McGivney Sends Many Athletes To State, Wins North Mac Sectional Decisively, Hawks' Fields Qualifies In Sprints

VIRDEN - Father McGivney Catholic's girls track team will be sending many of its athletes to state, and took home the IHSA Class 1A sectional meet at Virden North Mac on Thursday afternoon.

The Griffins won the title with 140.5 points, with the host Panthers coming in second with 110 points, Carlinville was third with 70 points, Litchfield came in fourth at 68 points, and Marquette Catholic rounded out the top five with 59 points, Carrollton was seventh with 39 points, Piasa Southwestern and Staunton tied for eighth with 29 points each, Bunker Hill was 13th with 15 points, Metro-East Lutheran was 15th with 11 points, Maryville Christian was 16th on three points, and White Hall North Greene was 17th with 0.5 points.

Meanwhile, at the Nashville sectional, the host Hornets edged out Belleville Althoff Catholic for first place 119.5-118, while Trenton Wesclin was third on 83.5 points, fourth place went to Okawville with 71 points, and Breese Mater Dei Catholic rounded out the top five with 57 points. Valmeyer was 11th with 26 points, and East St. Louis SIUE Charter was 15th with six points.

In each event, the top two finishers qualified for the state meet next week, along with athletes who met or exceeded the state qualifying standard, regardless of position,

North Mac went one-two in the 100 meters, with Alexis Bowman winning at 12.38 seconds, and Kaelyn Swift second at 12.43, with Carrollton's Calie Field qualifying with a time of 12.52 seconds. Lilly Gilbertson of the Griffins won the 200 meters, coming in at 25.22 seconds, and Swift placing second at 25.87 seconds Marquette's Karly Davenport made it to state with a time of 26.19 seconds, and Field qualified with a time of 26.44 seconds. It was a McGivney one-two finish that sent both runners to state, with Gilbertson winning at 57.15 seconds, and Katelyn Hatley coming in at 59.59 seconds.

Elana Rybak of the Griffins won the 800 meters at 2:16.19, while Maddy Murphy of Carlinville was second at 2:34.84 The top two in the 1,600 meters were Rybak, at 5:02.67, and Jane Cummins at 5:33.43. Emma Wyman of the Piasa Birds won the 3,200 meters at 12:58,48, and McKenzie Jones of McGivney came in second at 13:24.23,

In the hurdles races, North Mac's Emma Crawford won the 100 meters at 15.44 seconds, while Kambria Simons of the Explorers also qualified, finishing second at 16.77 seconds. In the 300 meters, Kendall Stewart of Litchfield won the race, coming in at 46.48 seconds, while Crawford was second at 48.47 seconds.

In the relay races, North Mac took the 4x100 meters at 50.31 seconds, while Litchfield was second at 53.05 seconds. The Panthers won the 4x200 meters at 1:47.16, while the Griffins were second at 1:53.48. McGivney won the 4x400 meters at 4:13.58, while Litchfield was second at 4:24.77. In the 4x800 meters, the Griffins won with a time of 10:37.01, while the Cavaliers were second at 11:07.90.

In the field events, Hannah Gibson of Carlinville won the shot put with a throw of 10.85 meters, with Chloe Green of Mt. Olive coming in second, having a toss of 10.47 meters. The Cavies went one-two in the discus throw, with Gibson winning at 32.26 meters, and Payton Harding second at 32.24. Mia Range of the Griffins cleared 1.67 meters to claim the high jump, with both Bowman and Amari Vickrey of Gillespie going over at 1,52 meters, Bowman taking second on the fewest misses rule, but both advancing to state.

Stewart won the pole vault, with her and Lilly Trettenero of Staunton, going over at 3.04 meters with Stewart winning the event on the fewest misses, but both going on to state. In the long jump, Isabella Fenton of the Purple Panthers won, going 5.08 meters, with Morgan Gestes of the Griffins went 4.92 meters to place second. In the triple jump, Fenton also took the triple jump, going 10.10 meters, while Allison Cole of North Mac was second at 9.88 meters.

Over in the Nashville sectional, Ava McClellan of Valmeyer had the area's best time at 13,57, while in the 200 meters, the Pirates' Autumn Lewis was in at 28.33 seconds. Lewis qualified in the 400 meters, coming in at 1:03.93 to finish second, while SIUE Charter's T'Niyah Black came in at 1:10.53. In the 800 meters, Peyton Vest of Valmeyer was in at 3:00,96.

In the relays, the Cougars were seventh in the 4x100 meters, coming in at 54.52 seconds with Valmeyer finishing eighth in the 4x200 meters at 2:07.10. The Pirates were ninth in the 4x400 meters at 5:19.14.

In the field events, Ava Reeves of Valmeyer had a throw of 6.73 meters, while in the discus throw, Reeves had a toss of 19.09 meters. McClellan finished second in the long jump to qualify for state, going 5.18 meters, while Lewis went 4.50 meters.

The qualifiers will compete at the IHSA state meet next Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18 at O'Brien Stadium, at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

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