Hononegah's Jordan Dimke leads a strong local charge to girls state track and field meet
This week's sectionals, which kicked off three-fold on Wednesday, separates the best from the rest as the girls track and field season reaches the pinnacle.
And Hononegah's Jordan Dimke, who qualified for state in all four of her events this week, is clearly one of the best.
This was a standout year for girls track and field all across the Rockford area, and that will continue right through this week's sectionals and into next week's IHSA girls state track and field meet from Thursday-Saturday in Charleston. The top two finishers in every event at this week's sectionals, as well as those that eclipse the state standard times and distances, advance to state.
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It all kicked in Wednesday, with Dimke and plenty of other locals competing for top spots at the 3A Huntley Sectional, and more in the Class 2A Rochelle and Mundelein Carmel sectionals. It will pick back up on Friday with the 1A Oregon Sectional.
Here are all of the Rockford-area athletes who qualified for the girls state track and field meet:
Class 3A Huntley Sectional
Hononegah's Dimke was the only Rockford-area competitor to advance to state in four events in either Class 2A or 3A, although plenty of stars from the three-time NIC-10 champions out of Guilford came up big once again. The Vikings were led by three-event state qualifier Zariah Burnett.
Burnett led the charge for four Rockford-area high jumpers to advance to state out of the Huntley Sectional. Burnett won it all with a make at 5-feet-7 3/4; Dimke placed second at 5-5 3/4; Auburn's Jaeda Benford got third but also cleared 5-5 3/4 to get to state; and Belvidere's Bella Sterenberg made it over 5-1 3/4 to make it to state as well.
Dimke stepped up her game all day and night, advancing to state in three more events: with a second and on time in the 300 hurdles (46.60); teaming up with Sophia Hedges, Dimke, Lauren Frake and Kylie Simpson to win the 4x400 in 4:01.47; and joining Simpson, Frake and Allyson Niedfeldt to make it to state in the 4x800 with a time of 9:38.81.
Burnett, just a sophomore, was also part of the three-girl crew of state qualifiers from the area in the long jump, where she placed fourth but flew on with a leap of 17-7 1/2. Hononegah's Sophia Hedges got second with a flight of 18-1 3/4, and her teammate Kali Schleis got third and advanced on distance by soaring 17-9 3/4. Hononegah pole vaulter Amelia Bronnimann cleared 9-9 and tied for second to stretch her season one more week as well.
Burnett and Ashley Canseco, Natalyia Stallings and Lillian Jarrett also advanced in the 4x100, placing third but just making it by .02 with a time of 49.32. Jarrett also soared to state with a sectional-winning time of 58.62 in the 400 run.
Guilford's Anna Jones got third in the 100 hurdles and advanced on time, clocking a 15.72. Jones did come up two inches short in triple jump, though. Another Guilford star, Natassja Bowman advanced to state in both the shot put (first at 37-2 1/2) and the discus (second at 119-feet).
Auburn's star senior Essence Horton-Graves is headed to state in three events after she first won the 100 dash in 12.21 to get back to state in that event, and she later placed second to make it in the 200 dash, clocking a 25.23. She also teamed up with Narya Benford, Carrington Weatherly and Jaeda Benford for a 1:45.89, a second place, and a spot at state in the 4x200 relay.
A botched handoff and a 10th-place finish in the 4x100 was the only thing keeping Horton-Graves from four slots at state.
Class 2A Rochelle Sectional
Freeport's speedy freshman twins Ta'Leiah and Taniah McElroy will both be busy at state next weekend, with Ta'Leiah making it down in four events, and Taniah going in three. They went 1-2, respectively, in the 100 dash with times of 12.57 and 12.63, and they were both key factors to Freeport's winning run of 49.21 in the 4x100 relay and of 1:44.58 in the 4x200. Ta'Leiah also made it to state by winning the 200 dash in 25.98.
"We just want to keep getting better and better," Ta'Leiah said, "and keep having fun."
Freeport's Elizabeth Wuebbels made it to state with a second-place toss of 35-8 3/4, which is also far enough to advance anyway.
Byron's Ashley Potter blasted her way to state by winning the 400 run in 1:00.63, and she helped lift Byron to state in the 4x400 with a time of 4:11.63. She teamed up with Skylar Palmgren, Abby Connell and Neve Schilling.
Stillman Valley's Dionyesia Cantu-Ramos just barely advanced in the 100 hurdles in 16.59, and her hurdling teammate Makinzie Lamb made it with a second in the 300 hurdles in 47.68.
Class 2A Mundelein Carmel Sectional
Out of the 2A Carmel Sectional, a pair of Boylan Titans made it in the 1,600 run, where junior Natalie Tekampe took first in 5:18.78, and another junior, Reese Kohnle, made it on time in 5:24.32. Another Tekampe, this time freshman Vanessa, took second and made it in the 3,200 with a time of 13:01.88.
Boylan — and the Tekampe's and the Kohnle's — weren't done there as Caroline Barker took second in the 300 hurdles in 47.12, and Lily Shields made it on time with a third-place mark of 2:23.12 in the 800 run. Natalie Tekampe also teamed up with Shields and Reese Kohnle and her sister Gabrielle Kohnle to win the 4x800 relay in 9:47.88, and Natalie Tekampe will also be joined by Barker, Shields and Mary Cyrs in the 4x400 at state as well, after they finished the meet off by taking third, but getting through on time with a 4:13.29.
Lola Robertson was the lone athlete to keep her season alive from Durand/Pecatonica after she cleared the bar set at 5-feet and 1/2-inch in the high jump. She also soared 33-7 1/2 in the triple jump, which would have been far enough to make it in 1A (where Du/Pec was last year), but wasn't enough in 2A (where it is this year).
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Find out who qualified for the girls state track and field meet from this week
