Loran Tate Leads Heritage to Strong Finishes in Champaign County Track Meet

By Fred Kroner

Loran Tate placed among the top eight in two individual events and helped two relays to top-eight finishes on Saturday (March 30) in the 10-school Champaign County girls’ track and field meet at Urbana.

Tate was fourth in the triple jump (31 feet, 8 inches) and seventh in the 200 meters (personal-best 27.82).

She helped the 400-meter relay to a fifth-place finish. She was joined by Madi Wilson, Bri Ploense and Alex Tatman. Their combined time was 54.98 seconds.

The Hawks’ 800 relay featured the same runners, but in a different order. Their cumulative time was 2:01.13 and they took seventh.

On Thursday (March 28), the Hawks’ 800-meter relay unit (Tate, Wilson, Ploense and Tatman) was triumphant in a five-school meet at Tuscola. Their overall time was 1:59.78.

The same four runners teamed up for a second-place finish in the 400-meter relay (1:12.85).

Individually, Tate was second in the triple jump (31-8) and third in the 200 meters (28.87 seconds), Ploense was sixth in the long jump (12-9) and seventh in the 100 meters (14.03), Wilson was eighth in the 200 meters (30.92) and Bailee Lubben was ninth in the shot put (23 feet).

Team honors were won by Tuscola (149 points). Heritage was fifth with 24 points.