Several county middle schoolers conclude track season at state
Drake Smith and Carter Murphy recently brought home high jump medals for Palmyra-Northwestern at the IESA track and field state finals. Smith placed third overall and Murphy took fifth. Photo courtesy of the Northwestern CUSD #2 Facebook page.
Plamyra’s Drake Smith third in high jump, Mt. Olive’s Chloe Green fourth in shot put
By JACKSON WILSON
Enquirer Democrat Reporter
Several county representatives recently extended their middle school track seasons all the way to the final weekend at the Illinois Elementary School Association state finals.
At least one athlete from every local school qualified for preliminaries or medaled.
Drake Smith of Palmyra was the top finisher of them all, placing third in the 7-1A high jump (5-1.25) and barely overcoming his teammate, Carter Murphy, who came in fifth.
Chloe Green of Mt. Olive ranked fourth overall in 8-1A shot put finals at 29-03. Her Bomber teammates Alena Graham and Jillian Kosowski also cracked the top ten in their respective events. Graham ran the 400-meter dash in 1:05 for sixth place and Kosowski finished eighth in the 7-2A 200-meter dash (29.24 seconds).
Ella Brawner not only qualified for the 7-3A championship round as a sixth grader for Gillespie, but walked away a fifth place medalist with a score of seven-flat.
Ashley Ronan of Girard North Mac also competed in the pole vault finals and landed a sixth place medal in the 8-3A class at 7-06.
Lacie Edwards of Staunton placed seventh in the 7-3A 100-meter dash with a 13.37-second sprint.
Gillespie eighth grader Maggie Heyen qualified for two events. She stuck an 81-05 discus for eighth and ranked 12th in the shot put at 29-06.5.
Another Gillespie athlete, Xzavier Spencer, sprung his way to 10th place in the high jump (4-09).
Kaden Matuska ran the 8-3A 200-meter dash in 24.82 seconds for Southwestern, placing 11th.
Carlinville was recently represented by Joel White, Payton Harding and Laney Owsley at the IESA track and field state finals. White medaled in two events – the discus (eighth; 103-09) and shot put (ninth; 35-03). Harding ranked ninth in the girls’ shot put at 30-02 and Owsley finished tenth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:36. Photo contributed.
Carlinville was represented by Joel White, Payton Harding and Laney Owsley. White medaled in two events – the discus (eighth; 103-09) and shot put (ninth; 35-03). Harding ranked ninth in the girls’ shot put at 30-02 and Owsley finished tenth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:36.
The Bunker Hill duo of Jude Ramirez and Ethan Miles took on the 400m dash and shot put at the 8-2A level. Ramirez ranked 11th in the 400m dash (57.44 seconds). Miles came in 15th with a 39-11 tally in the shot put.
Jace Spickerman of Staunton ran the 1,600-meter race in 5:18 for 17th place.
Alex Schoen (35-09) and Isaac Kravanya (106-05) ranked 21st and 23rd in the shot put and discus, respectively, for the Gillespie boys.
Team relays were headlined by Staunton, Southwestern and North Mac. Staunton ranked 10th at 54.22 seconds in the 8-3A 4×100 and 13th at 56.18 seconds in the 7-3A 4×100. Southwestern’s eighth grade boys finished 11th in the 4×400 (3:51) and the North Mac seventh grade girls settled for 14th in the 4×100 (55.01 seconds).
