Area Girls Advance to State Track and Field Finals

Area girls advanced to the finals at the 2024 State Track and Field Meet at O'Brien Stadium at Eastern Illinois University Thursday.

St. Anthony athletes had success in 1A competition.

Allison Geen reached the finals in the Pole Vault with a 3.05 meter vault. That was the second highest vault in Class 1A. 

Isabella Keller finished second in the 1600 meter run in a time of 5:00.16 to advance to the finals. Keller will also run the 3200 meter; there is no qualifying for the 3200, just the finals on Saturday.

Aubrey Denning finished third in the 800 meter run in 2:16.20 and 10th in the 1600 meter run in 5:11.07. 

Liv Hoene finshed ninth in the 300 meter hurdles in 48.40 to advance to the finals. 

St. Anthony did not advance in these events; Liv Hoene finished 26th in the 100 meter hurdles in 17.56; and the 4X400 meter relay team of Audrey LaSarge, Liv Hoene, Isabella Keller and Aubrey Denning finished 18th in 4:16.45. 

An area athlete...Rayna Persinger of North Clay...advanced in the long jump, finishing sixth in 5.25 meters.

In the triple jump, Ella Neihls of Teutopolis advanced with a fourth place finish in 11.04 meters.

In the pole vault, both Carasyn Martin of Newton and Camryn Martin of Newton advanced with a 3.05 meter vault.

Newton's 4X200 relay team of Alaina Kuhl, Elley Bennett, Morgan Schafer and Makayla McVicar advanced in 1:49.57

Effingham will be competing in the 2A state preliminaries today. 

The finals in all classes are set for Saturday.