Athletes Qualify For Class 2A State Girls Track Meet As Cahokia Wins Sectional At Civic Memorial, Flyers Third, Knights Fourth  

BETHALTO - Local girls' track athletes qualified for next week's IHSA Class 2A state meet as Cahokia won the sectional meet Thursday afternoon at Civic Memorial's Hauser Field in Bethalto.

The Comanches won with a total of 102 points, with Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin Catholic coming in second with 92 points, East St. Louis was third with 69 points, Triad came in fourth with 45 points and rounding out the top five was Rochester with 44.5 points. The host Eagles were eighth with 29 points, Highland came in ninth at 24 points, East Alton-Wood River was 11th at 18 points, Jersey finished 13th with 10.5 points and Roxana was 15th with six points.

The meet started off with three runners qualifying for state in the 100 meters, with Cahokia's Kayda Austin winning at 11.94 seconds, with a pair of sprinters from SH-G, Olivia Redpath and Sterling Scarlette, also going through, with Redpath in second at 12.94 seconds and Scarlette third at 12.97 seconds, beating the qualifying standard to advance to state. Sydney Jones of East Side had a time of 12.75 seconds, Triad's Riley Cissell was in at 12.99 seconds, EAWR's Jessica Brown had a time of 13.12 seconds, Lily Daugherty of Roxana was in at 13.39 seconds, Cheyenne Choat of Highland's time was 13.57 seconds, Annabelle Yamnitz of Jersey had a time of 13.69 seconds and CM"s Jamiya Crymes came in at 14.04 seconds. Five runners qualified in the 200 meters, with the winner being Austin at 24.42 seconds, with teammate Keymora Hayes coming in second at 25.21 seconds. Also going through were Jones at 26.09 seconds, Redpath at 26.17 seconds and Ameeria Jackson of Springfield Southeast qualifying with a time of 26.21 seconds. Triad's Makenna Witham had a time of 27.57 seconds, Brown was in at 27.91 seconds, Paige Lohman of Roxana was clocked in 27.97 seconds. Bella Peterbaugh of Jersey was in at 28.95 seconds. Crymes had a time of 29.82 seconds and Highland's Alexis Gurley was in at 30.00 seconds.

In the 400 meters, Scarlette won the race with a time of 58.01 seconds, with Cahokia's Hailey Tucker coming in second at 59.82 second to qualify. Cissell had a time of 1:01.74, CM's Lauren Vaughn was in at 1:03.17, Kamillah Tugle of the Flyers was timed in 1:03.89, Highland's Cami Friderich had a time of 1:07.11, Lillyan Sofffray of Jersey's time was 1:15.56 and Jaden Downs of the Oilers came in at 1:27.45. There were five qualifiers in the 800 meters, starting with Rochester's Colleen Ziebert, who won with a time of 2:18.44, while Highland's Peyton Frey was second at 2:22.19, Paige Ziebert of the Rockets was third at 2:22.70, fourth place went to Maggie Fleischli of the Cyclones at 2:24.16 and in fifth place was Ella Goodman of Taylorville, who came in at 2:24.67, the last three exceeding the state qualifying standard to go through. Alyssa Mann of CM had a time of 2:33.82, East Side's Geriyah Simmons came in at 2:38.10, Chloe Gough of Triad had a time of 2:39.34, Vivian Marron of the Bulldogs was home at 2:42.14 and the Shells' Taylor Partridge was clocked in 3:01.79.

Four runners went through in the 1,600 meters, with Ashley Ziebert of Rochester winning with a time of 5:22,18, with the Eagles' Hannah Meiser coming in second at 5:22.59. in third place was Kennedy Bowman of Triad, who qualified with a time of 5:24.62 and SH-G's Vivian Rahmel finishing fourth, breaking the qualifying standard with a time of 5:24.83. Roxana's Riley Doyle came in at 6:02.98, Marron came in at 6:17.47 and the Panthers' Taylor Woodring had a time of 6:39.90. In the 3,200 meters, Meiser also qualified with a winning time of 11:51.70 and was joined by Belleville Althoff Catholic's Eris Nelson at 12:17.64. Doyle was in at 12:29.49 and Morgan Mason of Triad came in at 12:38.06.

