St. Joseph wins IESA Class 3A Newton Sectional

By Fred Kroner

St. Joseph’s eighth-grade boys’ track and field team produced sectional champions in four individual events and won team honors on Saturday (May 13) in the IESA Class 3A Newton Sectional.

St. Joseph amassed 70 points. Runner-up Toledo Cumberland had 48 points and third-place Tolono Unity ended with 45 points.

St. Joseph earned a total of six state-qualifying berths.

The Panthers’ sectional titlists included two-event winner Waylon Jones, personal-best 55.58 second in the 400 meters and personal-best 17 feet, 9 ½ inches in the long jump.

St. Joseph dominated in the throws as well.

Willis Canamore hit a personal-best 150 feet, 9 inches while winning the discus and Cam Wagner launched his discus 144 feet, 4 inches, also a personal best, to qualify for the state meet.

Wagner, who was third in the discus, was the shot put winner at 44 feet, 10 ½ inches.

Also advancing to state was 100-meter runner Gunnar George, who placed second in a personal-best 12.24 seconds.

Two athletes who also ended among the top 10 individually, but did not qualify for state, registered their personal-best times.

They were Jones in the 100 meters (seventh in 12.64 seconds) and Tyler Hess in the 400 meters (eighth in 1:02.27).

The team’s other field-event placers were Eli Garrett (third in the shot put at 35 feet, 6 ¾ inches) and George (fourth in the long jump at 17 feet, ½ inch).

Two of the Panthers’ relays fared well.

The 1,600-meter foursome ran fifth in 4:01.68. Handling the baton were Brayden Waller, Zach Benoit, Hess and Jones.

The 800-meter unit ended in seventh place, clocking a cumulative time of 1:50.94. Teaming up on the relay were Cameron Sharp, Mason Olinger, Chase Mabry and Benoit.

The two-day state meet will start on Friday (May 19) at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria. The Parade of Athletes will begin at 10:15 a.m. on Friday, with competition  beginning at 11 o’clock. Saturday’s events start at 9 a.m.

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St. Joseph’s seventh-grade boys’ track and field team did not wind up with any IESA state-qualifiers, but five of their top-10 individual placers at the Newton Sectional on Saturday (May 13) recorded their best career marks.

Adam  Bello achieved two personal bests. He placed eighth in both the 400 meters (1:07.04) and the pole vault (6 feet, 3 inches).

The Panthers’ other personal-bests were turned in by Jackson Kasper (third in the 800 meters in 2:27.78), Eli Franklin (seventh in the 1,600 meters in 5:33.94) and Brandon Grindley (eighth in the high jump at 4 feet, 9 inches).

The team’s other top-10 finishers were Dalton Trotter (second in the long jump at 14 feet, 6 inches), Franklin (sixth in the 800 meters in 2:35.22) and Landon May (ninth in the shot put at 28 feet, 11 inches).

All three of the school’s relays wound up among the top 10 in their races, led by the fifth-place 1,600-meter grouping of Bello, Logan Umbarger, Conlin Gill and Kasper. Their cumulative time was 4:38.89.

The 800-meter relay unit crossed the finish line in seventh place. The relay runners were Gill, Trotter, Grindley and Umbarger. Their combined time was 2:00.62.

St. Joseph’s 400-meter foursome also finished in seventh place. Teaming up in the race were Isaiah Reynolds, Maddyx Martin, Mason Osterbur and Kenny Gonzalez. They stopped the clock in 57.30 seconds.

Team honors in the seventh-grade division were won by Teutopolis (65 points), followed by Shelbyville (54 points). St. Joseph was 10th with 17 points.