Charleston Middle School advanced more than a dozen athletes into the IESA State track and field meet despite rain having postponed several events until Monday.
And Mattoon Middle will be sending athletes in at least eight events.
Charleston Middle’s eighth-grade team moved into position Saturday to win another state title. The athletes who delivered last year’s Class 4A seventh-grade boys title came through again Saturday for CMS’s eighth-grade team during the sectional event at Mt. Zion High School.
CMS athletes overall won four events and placed in several others behind numerous PRs and a school record.
Jacob Reed tied the Charleston Middle record in winning the eighth-grade boys long jump, soaring 19 feet, 11.5 inches to match Page Alexander’s effort in 1981.
Plus, DraySean Eich set a PR to win the 110-meter hurdles in 16.3 and ran the opening leg of CMS’s winning 4×200 relay team that included Reid Brinkerhoff, Maddox Archibald and Jacob Reed. They clocked in at 1 minute, 39.75 seconds to edge Champaign Jefferson by .2 seconds.
Eich also finished second in the long jump, going 18-11.5 to qualify.
Charleston Middle’s 4×100 relay of Treylin Couch, Russell Applegate, Braxton Hanner and Alex England won by .06 seconds, clocking 48.35.
Maddox Archibald, who has a PR of 6 feet, scratched after making the state-qualifying height of 5-6 so he could focus on other running events.
CMS seventh-grader Quincy Strange, meanwhile, shattered his PR by tossing the discus 126 feet, 1/2 inch – more than 31 feet farther than his previous best to take third and qualify for the state meet.
“When the pressure was on, he just let it go,” said Charleston Middle track coach Bill Standerfer.
Mitchell Clapp may have had the top individual performance for Mattoon Middle, winning the discus by 13 feet over teammate Jackson Morgan in 141-2. Morgan placed second even though he had just started throwing the discus about two weeks ago.
Morgan qualified in the high jump as well, going 5-6.
Zion Johnson led Mattoon Middle’s eighth-grade girls squad by winning two events and qualifying in three total for the state meet. Johnson ran a blistering 27.05 to win the 200 meters, leaped 14-11 to beat her best by 5.75 inches and win the long jump and took fourth in the 100 at 13.2.
Teammate Natalie Forsythe won the 100-meter hurdles by .71 seconds in a PR of 17.48.
Here are other local qualifiers:
- 7th grade boys shot put – Trent Keeton (CMS), 4th place
- 8th grade boys pole vault – Aidan Wayne (CMS)
- 7th grade girls pole vault – Melaina Morrison (CMS)
- 8th grade boys 4×100 – Jackson Morgan, Tyler Haacke, Anthony Spracklen, Javien Middleton (MMS), 49.2.
- 8th grade girls 4×100 – Marlee Zunigam, Mickaylee Patton, Arianna Weiss, CC Cardwell (CMS), 53.78.
It appears that Jacob Reed qualified in the eighth-grade boys 400, but the official results have not been posted.
“It’s great to see the kids give it their all, and we saw a lot of PRs,” Standerfer said. “We just want to get them there (to state) next week and see what happens.”
Sectional competition continues Monday starting at 4 p.m.
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