ALAH Jr. High Track & Field Athletes Compete at IESA Class 3A State Meet
The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond Jr. High State Qualifiers walked in the Parade of Competitors at the IESA Class 3A and 4A State meet on Friday, May 20 before the start of the day’s competition. From left to right across the track, starting on the left in the white t-shirt, Daylon Doggett, Payton Warrior, Cash Hale, Easton Frederick, and behind Easton, Justin Schrock. In front of Easton, the girls are Brynlee Moore, Leighton Poulos, Brooklynn Peeler, Sophie Monts, Cassidy Rohacs, Ruby Burton, Embrey Reardon and on the far right, Alex Clark. There were around 2300 athletes in Classes 3A and 4A competing in the two day State Meet.
Cassidy Rohacs and Ruby Burton Earn State Medals!!
On Friday, May 20, thirteen jr. high track and field athletes, 5 boys and 8 girls, left in the early morning for East Peoria site of the IESA Class 3A State Track and Field Meet. The athletes joined with the other schools and individuals for the Parade of
Competitors as they lined the track for the Competitors Oath read by two jr. high students.
Then it was on to the competition on a hot, sunny day. First up for the Knights was Leighton Poulos in the seventh grade girls’ long jump where she jumped 13’ 4.25” to finish ninth, an unfortunate trend for Leighton as she also was ninth in the 100m/14.70 later on Friday and then ninth in the 200m/29.38 on Saturday. The unfortunate part was they award eight medals at State so she narrowly missed bringing home three medals in her events. In fact, her 100 meter time had to be figured out to the thousandths to determine her place which was six one thousandths behind the eighth place runner.
The next two events on Friday, would be where the medals would be earned by ALAH. Cassidy Rohacs ran in the 100 meter hurdles pre-lims and her time of 17.9 qualified her for the finals later that afternoon in which she would race to a 17.70 time and finish in fourth place.
For the eighth grade, Alex Clark threw the discus 75’ 6” and once again finished in the, oh so close ninth place. Her teammate Ruby Burton ran a 1:06.14 in the eighth grade 400 meters and finished seventh to earn another medal for the Knights.
That brought an end to the first day of competition.
The weather on Saturday, was quite the contrast to the first day at State. The day began with the first of two lightning delays while a storm passed through just after arriving at the EastSide Centre. When the lightning detector goes off at the Centre all athletes and coaches go into the field house next to the track while spectators have to go back to their vehicles. After a short delay, the meet was back on with another Parade of Competitors to begin the day.
First up for the Knights was the 4 X 2 boys eighth grade relay which was delayed by another weather alert after the first several groups of relays ran in a pouring rain. After the rain, it was much cooler but Justin Schrock, Easton Frederick, Daylon Doggett and Payton Warrior ran a 1:45.49. The seventh grade girls’ 4 X 1 relay of Cassidy Rohacs, Sophie Monts, Brooklynn Peeler and Leighton Poulos ran a 54.80 time. Payton Warrior ran in the eighth grade 200 meters in a time of 25.93. Embrey Reardon ran a 2:49.57 in the seventh grade girls’ 800 and Brynlee Moore competed in the seventh grade high jump.
The JH State meet provided the ALAH athletes the chance to go up against the best in the State in Class 3A. They all gained experience that will benefit them in track and field and other areas of their lives.
The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond jr. high track and field teams all had success this season and look forward to continuing that in Jr. High or High School next year.
