By Fred Kroner
Oakwood Junior High qualified seventh-graders for state in five events and eighth-graders in four events for the IESA boys’ Class 2A track and field meet.
The state finals will be held on Friday (May 12) and Saturday (May 13).
The qualifications took place on Saturday (May 6) at the 14-school Kankakee Bishop McNamara Sectional.
Eighth-grader Carsen Dudley advanced to state in two individual events and with the 800-meter relay. The other eighth-grader advancer was Walker Enos.
Dudley was the sectional champion in the shot put (40 feet, 2 ¼ inches) and the runner-up in the high jump (personal-best 5 feet, 7 inches).
At state, he will join Trevor Hanner, Kyler Johnson and Cale Thomas on the 800 relay, which took third at sectional in 1:45.9.
Enos qualified in the discus, winning the event with a personal-best 98 feet, 9 inches.
Winners in all 14 events qualified for state as did others who met pre-determined times or distances.
The sectional runner-up in the discus was teammate Gauge Carrillo (91 feet, 11 inches).
Besides Dudley and Enos, other Oakwood athletes who placed among the top 10 and achieved personal bests were: Johnson (fifth in the 110-meter high hurdles in 17.8 seconds), Thomas (seventh in the 200 meters in 26.1 seconds), Collin Furry (eighth in the 1,600 meters in 6:11.1) and Alex Silha (eighth in the 400 meters in 1:03.5).
Other top-10 individual placers for Oakwood were Johnson (fourth in the shot put at 34 feet, 2 inches, and tied for eighth in the 100 meters in 12.9 seconds), Thomas (sixth in the long jump at 15 feet, 7 inches, and tied for eighth in the 100 meters in 12.9 seconds), Dudley (seventh in the long jump at 15 feet, 4 inches) and Cooper Murray (ninth in the 1,600 meters in 6:15.5).
Perez won the long jump (16 feet, 2 ¾ inches) and was sixth in the 200 meters (personal-best 26.4 seconds).
Young and Perez also advanced to state in the 800-meter relay, joining Westen Frazier and Riglee Hart. The foursome placed second at sectionals in 1:53.5.
The Oakwood seventh-graders had six other top-10 finishes: Perez (fourth in the 100 meters in 13.1 seconds), Young (fourth in the long jump at 15 feet, ½ inch), Hart (fifth in the 110-meter high hurdles in 20.6 seconds and sixth in the discus at 64 feet, 7 inches), Emmett Grimm (sixth in the shot put at 26 feet, 3 ¾ inches) and Solomon Cravens (10th in the shot put at 23 feet, 5 inches).
The Class 2A state meet will be held at the EastSide Centre, in East Peoria.
The school’s 400-meter relay ran eighth in 1:04.1. Sharing the baton were Amber Bretwiser, Pierce, Doss and Brown.