In the hurdles races, Hayes won the 100 meters with a time of 15.22 seconds, with the Cyclones' Sophia Paul second at 16.16 seconds and teammate Macie Rolf advanced to state with a third place time of 16.22 seconds. EAWR's Gina Truax was in at 16.83 seconds, Jaylah Harris of the Flyers had a time of 17.64 seconds, Riley Lohman of Roxana had a time of 18.95 seconds, Alexis Gurley of Highland had a time of 19.04 seconds, CM's Kaylee Shields came in at 19.52 seconds and Jersey's Corree Yates had a time of 20.51 seconds. Truax won the 300 meters with a time of 46.95 seconds, with Rolf coming in second to qualify at 48.25 seconds. Mikaylah Niehaus of the Knights was timed in 50.78 seconds, Harris was in at 51.31 seconds, Gurley came in at 55.78 seconds, the Panthers' Arlynn Weber had a time of 56.64 seconds and Shields came in at 57.03 seconds.

In the relay races, three teams qualified in the 4x100 meters, with Cahokia winning at 48.43 seconds, East St. Louis was second at 48.51 and Sacred Heart-Griffin qualified in third at 49.57 seconds. Triad had a time of 51.35 seconds, Highland was timed in 52.89 seconds, Roxana's time was 53.28 seconds, EAWR was in at 53.99 seconds and Jersey had a time of 55.21 seconds. In the 4x200 meters, the Flyers won at 1:43.25 seconds, the Spartans were second at 1:45.73 and the Cyclones qualified with a third place time of 1:47.29. The Bulldogs came in at 1:52.45, the Knights were in at 1:53.13, the Panthers had a time of 1:55.63, the Shells were clocked in 2:04.89 and the Oilers had a time of 2:08.62. Four teams went through in the 4x400 meters, with Sacred Heart-Griffin winning at 3:59.74, East Side was second at 4:07.10, Rochester was third at 4:10.37 and fourth place went to Taylorville at 4:13.40. Highland came in at 4:14.39, CM's time was 4:20.83, Triad came in at 4:33.78, Jersey was home at 4:49.05 and EAWR had a time of 5:34.02. In the 4x800 meters, the Rockets won with a time of 9:42.73, the Cyclones were second at 9:54.76 and the Knights qualified in third place with a time of 10:00.35. The Flyers came in at 10:36.91, it was the Bulldogs having a time of 11:08.58, the Eagles came in at 11:24.11 and the Panthers had a time of 12:07.92.

In the field events, Tenisa Ferrell of Cahokia won the shot put with a throw of 10.10 meters, with Triad's Abby Kesterson finishing second and qualifying for state with a toss of 9.97 meters. Alicia Cross of East Side had a throw of 9.59 meters, Highland's Larissa Taylor came up with a distance of 9.50 meters, Amelia Strebel of Jersey had a toss of 9.43 meters, Skylar Johnson of CM had a throw of 8.95 meters and EAWR's Milla LeGette got off a throw of 8.59 meters. In the discus throw, Jade Thompson of Jacksonville won with a throw of 32.67 meters, with Ferrell coming in second at 31.71 meters. Cross got off a throw of 31.44 meters, LeGette had a toss of 31.26 meters, Taylor had a distance of 29.78 meters, Kesterson came up with a distance of 29.53 meters, Strebel had a throw of 23.88 meters, Johnson had a toss of 22.12 meters and Abbrey DeWulff of Roxana had a throw of 16.35 meters.

Witham won the high jump, tying with Liliella Vail of Taylorville at 1.54 meters, with Witham winning on the fewest misses rule, but both qualifying for state. Highland's Lauren Maas went over at 1.49 meters, along with Jersey's Lexi Trexler. The pole vault was won by Alyssa Andreatta of the Tornadoes, clearing 3.06 meters, with Shields and Ava Odam of Taylorville tied for second at 2.82 meters, Shields taking the state berth on the basis of the fewest misses rule. Cissell cleared 2.72 meters, with Choat going over at 2.52 meters.

In the long jump, Hayes won with a leap of 5.49 meters, with second place going to Janiyah Brown of East St. Louis, who went 5.17 meters. Jersey's Morgan Allen had a jump of 4.76 meters, Crymes came up with a leap of 4.26 meters and Highland's Emma Henschen and Sophia Thomas both went 4.10 meters. In the triple jump, the qualifiers were Alannah Lowery of Springfield Southeast at 10.72 meters and Brown at 10.49 meters. Choat had a jump of 9.60 meters, with Shields going 9.39 meters, Maya Pollard had a leap of 8.84 meters and Peterbaugh had a jump of 8.22 meters.

The qualifiers will compete in the IHSA state meet, set to go May 18-20 at O'Brien Stadium at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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