It's medal season.
The Illinois High School Association girls track and field state meet takes place over the next two days, starting with the Class 1A prelims on Thursday and concluding with the Class 2A and 3A ones on Friday in Charleston at Eastern Illinois University's O'Brien Field blue track. The finals in every event are 10 a.m. Saturday in all three classes — Class 1A, 2A and 3A — and the wheelchair division.
Here are the 13 Peoria-area girls track athletes with the best shot at winning a 2024 state championship. Athletes are listed in alphabetical order.
State qualifiers: Every Peoria-area girls track and field athlete who advanced to the 2024 IHSA state finals
Annawan/Wethersfield 4x800-meter relay team
Annawan comes into the state meet with the top sectional time in Class 1A by nearly 20 seconds, clocking in 9:54.98. Reigning Journal Star girls cross country runner of the year and senior Kennady Anderson runs the anchor with junior Paige Sierens leading off. Freshman Alexis Wilson and sophomore Camryn Anderson run the other two legs.
Syriah Boyd, Galesburg
The senior has four state medals on her resume, including last season's Class 2A third-place finishes in the 200 and 400. Boyd enters the 2A meet with a sectional-best 400-meter dash time (57.74 seconds). She's also a qualifier in the 100- and 200-meter dashes along with the 4x100-meter relay.
Daniella Bumber, Henry/Midland
There has been no sophomore slump for Bumber. She won three medals at last year's Class 1A meet, including a runner-up finish in the 400-meter dash. Midland's four-event qualifier has this year's second-fastest 400-meter dash sectional time (57.41 seconds) and is the anchor of the state-qualifying 4x100-meter relay (51.78 seconds).
Eureka pole vaulters
Freshmen Bre Lehman and Reagan Bishop have both made a big splash on the Class 2A varsity pole vault scene. The class of 2027 pair vaulted matching heights of 11 feet, 2.5 inches at the sectional meet, tying them for the second-best height entering state. Lehman is on the 4x400-meter relay team, which is seeded third.
Ranaisha Howard-Dunigan, Limestone
Howard-Dunigan could cap her prep career by becoming the fastest Class 2A runner. The senior enters the state finals having posted the best 100- (12 seconds) and 200-meter dash (24.71 seconds) times. If she were to win two medals, it would be the school's first double since Nicole Benson's Class AA distance pair in 2008.
'It's my time': Limestone sprinter breaks out at IHSA sectional girls track and field meet
Lena Jackson, Richwoods
Jackson is a six-time state medalist and comes into the Class 3A state meet as a four-event qualifier. The junior won the 100-meter dash (12.21 seconds) at sectionals. She'll also run anchor for the state-qualifying 4x100- (48.11 seconds) and 4x200-meter relay teams (1:42.84). Jackson is also a 200-meter dash state qualifier.
Morton 4x800-meter relay team
The Potters are back after last year's Class 2A third-place finishers in the 4x800. Morton's sectional title of 9:38.65 comes in just behind top-seed Wheaton St. Francis (9:38.60). Seniors Eve Armstrong, Sophie Krueger and Taygen Beyer along with junior Avery Braker could give Morton its first girls relay state title.
Grace Pauli, Limestone
Another Limestone athlete could be bringing home some hardware in the field portion. Pauli won the Class 2A Metamora Sectional in the pole vault, topping out at an outdoor personal best of 11 feet, 2.5 inches. Any all-state finish by the junior would give the Rockets program its first pole vault state medal.
Aubrey Phillips, El Paso-Gridley
Phillips enters the Class 1A state meet tied for the sectional-best high jump height at 5 foot, 4.25 inches. She was the state runner-up last year in this event. The junior is also the anchor of the top 4x100-meter relay team (49.97 seconds), third-best 4x100-meter relay (1:47.17) and the state-qualifying 4x400-meter relay (4:15.33).
Chelsey Stotler, Stark County
Stotler turned in a personal-best shot put effort at the Class 1A sectional. Her heave of 38 feet, 11.25 inches gives the junior the second-best throw heading into state. If Stotler finishes where she's seeded, it would give the Stark County program its first girls throw medal.
Strahm is the overwhelming favorite to repeat as the Class 1A pole vault state champ. The Brimfield junior, who is heading to Tennessee , holds the nation's second-best prep vault at 14-feet, which is also a Journal Star all-time record height . In the 300-meter hurdles, she has the fourth-best sectional time at 46.86 seconds.
Chelsea Wetzel, Dunlap
The senior could make it back-to-back pole vault state championships in two different classes. Wetzel, who won the Class 2A crown last season, cleared 10 feet, 2.75 inches at a Class 3A sectional meet. That puts her near the bottom of the state-qualifying ranks. But Wetzel has cleared 12 feet, 11.75 inches this season, second best in Class 3A.
Honor roll: Here are the top times, distances for Peoria-area high school track and field in 2024
Samantha Yeh, Dunlap
The sophomore has big meet experience, placing fourth in the Class 2A high jump last season. This season, Yeh heads into the Class 3A state meet with the second-best sectional height of 5 foot, 6 inches. Yeh has the best Class 3A height with a school-record 5-8 leap from April 9.
Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 14 Peoria-area girls who could win 2024 IHSA track and field state titles this weekend
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