh; I did it.’ It’s crazy.”
Auburn’s Jaeda Benford hauled in her state title late in the day. And she had a similar experience.
“I still thought Jordan had another jump; I didn’t even think I’d won,” Benford said after she was the only one to clear the bar set at 5-7. She took second at state last year, and fifth two years ago. “But it sure feels good to finally get it. I’ve been close, but to actually get it, I’m so excited.”
She spent over an hour not only holding off a tough 3A field in the high jump, but she needed everything she had just to keep one of her NIC-10 rivals, Hononegah’s Jordan Dimke, from winning it all.
Dimke placed second at state in the high jump with her make at 5-6, earning her fourth state medal in the event. The Hononegah star won the 3A high jump title in 2024, took third last year, and finished fifth as a freshman.
Class 1A stars step up
Le-Win won the meet-opening 4×100-meter relay in 48.64 with Harper Hastings; Mia Diffenderfer; Adelynn Anderson; and Sienna Hastings. The same grouping won the 4×200 in 1:42.73, and closed out the meet with a 4×400-meter relay rout, winning easily with a state-record time of 3:55.78.
“Our relays are so good this year, it’s been so much fun. It’s pretty fun when you win,” the anchor runner, Sienna Hastings, said. “We’ve just worked so hard at it, and this is what you get… We’ve earned this.”
Le-Win finished the meet with 43 team points to take third as a team. Effingham St. Anthony and Maroa-Forsyth tied for first with 46 points.
Oregon’s Jillian Hammer had a rough start but still finished in third in the 100 hurdles’ final in 14.95. She then made sure she had a good start later in the day, and was never challenged while winning the 300 hurdles, going away with a time of 44.09.
“This was my race; this was my chance,” Hammer said after the 300s. “I just had to block everything else out. I put it all out there, and I got it.”
Forreston’s Bree Schneiderman got fifth in the 400 run in 58.32, fifth in the 200 dash in 25.29, and she also took seventh in the 100 dash in 12.62. And she’s just a junior.
“I’ll be back,” Schneiderman said.
Rockford Christian senior Lucy Gargani took ninth in the 100 dash in 12.85.
Also in 1A: Oregon’s Lorelai Dannhorn took fifth in the triple jump with a flight of 35-9; Winnebago’s Ida Fager placed fifth in the long jump at 17-5; Winnebago took second in the 4×800 relay in 9:27.26, and second in the 4×200 relay in 1:44.68; Stillman Valley’s 4×400 relay took third in 4:06.07; Winnebago’s 4×400 relay took fourth in 4:06.26, and its 4×100 team got eighth in 50.16; Oregon’s 4×200 relay placed fourth in 1:44.86, and its 4×400 relay took ninth in 4:14.65; Le-Win’s Marlee McPeek placed seventh in the shot put with a throw of 38-4; and Oregon’s Skylar Bishop placed 10th in the high jump with a make at 5-1.
Only the top nine finishers in each event placed and earned a medal.
Medals pile up for 2A stars
Lutheran senior Abagail Baumann took third in the 2A 1,600 run in 4:52.51, and that was after placing third in the 3,200 run earlier in the day, with a mark of 10:38.62.
“It’s bittersweet to be done; I love track so much, and this has been such a blast,” Baumann said after earning two medals Saturday, to bump her career count to six IHSA girls state track and field medals. “I think I finished it off in a pretty good way.”
She placed sixth in the 3,200 run twice at state, and seventh in the 1,600 run twice as well.
Lutheran’s 4×100 relay team of star sprinters Jordyn Ballard and Gabby Davis, and a pair of freshmen Alina Zitzke and Olivia Wills, took eighth in a time of 49.20.
Also in 2A, the Freeport twins slammed the door on their prep career. Ta’Leiah McElroy placed fourth in the 100 dash in 12.33, and she then joined her twin Ta’Niah ― who missed out in qualifying for the 100-dash finals by two spots ― as well as Kanijah Fletcher and Angela Barr-Meighan to take third in 4×200 in 1:41.13.
Ta’Leiah also missed out by two spots from qualifying for the finals in the 200 dash.
Boylan’s 4×800 relay team placed fifth in 9:40.66, while Boylan’s Caroline Barker placed third in the 300 hurdles in 45.59, and ninth in the triple jump at 36-8. She also helped the Titans’ 4×400 relay team place ninth in 4:09.60 to wrap up the effort for the Rockford-area finalists.
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: Pair of 3A titles, Lena-Winslow’s 1A team trophy lead girls state track
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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