By Ben Cox
I’ve only got so many words to lay out all of the postseason happenings that will wrap up for high school and junior high in the next few weeks. So let’s get to it.
Junior High Track & Field
The 1A and 2A IESA Track meet was held May 16-17 in Peoria at EastSide Centre. The following stars made the podium from the area:
- Boys 400m 1A 7th Grade – 8th place, Liam Pine, Our Saviour, 1:01.55
- Boys 1600m 2A 7th Grade – 4th place, Corbin Beck, Virginia, Season best time 5:13.15
- Boys 110m Hurdles 2A 7th Grade – 4th place, Wayne Bruns, Winchester, 17.47
- Boys Pole Vault 1A 7th Grade – 7th place, Nathan Williams, Waverly, 2.2m
- Boys Pole Vault 1A 8th Grade – 8th place, Billy Gard, Waverly, 2.52m
- Boys Discus 2A 8th Grade – 4th place, Aydin Kessinger, Winchester, 44.83m
- Boys Pole Vault 2A 7th Grade – tied 6th place, Corbin Beck, Virginia, 2.2m
- Boys 4x200m Relay 1A 7th Grade – Our Saviour team of M. Alan, K. Taylor, C. Hager, L. Pine, S. Long, B. Schumacher – Season Best time, 1:54.20
- Boys 4x400m Relay 1A 8th Grade – Waverly team of W. Robinette, H. Bennett, B. Mefford, A. Bettis, B. Gard, D. Lyons – 4:04.10
- Girls 100m Hurdles 2A 8th Grade – 4th place, Evynn Gregory, Winchester, Personal record time 17.36
- Girls High Jump 1A 7th Grade – 7th place, Talya Wallbaum, Waverly, 1.33m
- Girls 800m 1A 7th Grade – 3rd place, Celine Kuhn, ISD, Personal record time 2:32.15
We must make an addition here. Celine Kuhn, from ISD, along with teammate Geralyn Walker, made school history this week. Both of them were the school’s first sectional champions in track since 2001. Kuhn, a seventh-grader, won both the 1,600-meter run and the 800-meter run at sectionals. Walker, a sixth-grader, won the 200. Walker finished 15th in the 200m dash at the state meet against a field of all 7th graders. Kuhn narrowly missed the podium in the 1600m run on May 16, finishing with a time of 6:04.34 — less than 6 seconds from an 8th place medal.
High School Girls Track & Field
Several young women qualified for the Class 1A State track and field meet coming up on May 22. Virginia High School junior Faith Wingert qualified in the 100-meter dash, Routt Catholic High School freshman Millie Schumacher qualified in the 400-meter and 800-meter runs, Winchester junior Izzy Wellenreiter qualified in the 1600-meter run. Winchester freshman Maci Peterson qualified in both the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles. Winchester senior Brylee Lawson qualified in the discus throw. The boys will get their chance to head to state early in the coming week.
High School Baseball
Jacksonville High School baseball has one week left in the regular season with home games coming up against Springfield and Quincy in the following week. The Crimsons finished the week 4-0, with wins over Pittsfield, two wins over Southeast and a win Saturday over New Berlin. The Crimsons will host the Regional starting on May 28 against Springfield at 7 p.m. The Crimsons are currently 19-14 overall and 6-3 in the Central State 8 conference.
Routt baseball also had an equally good week taking the Western Illinois Valley Conference Tournament crown for the fourth year in a row, capturing three straight wins against Carrollton, West Central and Calhoun. The hangover wouldn’t last as Illini West took them to 11 innings on May 15 for a 6-5 loss. However, Routt won their final game of the regular season against Quincy-Notre Dame road – finishing the regular season 19-12 overall. The Rockets will play the winner of Payson-Seymour and Augusta-Southeastern on May 21 to start IHSA Regional Tournament play in Mendon on May 21.
High School Softball
Jacksonville High School and Routt have both had rough softball seasons. Jacksonville has one game left in the regular season before starting regional play against Jerseyville on May 28. Routt finished their regular season this past week. They had no wins this year. They will play West Central on May 19 to begin regional play in Class 1A. The winner between Routt and West Central will have to face top-seed Triopia on May 20 in the second round. Triopia, Calhoun and Carrollton will be the teams to watch in the area for long playoff runs. Triopia finished their regular season this past week at 25-7 and 7-2 in the WIVC Conference behind Carrollton and Calhoun. Carrollton took home the WIVC softball title with a 9-6 victory over Triopia in the championship game. Triopia knocked Calhoun out of the championship game Carrollton lost their one and only regular season game on May 15 against Jerseyville and are currently 31-1.
Correction
In the Collin Brunstein story last week, we had an incorrectly attributed photo. We’ve provided a current headshot of Brunstein.
