St. Joseph Middle School track and field advances in nine IESA events
By Fred Kroner
St. Joseph Middle School seventh-grade athletes stacked up five IESA boys’ state track and field berths during the Saturday (May 14) Class 3A sectional at Maroa-Forsyth.
The eighth-graders advanced athletes in four events.
The seventh-grade contingent features Cam Wagner and Willis Canamore in two events each.
Wagner won both the shot put (37 feet, 8 ½ inches) and the discus (120 feet, 4 inches).
Canamore was second in the discus at the sectional (116 feet, 10 inches) and fifth in the shot put (34 feet, 11 ½ inches).
Also advancing was the 1,600-meter relay foursome of Brayden Waller, Canamore, Tyler Hess and Waylon Jones. They were timed in 4:08.48 and placed second.
Lance Retz was one of three eighth-graders to extend his season by a week. He was victorious in both the 800 meters (2:21.57) and the 1,600 meters (5:00.35).
Brennan Oleynichak won the discus (123 feet, 1 ½ inches) and teammate Tim Blackburn-Kelley qualified for state with a runner-up performance in the high jump. He cleared 5 feet, 6 inches.
St. Joseph eighth-grade runners registered four other top-10 performances at sectional, a total matched by the school’s field-event entries.
Blackburn-Kelley put in a second-place finish in the 200 meters (25.02 seconds) along with a third-place showing in the 100 meters (12.28 seconds).
Wyatt Wertz placed sixth in the 400 meters (59.15 seconds). Colton Overstreet ran 10th in the 1,600 meters (5:54.22).
In the field events, Will Franklin tied for third in the discus (92 feet, 6 inches), Quinn Stahl landed fourth in the pole vault (7 feet, 3 inches), Overstreet was seventh in the long jump (17 feet, 1 1/2 inches) and Zach Harper placed eighth in the long jump (16 feet, 10 ½ inches).
All three of the eighth-grade relays were among the top eight at the sectional, led by the fifth-place 1,600-meter grouping of Blackburn-Kelley, Wertz, Harper and Retz. Their time was 4:11.22.
The 800-meter relay wound up in sixth place. The relay featured Luke Tranel, Patrick McMahon, Justice Heidel and Landon Smith. Their cumulative time was 1:59.75.
Sharing the baton on the 400-meter relay, which finished eighth, were Waller, Harper, Canamore and Logan Xiao. They stopped the clock in 53.90 seconds.
In the seventh-grade portion of the Class 3A sectional, four runners and two athletes in field events placed among the leaders.
Jones and Patrick Clark ended second and third, respectively, in the 1,600 meters. Jones was timed in 5:27.65 and Clark crossed in 5:38.67.
Clark also captured a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters (2:40.94), an event where teammate Collin Burnett was ninth (2:49.34).
Waller tacked on a sixth-place finish in the long jump (15 feet, 1 ½ inches). Jones contributed a ninth-place finish in the long jump (14 feet, 10 ¾ inches).
The school’s 400-meter relay ended in ninth place. The runners were Conlin Gill, Mason Osterber, Maddyx Martin and Logan Umbarger. Their combined time was 59.79 seconds.
The IESA state meet will be held on Friday (May 20) and Saturday (May 21) at the East Side Centre in East Peoria.
