By Michael Newman, ILXCTF Editor.

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The state team title is still up for grabs with most of the sectional leaders still in contention. Luther North had a huge day advancing nine to Saturday’s finals led by Kayla Armstrong qualifying in here individual events. St. Joseph-Ogden also in in contention for the state championship as they have ten advancing. Their 1600 Meter Relay has the fastest prelim time in the event.

Kathleen Young is leading in the Shot Put and the Discus after the prelims with a good chance to win both events for the fourth straight year. Warrensburg Latham qualified two relays as well as five individuals to the finals. St. Anthony’s Anna Sophia Keller had the top qualifying time in the 1600 Meter Run by ten seconds. Her team qualified five to the finals on Saturday.

Here are highlights from the 1A prelims on Thursday.

Track Prelims

4x800 – Deer Creek-Mackinaw took the lead during the second leg and then held off Okawville and Teutopolis to win Heat 1 (9:51). Strong third and fourth legs by Fran and Margueritte Hendricksen gave St. Thomas More the Heat 2 lead. Tremont’s Bethany Wagenbach made a charge to pass Hendricksen on the final lap but St. Thomas More held on for the win (9:56.01) for the win with Tremont (9:26.25) a close second. Sectional list-leader Knoxville ran 9:53.49 to hold off Springfield Lutheran (9:58.33) for the win in Heat 3.

4x100 – It should be a good final on Saturday. Luther North, with safe exchanges, still ran the fastest 1A time of the day to win Heat 1 (49.58). Sectional list-leader St. Joseph-Ogden was also under 50-seconds as they led wire-to-wire to win Heat 4 (49.77). Taylor George came from behind to pass Peoria Heights’ Briann Brook for Warrensburg-Latham to win Heat 3 (50.20). DuQuoin was the other heat winner taking the top spot in Heat 2 (50.10).

100 Hurdles – Parker Francisco of St. Joseph-Ogden had the fastest prelim time in this event running 15.07 to win Heat 1. Alyana Stalter of Fisher, Morgan Atchison of Chester, and Natasha Bernett of Luther North were the other heat winners.

100 Meter Dash – Courtney Sockwell of Rockford Lutheran made statement on her first race in Charleston running the fastest 1A time in the state (11.97) winning Heat 1. Hen next five qualifiers are a tenth of a second behind Sockwell, but within a tenth of a second of each other. It took a photo to figure who won Heat 2 but Kayla Armstrong of Luther North was given the edge ahead of Bella Uscila of St. Edward (12.081 – 12.087). Taylor George won Heat 3 (12.10) edging Luther North’s Jada Williams (12.19). Seven Hicks of Peoria Heights won Heat 4 (12.18).

800 Meter Run – Heat 3 was where the action was in this event. Audrey Harrod of Hinckley-Big Rock pushed the pace only to be caught by Delavan’s Katie Springer in the final 50-meters. Springer ran the fastest prelim time (2:20.29) ahead of Harrod (2:20.63) and defending 1A champion Arielle Summitt of Urbana University (2:20.91). Rachel Olroyd of Carlinville won Heat 1 (2:23.88) while Marguerite Hendricksen of St. Thomas More was the winner in Heat 2 (2:22.78).

4x200 – Warrensburg-Latham picked up their second relay qualifier as they ran the fastest prelim time (1:44.87) to win Heat 4. Milledgeville surprised some running the second fastest prelim time (1:45.25) to win Heat 3. St. Joseph-Ogden’s quartet picked up the team’s third qualifier to Saturday’s finals as they ran 1:45.49 to win Heat 1. Bureau Valley won Heat 2 (1:47.56)

400 Meter Dash – Rebecca Waite of Milledgeville had the fastest prelim time by almost a full second. Her time of 58.01 won Heat 4. Kayla Armstrong qualified for the finals in her second individual event as she ran 58.96 to hold off Darcie Pilon of Riverdale to win Heat 2. Audrey Harrod, who earlier qualified in the 800 Meter Run, came back to win Heat 3 (59.34). Taylor Larson of Bushnell-Prairie City was the other heat winner taking Heat 1 (59.74).

300 Hurdles – Emery Podowicz of Clifton Central will be the favorite in Saturday’s finals as she had the fastest prelim by a second. Podowicz won Heat 3 (45.39) by more than a second ahead of Brownstown’s Claire Wilhour who also qualified. Natasha Bernett won Heat 2 (46.35), Gracie Feeney of El Paso-Gridley won Heat 1 (46.61), and Morgan Atchison won Heat 4 (46.51).

1600 Meter Run – Anna Sophia Keller of St. Anthony showed she is ready for this state meet. Keller had the fastest prelim time running 4:58.52 to win Heat 2. Keller took the lead 500-meters into the race passing Dwight’s Daly Galloway. The two were within a second of each other (2:33) at 800-meters before Keller pulled away. Galloway finished second in the Heat (5:12.37). Heat 1 was also exciting. Anna Heffren of Lewistown and Arielle Summitt traded the lead for most of this race before the two-sprinted in. Heffren won the race (5:08.62) ahead of Summitt (5:09.09). The next three across the line were within a second of each other led by Claudia Magnussen of Pana (5:11.30) followed by Liberty’s Katelynn Robbins (5:11.33) and North Shore Country Day’s Katie Glew (5:11.55).

200 Meter Dash – Courtney Sockwell is set to also defend her 200 title after she had the fastest prelim time Thursday. Sockwell’s time of 25.22 won Heat 1 ahead of Rebecca Waite (25.90). Taylor George qualified for her second final as she ran 25.51 to win Heat 4. Kayla Armstrong qualified for her third final as she ran 25.45 to win Heat 2 just ahead of Bella Uscila (25.51). Seven Hicks was the other heat winner capturing Heat 3 (25.82).

4x400 – St. Joseph-Ogden made a statement in this event as qualified their fourth relay for Saturday’s final. Their Heat 1 winning time of 4:06.59 was significant since the other heat winners ran between 4:10 and 4:11.

Field Events Prelims

High Jump – 1A sectional leader Kiah O’Neal of Rock Island Alleman and defending 1A champion DaeLin Switzer lead 17 qualifiers to the finals in his even all clearing 5-1. Lucy Rulon-Lux of St. Thomas More, who had won her sectional with a 5-3 mark, failed to advance to Saturday’s final.

Shot Put – Kathleen Young of Warrensburg-Latham is in position to win her fourth 1A tile in this event. She led all qualifiers to Saturday’s finals with a 48-11.5 effort. Chloe Lindeman of Fulton is her closest competition as she threw 43-1.5.

Discus – It looks like Kathleen Young will complete the career sweep in state meet weight events. Her throw of 147-8 leads after the preliminary round with Katie Witte of Salt Fork her closest competition (135-4).

Pole Vault – Defending champion Kristin Slaughter of St. Anthony cleared 10-3 along with eight qualifiers in Thursday prelims. Sarah Craig of Schlarman and Cassie Westjohn of Tuscola cleared 10-0 making ten qualifiers making it to Saturday’s finals.

Long Jump – Paige Yoder of Keith Country Day is the prelim leader heading to the finals as she cleared a personal best of 18-1. Bryn Guthrie of Litchfield jumped 17-11 and is currently in second.

Triple Jump – Four athletes went past 36 feet in the prelims with Danielle Taes of Orion leading with a 37-0.75 jump. Maddie Meyer of Argenta-Oreana is her closest competition. Meyer jumped 36-5.75.