Salt Fork's Macie Russell run the second lap around Detweiller Park in Peoria during the 2024 IHSA State Cross Country Meet. The senior signed her National Letter of Intent to continue her running career with Eastern Illinois University.
Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
CATLIN - Salt Fork senior Macie Russell, a five-sport athlete during her time at Salt Fork High School, inked her commitment to run track at Eastern Illinois University on Sunday. The three-time state qualifier in the 800-meter run chose EIU over Heartland Community College, Indiana State, and Olivet Nazarene.
Macie Russell runs a lap at O'Brien Stadium during the 2023 state track meet. She finished 27th overall as a junior in the Class 1A division.
Photo: Sentinel/Clark Brooks
It was a spectacular evening for two-time state Long Jump champion Atleigh Hamilton, who led the Spartans with three individual titles. The senior gave gold medal performances in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Later, she broke a long-standing school record of 59.2 in the 400-meter dash.
Hamilton also qualified for this week's state meet on Thursday in her signature event the long jump. The Illinois State University signee finished in second place behind Salt Fork's Gracie Jessup with her best attempt at 5.25 meters.
Meanwhile, Abby Behrens cleared 1.52 meters to win the High Jump competition. Teammate Macy Reed-Thompson finished third to help SJO rise to the top in the 14-team meet.
The Spartans also swept all three relay events.
Kailyn Ingram, Helene Jones, Malorie Sarnecki and Ashlyn Lannert combined for a time of 10:27.70 in the 4x800 Meter Relay besting squads from Urbana University High School (2nd), Clifton Central (3rd) and Milford.
The Spartans faced stiffer competition from Bismarck-Henning-Rossville and Uni High in the 4x200 Meter Relay. The SJO foursome of Payton Carter, Raegan Crippen, Grace Schmitz, and Hope Rajlich finished less than a second ahead of the Blue Devils with their time of 1:51.47. Uni High finished third at 1:55.59.
To close out the meet, Lannert, Ingram and Jones from the four-by-eight, along with Rajlich from the 200-Meter Relay squad punched their ticket to state with a 4:15.17 finishing ahead of Uni High and BHR.
Also turning in top-three finishes were Raegan Crippen, who finished third in the Triple Jump, Ava Knap clocked in at second place in the 1600 meter run
Grace Schmitz and Payton Carter finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively in the Pole Vault
Damian Knoll went 2-2 and drove in the game-winning run sealing Unity's 11-1 opening day win over visiting Hoopeston Area. The junior right-hander notched 3 RBIs in the Rockets' first game since 2019.
Tyler Hensch pitched 5 innings for Unity, giving up one hit and one run while striking out seven batters.
Dillon Rutledge, who scored the runs, along with Dylan Moore and Thomas Cler were also 2-for-2 for the Rockets.
Today was the first official day of baseball, softball and track for area high schools. The spring season, which is off to a late start, will conclude on June 19.
Last month, there was a bit of good news for athletes in these three sports. The IHSA said that "all tournaments are currently expected to conduct all rounds of competition, including a State Final. State Final qualifiers in some individual sports may be modified to better meet gathering mitigations."
