May 18, 2026 | WALLS 102

Times-area track and field athletes bring home 4 championships from small-school IESA State Meet

Times-area track and field athletes bring home 4 championships from small-school IESA State Meet

Times-area track and field athletes bring home 4 championships from small-school IESA State Meet

Times-area track and field athletes bring home 4 championships from small-school IESA State Meet

The Illinois Elementary School Association held its Class 1A and 2A IESA State Meet over the weekend for both seventh- and eighth-graders At EastSide Centre in East Peoria. Multiple Times-area student-athletes earned state medals for top-eight finishes in their respective events across the multitude of class divisions, including IESA championships for Cornell’s Leah Smith, Milton Pope’s Malia Meents, Somonauk’s boys 1,600 sprint medley team of Logan Johnson, Dylan Larson, Jeffrey Jones and Sebastian Juneau and Wallace’s 4x400 girls relay team of Ainslee Gross, Breckyn Jobst, Audrey Riewaldt and Alyssa Bell.In the boys Class 8-2A division, the area’s lone IESA medalist was Seneca’s Dallen Myers (T-2nd, 3.24 meters in the pole vault).In the girls Class 8-2A division, Fieldcrest’s Trynity Mason (3rd, 4.67 in the long jump) earned a medal.In the boys Class 8-1A division, IESA medalists included Marseilles’s Damon Witte (T-6th, 2.36 in the pole vault), Lisbon’s Mitchell Hatteberg (8th, 5.48 in the long jump), Grand Ridge’s Zain Piccatto (6th, 17.95 seconds in the 110 hurdles), Milton Pope’s Damitri Sartori (5th, 24.80 in the 200), Cornell’s Landon Lyons (7th, 5:07.00 in the 1,600), Lisbon’s 4x100 relay team (7th, 50.71) and 4x400 relay (5th, 3:58.80) of Paxton Westerfield, Carter Friestad, Bradford Chapman and Hatteberg and Milton Pope’s 1,600 sprint medley team of Witte, Sartori, Gavin Coleman and Crayton Chapman (5th, 4:13.06).In the girls Class 8-1A division, IESA medalists included Milton Pope’s Madi Perino (T-5th, 2.14 in the pole vault), Ransom’s Carly Taylor (T-5th, 2.14 in the pole vaul), Cornell’s Leah Smith (1st, 10.03 in the shot put; 4th, 27.65 in the discus), Wallace’s Kennedy Kirkpatrick (T-6th, 1.41 in the high jump), Cornell’s Ryleigh Eggenberger (5th, 4.53 in the long jump; 5th, 1:04.72 in the 400), Lostant/Tonica’s Natali Moriarty (2nd, 16.58 in the 100 hurdles), Lisbon’s Mya Wesseh (2nd, 26.40 in the 200), Milton Pope’s Elizabeth Swartz (4th, 1:04.58 in the 400), Wallace’s Grace Mueller (8th, 6:07.87 in the 1,600), Lisbon’s 4x100 relay of Lyla Carslon, Allison Wallin, Sara Monsess and Wesseh (3rd, 54.15), Wallace’s 4x100 relay of Emmi Moore, Harper Carlson, Kennedy Kirkpatrick and Harmony Miller (8th, 56.50), Milton Pope’s 4x400 relay of Ellie Maierhofer, Madi Perino, Nora Maierhofer and Elizabeth Swartz (5th, 4:33.09) and Lisbon’s 1,600 sprint medley team of Monsess, Wallin, Wesseh and Sonja Friestad (4th, 4:45.07).In the boys Class 7-2A division, top-eight finishes were scored by Seneca’s Chalrie Derber (3rd, 2.52 in the pole vault; 4th, 58.26 in the 400), Dwight’s Nathan Wilkey (7th, 10.77 in the shot put; 6th, 31.61 in the discus), Fieldcrest’s Tanner West (7th, 12.83 in the 100; 5th, 58.81 in the 400), Somonauk’s Sebastian Juneau (6th, 5:09.10 in the 1,600), Serena’s 4x400 relay of Casey Drew, Kolby Mahler, Parker Tijerina and Kamron Brewick (5th, 4:09.44), Seneca’s 4x400 relay of Leon Corbin, Costner Stecken, Nolan Smith and Derber (8th, :13.42) and Somonauk’s aforementioned 1,600 sprint medley team (1st, 4:25.26).In the girls Class 7-2A division, the lone IESA medalist from the area was Serena’s Olivia Sterchi (3rd, 8.33 in the shot put).In the boys Class 7-1A division, Earlville’s Grant Cook (3rd, 1.51 in the high jump; 3rd, 5.19 in the long jump) and Wallace’s 1,600 sprint medley of Grady Armstrong, Parker Valdez, Liam Gross and Hudson Allen (7th, 4:37.95) scored top-eight finishes.In the girls Class 7-1A division, IESA medalists included Milton Pope’s Malia Meents (1st, 2.54 in the pole vault), Lostant/Tonica’s Ziva Zachary (3rd, 9.03 in the shot put; 7th, 23.41 in the discus), Lisbon’s Mazey Chapman (8th, 1.27 in the high jump; 6th, 1:05.99 in the 400), Lisbon’s Lyla Carlson (6th, 4.10 in the long jump), Wallace’s Alyssa Bell (6th, 2:36.64 in the 800), Wallace’s 4x200 relay of Bell, Evie Platt, Breckyn Jobst and Mia Mackey (8th, 2:02.88), Wallace’s aforementioned 4x400 relay team (1st, 4:30.96) and Wallace’s 1,600 sprint medley consisting of Mackey, Platt, Gross and Grace Mueller (5th, 4:58.01).

Times-area track and field athletes bring home 4 championships from small-school IESA State Meet

Times-area track and field athletes bring home 4 championships from small-school IESA State Meet

Times-area track and field athletes bring home 4 championships from small-school IESA State Meet

The IESA held its Class 1A and 2A State Meet over the weekend for both seventh- and eighth-graders At EastSide Centre in East Peoria. Multiple Times-area student-athletes earned state medals for top-eight finishes in their respective events.

Volunteers place 1,076 American flags in Morrison’s cemetery

A total of 1,076 American flags were placed Saturday at veterans’ gravesites in Morrison’s Grove Hill Cemetery.

Shaw Local Radio Podcast: Talk-Line’s Brandon Clark interviews Rock Falls Legion’s John Roush & Spring Miller

On this episode of Talk Line, host Brandon Clark is joined by Commander John Roush and Vice Commander Spring Miller from the Rock Falls American Legion to talk about the organization’s upcoming events.

After recovering from rare bone cancer, Madi Eikenberry is leading Rock Falls softball at the plate

Rock Falls softball player Madi Eikenberry missed her freshman year while battling Ewing sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer. Now one year cancer free, she has been the Rockets’ top hitter. ‘I’m so grateful for every