Put it on repeat: Unity’s Barry defends state long jump championship, brings home three medals

CHARLESTON, Ill. — All Saylor Barry wanted to see was the white flag raised.

After scratching on her final two attempts Friday in the preliminaries of the long jump at the Class 1A girls state track and field championships, the Mendon Unity junior didn’t want to endure the added pressure of scratching on any of her three jumps in Saturday’s finals.

“So there was a little bit of pressure,” said Barry, who qualified first with a jump of 5.50 meters. “Knowing that I want to keep the first-place spot and everyone wants the championship, that’s kind of a lot of pressure. But it’s something I know how to do and that I’ve been working toward all season, so that kind of settles my nerves.”

So did the realization she didn’t scratch on her first attempt.

“I felt like it was a really good jump, and when I looked back at the white flag, it was just relief,” Barry said, noting a white flag signals a legal attempt and a red flag means a scratch. “The last two jumps I had (Friday) were the red flags they put up, so I was like, ‘Oh, gosh, thank you.’

“Then I looked at the little footprint they put down (on the takeoff board) to know where I jumped and it had nothing left. It was crazy. It was perfect on the board.”

And perfect on the scoreboard.

Barry jumped 5.77 meters — 18 feet, 11.25 inches — to successfully defend her state title at O’Brien Stadium on the Eastern Illinois University campus and become the first two-time state champion in school history. She beat Effingham St. Anthony’s Reese Hoene by more than a foot and jumped a foot further than her winning jump a year ago.

“It’s just an amazing feeling,” Barry said. “Working hard all season and then being able to win back-to-back just feels awesome.”

She added to her medal haul later in the day by finishing third in the 100-meter dash and third in the 200 dash, three spots better than her state finishes a year ago. With six state medals the last two seasons combined, Barry is the most decorated track and field athlete in Unity history.

“She’s a stud,” Unity coach Keith Carothers said.

And she competed with purpose, from the moment she woke up Saturday through the end of her last event.

“I was just thinking about my legs and my shins and how I was going to get in the right mindset,” Barry said. “My body was obviously really sore from the day before. So when I woke up, I was just like, ‘Please get in the right mindset and get through this day and make it memorable.’”

That it was.

After Barry hit a big jump on her first attempt, the pressure was off. She had successful jumps on her next two attempts — hitting 5.49 and 5.30 meters — but her first attempt of the day was never threatened.

“I was a little less nervous after that, and I was free,” Barry said. “It was to the point you could have and just jump as good as you want. I took a lot of pressure off.”

It allowed her to smile and soak in the moment when she received her championship medal.

“It felt good to step up on the podium on that first-place spot and just look up in the crowd and then have them put it around your neck,” Barry said. “It’s an amazing feeling.”

But her day wasn’t done.

“Once I knew I had a state championship under my belt, it was easier to go run two races,” Barry said. “You know you’ve already won something, and you’re there so you just want to keep winning. So I was just pumped and I felt good, and I felt fast.”

In the 100 dash finals, Barry finished third in 12.17 seconds as West Carroll’s Emma Randecker set a Class 1A state record with her winning time of 11.91 seconds, .04 faster than the record set in 2016. El Paso-Gridley’s Jaida Reed was second in 12.09 seconds.

In the 200 dash finals, Barry again finished third in 25.06 seconds. Randecker also set a Class 1A state record in winning the 200 in 24.33 seconds, .16 better than the previous mark. Tuscola’s Lia Patterson was second in 24.95 seconds.

“Those races felt good,” Barry said.

The same held true for the Camp Point Central relay team of Macie Lierly, Faith Alford, Ellie Foote and Adi Foss. They set a school record by finishing fourth in the 4×100 relay in 49.88 seconds. El Paso-Gridley won the title in 48.90 seconds.

In the Class 3A meet, Quincy High School sophomore Sasha Betz finished second in three races in the wheelchair division, completing the 100-meter race in 31.8 seconds, the 200-meter race in 1:15.54 and the 400-meter race in 2:31.58.

Photos courtesy Clark Brooks, PhotoNews Media