PAXTON — It was a sectional meet full of close calls for the Uni High girls track team Friday night at Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School.

Although senior Ruthie Welch was the only Illinek to qualify for the IHSA Class A state finals, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, several of her teammates just barely missed making the cut.

Welch won the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 22.37 seconds. Her time was the fourth fastest in the entire state among Class A runners, according to IHSA sectional results.

To qualify for state, athletes had to place in the top two of their respective events or meet the IHSA automatic qualifying standards.

Sophomore Tuli Bera came the closest, finishing third in the 100 dash in 13.085 seconds. She lost out on a trip to state to Monticello's Alyssa Burgard, who finished as runner-up in 13.084 seconds.

Another close call belonged to junior Lizzy Warner, who placed third in the 400 dash. Her time of 1:03.00 was just six-tenths of a second behind Bismarck-Henning's Jessica Brito (1:02.39).

Overall, Uni scored 30 points to place ninth out of 17 teams. St. Joseph Ogden won the sectional title with 87 points.

The Illineks also scored points with fourth-place finishes in both the 4x200 relay (junior Rachel Skoza, Bera, freshman Ashley Huddson, sophomore Rachel Harmon, 1:54.54) and the 4x400 relay (Welch, Skoza, Huddson, and Warner, 4:20.26).

Photos: Uni High at the Class A Paxton Track Sectional

Bera is flanked by Oakwood's Denius (left), Clinton's Thomas (near right), and Fisher's Ava Carmien (far right). Gargoyle photos by David Porreca (click to create your own slideshow)

To qualify for state, Bera needed to finish in first or second place or run the dash in at least 12.94 seconds.

Bera placed third in 13.085 seconds.

She was edged out by Monticello's Alyssa Burgard (not pictured), who placed second in 13.084 seconds.

Tri-Point's Kristi Weller (not pictured) won in 12.96 seconds. Denius was fourth (13.13) and Thomas fifth (13.31).

Hoopeston Area's Erika Ramos, a state finalist last year in the 800, gets off to an early lead in the event. Uni's Ruthie Welch is behind her.

Welch and Westville's Andrea Martis battle to keep up with Ramos in the early phase of the 800.

Welch needed to finish at least in second place or run a 2:27.24 to qualify for state in the 800.

As Ramos nears the 600-meter mark, only Welch is keeping up with her.

The rest of the runners, including Westville's Martis, are out of contention.

It's a two-person race. Going into sectionals Welch, a senior, had never defeated Ramos, a junior.

At this point, Welch is still behind Ramos, but with about 100 meters left she kicked it into high gear, passed Ramos, and won handily. Her season-best time of 2:22.37 also set a meet record. Ramos placed second in 2:26.02.

Sophomore Rachel Harmon (outside lane) tries to gain ground on St. Joseph-Ogden's Rachael Graham in the 4x200-meter relay.

Uni placed fourth in the 4x200 (1:54.54), while SJO finished second (1:53.22). Clinton won with a time of 1:53.03. Judah Christian was third (1:54.49).

Lizzy Warner begins the 400 dash as fellow junior Isaac Chambers records her on video.

Warner gets ready to pass Blue Ridge's Kelsey Trent.

Warner needed at least a second-place finish or a time of 1:02.04 to qualify for state in the 400.

As Warner approaches the finish line, Fisher's Bethany Carmien and Bismarck-Henning's Jessica Brito are too far ahead to catch.

Carmien won (1:01.92), Brito was runner-up (1:02.39), and Warner was third (1:03.00).

Freshman Fiona Weingartner builds a lead in the 300 low hurdles.

Weingartner gets ready to clear the final hurdle.

The freshman easily won her heat in 57.81 seconds.

The other heats, however, were faster. Weingartner finished 17th out of 21 hurdlers. Oakwood's Denius won the event in 48.12, a meet record.

The final event of the meet was the 4x400 relay, in which Uni had steadily improved throughout the season. Here, Welch hands off the baton to junior Rachel Skoza, who is about to begin the second leg of the relay.

Uni's 4x400 team consisted of Welch, Skoza, freshman Ashley Huddson, and Warner.

To make it to state, the team needed to place first or second or run a time of 4:16.74.

Skoza takes the baton and tries to make up ground. Fisher (in orange) is already ahead of Uni.

So is St. Joseph-Ogden (white).

Skoza was also a member of the 4x200 team.

Prior to sectionals, Uni's best time in the 4x400 this season was 4:24.12.

Skoza pushes ahead.

Huddson begins the third leg for Uni. By the time she finishes, she will have caught up with Monticello's Emilee Seevers (in purple and gold).

Huddson hands off the baton to Warner, Uni's anchor.

It's up to Warner to catch up to leaders SJO, St. Thomas More, and Fisher.

Warner also has to fend off a challenge from Monticello's Megan Kutz (right).

Huddson's stellar performance this year bodes well for Uni girls track.

Approaching the finish line, Warner and Kutz are in a battle for fourth place.

Warner takes a slight lead, and another Monticello runner (off the track) seems to realize that her teammate won't be able to catch up with the Uni junior.

Warner and her teammates finished in fourth place, behind Fisher (third), St. Thomas More (second), and SJO (first). All three of those teams advanced to state, since Fisher's time (4:16.57) met the automatic qualifying standard.

For Uni, the outcome was bittersweet. The 4x400 team recorded its best time of the season (4:20.26) but fell about 3.5 seconds shy of the automatic qualifying mark. So only Welch, the 800 champion, will compete in the state finals, which begin Friday in Charleston. If Welch makes the first-day cut in the 800, she will advance to the championship race on Saturday.