Class AA Junior High Athletes Set For State Track Meets

Seventh and eighth-grade athletes from the area are headed to the Class 2A State Track Meets at Eastside Centre in East Peoria.

Tracksters from Effingham, Teutopolis and Jasper County will be competing Friday and Saturday.

There are 14 events in each of the four classes (seventh grade girls; seventh grade boys; eighth grade girls; eighth grade boys). There will be a grand total of 56 events. Field event competition begins Friday at 11 a.m. This is one hour earlier than previous years. In the field events, the preliminaries and finals are conducted on the same day that the respective event is held. Some field events are held on Friday and some are held on Saturday. The running events get under way Friday at 1:15 p.m. with the preliminaries and semifinals of the hurdle event followed by the 400 m dash, the 1600 meter run and the preliminaries and semifinals of the 100 m dash. Only the hurdle event and the 100-meter dash are held with preliminaries and semifinals. In all other running events, timed finals is the format. The best times from all the heats or sections in a respective running event determine final places in that event.

Competition on Saturday begins at 9 a.m. with the finals of the hurdles followed immediately by the finals of the 100 meter dash. Those eight races should be completed by 9:30. Running events will then resume with the 800 relay and run continuously throughout the day. After the conclusion of the 4 x 200 relay, then the 400 relay will be held, followed by the 200 meter dash; the 800 meter run and then the 1600 meter relay. Field events that are not held on Friday will also get started at 9 a.m. Saturday and will also continue throughout the day. The event is expected to conclude around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Following are the athletes and their events:

Pole Vault -- Mitchell Althoff (Teutopolis), Luke Koester (Teutopolis), Ben Meinhart (Jasper County), Dalton Fox (Effingham)

110 Hurdles -- Ben Meinhart (Jasper County)

Shot -- Sam Bushur (Teutopolis)

100 -- Devin Shaffer (Jasper County)

High Jump -- Kendall Schmidt (Teutopolis)

200 -- Devin Shaffer (Jasper County)

800 Relay -- Teutopolis

Eighth-Grade Boys

Long Jump -- Tristian Duncan (Effingham)

Shot -- Dylan Overbeck (Teutopolis), Matthew Deters (Teutopolis)

1600 -- Ethan Weidner (Teutopolis)

Discus -- Tristen Elkin (Effingham)

100 -- Tristian Duncan (Effingham)

Pole Vault -- Kolten Koester (Teutopolis), Brody Mette (Teutopolis), Nathan Thompson (Effingham)

400 Relay -- Effingham

High Jump -- Evan Addis (Teutopolis)

400 -- Blaine Murray (Jasper County)

200 -- Tristian Duncan (Effingham)

1600 Relay -- Teutopolis

Seventh-Grade Girls

High Jump -- Macy Probst (Teutopolis)

Shot -- Camryn Duncan (Effingham)

400 -- Grace Bushur (Effingham)

800 Relay -- Effingham

Pole Vault -- Isabelle Hemmen

Eighth-Grade Girls

High Jump -- Shelby Rieman (Effingham)

1600 -- Jessica Runde (Teutopolis)

Discus -- Emma Hardiek (Effingham)

Long Jump -- Ana Rodriguez (Jasper County)

200 -- Mackenzie Wittenberg (Effingham)

800 Relay -- Teutopolis

1600 Relay -- Teutopolis

Pole Vault -- Mallory Stone (Teutopolis)