The IHSA state girls track meet was held Thursday through Saturday, May 21-23, at Eastern Illinois University, with championships handed out on the final day of the meet in all three classes of competition.
Several schools in Western Illinois had strong finishes to the season, and the Stark County 4×800-meter relay leads the way back with a first-place finish.
The Rebels had the top time in the preliminaries and backed that up with a rally in the final leg to win the Class 1A title. Anchor leg Dusti Smith ran an eye-popping 2:10.44 over the final two laps to give Stark County the title. Her split was by far the fastest of anyone in the field, nearly five seconds better than the last leg of Shelbyville’s Tessa Bowers, whose team finished third.
Several other athletes had runner-up finishes, and Galesburg High placed in three relays.
In 1A, Sherrard had the area’s best team score, finishing seventh with 26 points. Galesburg got 17 points in 2A to tie for 17th place.
Here’s a look at all the top 10s for Western Illinois, including notes on season best (SB) and personal best (PB) times, noted by athletic.net.
Class 1A local results
800
6. Cheyenh Smith, Sr., Stark County, 2:16.79
7. Emily Downing, Sr., Ridgewood, 2:17.86 (SB)
8. Anna Churchill, Jr., Sherrard, 2:18.33 (PB)
1600
7. Dusti Smith, Jr., Stark County, 5:04.70
10. Emily Downing, Sr., Ridgewood, 5:08.03 (SB)
3200
3. Emily King, Sr., Knoxville, 10:59.20 (PB)
8. Jana Vande Kemp, Jr., Ridgewood, 11:12.81 (PB)
10. Alyssa Higgins, Sr., Knoxville, 11:17.71 (PB)
100 Hurdles
5. Marryn Ferguson, Fr., Bushnell-Prairie City, 15.40
300 Hurdles
7. Alayna Mitchell, Jr., Mercer County, 45.58 (PB)
4×400 Relay
6. Sherrard, 4:06.34 (Cami Anderson, Sophia Bradarich, Piper Russell, Anna Churchill)
4×800 Relay
1. Stark County, 9:24.77 (Cheyenh Smith, Norah Rorem, Paytin Terwilliger, Dusti Smith)
6. Mercer County, 9:47.26 (Emalyn Millar, Brookelyn Clark, Jorgi Arnold, Helen Baldwin)
10. Ridgewood, 9:57.64 (Jolene Blackert, Hannah Ames, Jana Vande Kemp, Emily Downing)
Discus
2. Saidie Shemek, Sr., Sherrard, 40.73m
4. Ellie Doubet, Sr., Ridgewood, 40.36m (PB)
Pole Vault
2. Aliza Dominique, Sr., Sherrard, 3.30m (SB)
T5. Marryn Ferguson, Fr., Bushnell-Prairie City, 3.20m (PB)
T5. Khloe Kunz, Fr., Sherrard, 3.20m (PB)
Long Jump
10. Grace Grothaus, Jr., West Hancock, 5.09m
Triple Jump
2. Grace Grothaus, Jr., West Hancock, 11.14m
Class 2A Local Results
3200
8. Brooklyn Smith, Jr., Geneseo, 11:06.88
4×100 Relay
7. Galesburg, 49.06 (Ella Herchenroder, Rachelle McCellan, Taylor Herchenroder, Ava Marty)
4×200 Relay
4. Galesburg, 1:41.47 (Ella Herchenroder, Rachelle McCellan, Taylor Herchenroder, Ava Marty)
4×400 Relay
3. Galesburg, 3:57.73 (Ella Herchenroder, Grace Herchenroder, Taylor Herchenroder, Lily Furrow)
Shot Put
5. Makaylynne Correa, Sr., Canton, 11.72m (PB)
8. Isabella Brown, Jr., Geneseo, 11.53m
Discus
7. Dakota Thorman, Sr., Macomb, 36.97m
High Jump
4. Aubrey Holthaus, Jr., Macomb, 1.55m
Pole Vault
7. Allison Tice, Fr., Geneseo, 3.45m (PB)
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Stark County relay wins state title, leading Western Illinois girls track results
Reporting by Dan Spears, USA TODAY NETWORK / Galesburg Register-Mail
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