EFFINGHAM –– A total of six athletes from Red Hill Junior High School were able to continue their seasons over the weekend after qualifying for the IESA Class 2A State Finals following their performances at the Class 2A Effingham St. Anthony Track Sectional Saturday.

Red Hill qualified a pair of individuals and one relay team for state, while the teams finished mostly in the middle of the pack in a highly competitive field.

In the eighth grade girls’ meet, Red Hill finished fifth with 33 points, placing them behind Effingham St. Anthony (109), Casey-Westfield (84), Teutopolis (52) and Brownstown-St. Elmo (45). Rounding out the field of 14 teams were Oakland Lake Crest (32), Louisville-North Clay (30), Altamont (26), Paris Crestwood (13), Salt Fork (9), Oblong (1), Palestine-Hutsonville (0), Georgetown Mary Miller (0) and South Central (0).

Top finisher for RHJH was Riley Moore, who qualified for state after finishing second in the 400 with a time of 1:05.96. Moore also finished second in the 100 (13.89), while Laurel Buchanan was second in the 1600 (6:07.83).

Also for RHJH, the 400 relay team of Moore, Chloe Seed, Izabelle Eagleson and Caitlee Gray finished third (57.33), the 800 relay team of Smith, Walker, Rikki McCullough and Brooklin Laakman was fifth (2:11.69), Gray was sixth in the 200 (30.56) and seventh in the high jump (4-1), Seed was seventh in the shot put (23-7) and 10th in the long jump (11-9.5), the 1600 relay team of Eagleson, Haley Gaither, Sierra Shepard and Buchanan was seventh (5:48.47), MaKenna Hill was eighth in the 800 (3:04.52) and 15th in the 100 (15.44), Gaither was eighth in the high jump (4-1), Allyssa McDowell was 14th in the 400 (1:30.37) and Sierra Shepard was 14th in the shot put (18-8).

In the seventh grade boys’ meet, Red Hill came in ninth with 24 points, placing them ahead of South Central (18), Oakland Lake Crest (8), Georgetown Mary Miller (5), Oblong (2.5) and Louisville-North Clay (0). Paris Crestwood won with 71 points, followed by Teutopolis (60), Effingham St. Anthony (56-5), Altamont (54), Casey-Westfield (47), Brownstown-St. Elmo (33) and Salt Fork (28).                                       

Jeryn Tarr led RHJH by winning the shot put with a throw of 37-4.5 and also qualifying for state, while the 400 relay team of Clayton Roney, Logan Rodrick, Colby Crutchfield and Zadyn Loudermilk also advanced to state, even though they placed fourth with a time of 55.41.

Also for RHJH, Roney finished fourth in the 110 hurdles (19.45), fifth in the 100 (13.50) and seventh in the long jump (15-1), Loudermilk was fourth in the 200 (27.47), eighth in the 100 (13.75) and 13th in the long jump (13-3), Crutchfield was seventh in the 400 (1:05.69), Tarr was ninth in the discus (82-10) and Rodrick was 18th in the 200 (29.69).

In the seventh grade girls’ meet, Red Hill finished eighth with 11 points, coming in ahead of Louisville-North Clay (10), Georgetown Mary Miller (10), Palestine-Hutsonville (1), Oblong (0), South Central (0) and Casey-Westfield (0). Effingham St. Anthony won with 103 points, followed by Salt Fork (90), Altamont (85.5), Teutopolis (41.5), Paris Crestwood (41), Brownstown-St. Elmo (35) and Oakland Lake Crest (13).

For RHJH, Dalaney Smith was second in the high jump (4-5) and eighth in the 100 hurdles (20.35)  Ailey Walker was fourth in the high jump (4-0),  Kinley Arnold was 17th in the discus (43-10.5) the 400 relay team of Hallie Tully, Sammy Combs, Gaither and Hill was eighth (1:03.04), Laakman was 12th in the 400 (1:17.55)  Lylah Eagleson was 15th in the 400 (1:26.01)   Tully was 10th in the 100 (15.28) and 14th in the 200 (32.20)   McCullough was 16th in the 200 (32.77) Camryn Atwood was 25th in the 100 (17.80).

In the eighth grade boys’ meet, Red Hill scored just one point, tying with Oblong for 13th place. Brownstown-St. Elmo won with 90 points, followed by Effingham St. Anthony (52), Louisville-North Clay (50), Casey-Westfield (50), Altamont (46), Palestine-Hutsonville (44.5), Georgetown Mary Miller (40), Salt Fork (23.5), Teutopolis (9), South Central (7), Crestwood (5) and Oakland Lake Crest (2).

Trent Benson finished sixth in the shot put (37-3) and 10th in the discus (93-4), Holden Jacobsen finished ninth in the long jump (15-1) and 10th in the 100 (13.15), Justus Bowman was 11th in the shot put (30-8) and 18th in the discus (64-9) and Gavin Tewell was 12th in the long jump (14-5) and 13th in the 100 (13.43) and 200 (27.91).

The handful of RHJH athletes will compete at the IESA Class 2A Track and Field State Finals in East Peoria Friday and Saturday.