Lady Indians are golden at home

By Christopher Johnson

REPORTER

Over the weekend, Sectional Results for the Girls Class 1A Track and Field State Playoffs returned very positive findings for the Winnebago Lady Indians.

Winnebago experienced top consideration on multiple fronts during last week’s Sectional decision-maker at home.

Some of the greatest success were found through the long distance running of Lady Indians Senior Natalia Martino and Sophomore Kaylee Woolery.

Martino’s pace of 5:15:21 in the 1600 meter was nearly 15 seconds faster than second place finishing Kaylee Woolery, who timed out at 5:30.01.

Second year student Grace Erb also shined in her event as she outpaced her chasers in the 800 meter race. The stretch running coming out of the final turn helped her close with a mark of 2:22.89.

It was good enough to help her cross the finish line with a nearly four second cushion over Elgin St. Edward Junior Sophia Schieder, who ended her 800 with a time of 2:26.48.

Sophia Martino claimed another Sectional Title during the Class1A State Championship qualifier. She showed intense endurance as she raced her way through the winner’s tape in the nearly two mile race.

Her time of 12:23.73 in the 3200 meter gave her the gold as she held off a strong pursuit by Rockford Christian Junior Kelly Giardina, who closed a little over five seconds behind her.

Specialty skills were also a situation of dominance for the Winnebago Lady Indians as they cruised through the 100 meter hurdles with Senior Hayley Starkey winning the event with a time of 16.90.

Teammate Campbell Schrank picked up the silver for the home team as she claimed the honors with a time of 17.17.

In the 300 meter high hurdles, Starkey again proved dominant as she carried the victory with a time of 50:50.

Byron runner Alana Julian and Forreston’s Letresse Buisker closed ahead of Schrank, whose time of 54:01 was good enough for fourth place in the 1A Sectional.

The combination of Starkey, Schrank, Renee Rittmeyer and Katherine Erb claimed the silver in the 4×200 relay for Winnebago.

The Lady Indians did claim gold in the 4×400 relay though, as they pushed past Rockford Christian’s time of 4:12.51. winning the event by better than three seconds, with a time of 4:09.19.

In it’s last team race of the day, the 4×800 relay, Winnebago picked up the win again, claiming the title with a time of 10:16.54 over second place finishing Elgin-Harvest Christian Academy, which carried a time of 10:30.05.

Lady Indians Junior Hannah Logan claimed the bronze with a throw of 11.32 meters in the four kilogram shot put. Logan got silver in the one kilogram discus, flipping the disc a distance of 36.03 meters.

Rounding down the day, Remee Rittmeyer won the high jump with an elevation of 1.57 meters, .10 meters greater than Forreston jumper Buisker. Hayley Starkey claimed fifth with a height of 1.42 meters.

Pole vault action gave Winnebago gold and silver as Ella Maher cleared 3.19 meters, followed by Ryleigh Warden’s 2.89 meters.

Dakota athlete Cali Minke won both the distance jumping events with Winnebago’s Makenzie Smith claiming fourth in the three step final and Asia Muhammad clearing 4.04 meters to finish tenth in the long jump.