CARLINVILLE – Marquette Catholic's Tommy DeClue had a big day Thursday in sectional track and field competition at Carlinville.
DeClue, who has been strong all season for the Explorers, won the long jump with a leap of 20-11.5 and the 400 meters in 52.04. The Explorers' 4 x 100 team of Jon Stewart, Davion Simmons, Tommy DeClue and Aaron Gregory finished second in a time of 44.53 seconds to move to the state meet.
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Marquette will send the relay team and DeClue in two individual events to next weekend's IHSA Class 1A state track meet at O'Brien Stadium in Charleston following Thursday's Class 1A Carlinville Sectional meet.
The Explorers finished sixth with 32 points, while Metro East Lutheran took 10th with 23 points, Carrollton was 11th with 22 points and Bunker Hill finished 17th with two points. Madison won the event with 110 points, with the host Cavaliers second with 104, North Mac third at 50, Litchfield fourth at 43 and Staunton rounding out the top five at 38.
Carrollton's Dylan Smith moved into the state meet with a second-place high jump of 6-1 and Wade Prough advanced with a second-place finish in the long jump (20-10.25); MEL and Bunker Hill did not have anyone advance into the state meet, with Zach Bozart's third place in the 110 hurdles (16.99), Larry Harris' third in the triple jump (40-3.75) and Eli Harding's third in the 300 hurdles (43.30) being the Knights' best finishes of the day. The Minutemen's best finish on the day was Trent Bertlesman's fifth in the 110 hurdles (17.39).
