Unity’s Barry set to defend state long jump title, qualifies for Class 1A finals in two sprint events

CHARLESTON, Ill. — Saylor Barry’s defense of her state long jump championship is right on track.

The Mendon Unity junior topped the field in Thursday’s preliminary round with a leap of 5.50 meters (18 feet, .5 inches) at the Class 1A state track and field championships at O’Brien Stadium on the Eastern Illinois University campus.

She hit the mark on the first of her three preliminary jumps and jumped .08 meters farther than Effingham St. Anthony’s Reese Hoene.

Barry also qualified for the finals in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. She had the second fastest qualifying time in the 200 at 25.08 seconds with West Carroll’s Emma Randecker qualifying first at 24.64 seconds. Barry had the third fastest time in the 100 at 12.17 seconds. Randecker had the fastest qualifying time at 12.11 seconds.

Barry will compete in the finals in all three events Saturday. Last year, she won the long jump with a leap of 5.46 meters (17 feet, 11 inches) and finished sixth in both the 100 and 200 dashes.

The Camp Point Central 4×100 team also qualified for the finals. The quartet of Macie Lierly, Faith Alford, Ellie Foote and Adi Foss posted the seventh fastest time in the preliminaries at 50.59 seconds. Maroa-Forsyth posted the fastest preliminary time at 49.69.

Central took three other relay teams to state with the 4×200 team of Lierly, Foss, Alford and Foote finishing 10th in 1:48.71, just .1 seconds behind Pleasant Plains for the final qualifying spot. The 4×400 team finished 30th and the 4×800 team took 33rd.

Pittsfield’s 4×800 relay team finished 13th in 10:28.66, while Liberty’s 4×400 relay team finished 23rd in 4:23.29. West Hancock was 31st in the 4×100 and Pittsfield was 37th in the same event. Liberty’s 4×400 team finished 23rd.

Alford finished 16th in the triple jump, Foss finished 17th in the 100 dash and Pleasant Hill’s Kaitlyn Borrowman finished 19th in the 100 hurdles.

Pittsfield’s Avery Wyatt finished 28th in the 400 dash and the Saukees’ Hannah Williams took 28th in the 800 run. Unity’s Addy Bottorff was 28th in the 1,600 run, while West Hancock’s Sevin McTavish was 32nd. Pittsfield’s London Thometz was 31st in the 11 hurdles, while Central’s Agnes Genenbacher was 32nd in the 300 hurdles. Central’s Peyton Ehrhardt ended up 36th in the shot put.