WELCH SETS MEET RECORD, ADVANCES TO CLASS A STATE MEET

• Senior Ruthie Welch won the 800-meter run tonight in the Class A sectional meet at Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School.

• She ran the event in a meet-record time of 2 minutes, 22.37 seconds, almost 4 seconds faster than runner-up Erika Ramos of Hoopeston Area, a state finalist last year.

• Welch was the only Uni athlete to qualify for next weekend's Class A state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

• Uni scored 30 points to place ninth at the 17-team meet, just one point behind both Fisher and host PBL. St. Joseph-Ogden, with 87 points, won the sectional championship.

• Sophomore Tuli Bera placed third in the 100 dash. She ran the final heat in 13.085 seconds, but Alyssa Burgard of Monticello ran it in 13.084, good enough for second place and a trip to state.

• Junior Lizzy Warner placed third in the 400 dash (1:03.00).

• The 4x200 relay team of junior Rachel Skoza, Bera, freshman Ashley Huddson, and sophomore Rachel Harmon placed fourth (1:54.54).

• The 4x400 relay team of Welch, Skoza, Huddson, and Warner placed fourth (4:20.26).

TEAM SCORES

1. St. Joseph-Ogden 87
2. Monticello 77
3. Bismarck-Henning 52
4. Oakwood 49
5. Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 42
6. St. Thomas More 40
7. T Paxton-Buckley-Loda 31
7. T Fisher 31
9. UNI HIGH 30
10. Clinton 29
11. Watseka 22
12. Hoopeston Area 19
13. Blue Ridge 16
14. Judah Christian 14
15. Tri-Point 13
16. Westville 3
17. Danville Schlarman 0

TO QUALIFY FOR THE CLASS A STATE FINALS

Athletes must finish in the top two of their respective events OR meet the state-qualifying standards in their events to advance to the May 16-17 IHSA state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. The qualifying standards are listed below with the events Uni athletes participated in.

TIMING

The Paxton-Buckley-Loda sectional used fully automatic timing (F.A.T.) for all running events.

UNI RESULTS

4x100-Meter Relay
• 8th place (56.75 seconds) / 13 teams — Uni High (Linda Ly, Cheyenne Stewart, Angie Jin, Rachel Harmon)
• Class A qualifying standard: 52.0 manual timing / 52.24 fully automatic timing (F.A.T.)

Discus Throw
• 25th place (47 feet, 10 inches) / 25 athletes — Linda Song
• Class A qualifying standard: 107-6

100-Meter Dash
• 3rd place (13.084) / 23 runners — Tuli Bera
• 15th place (14.97) / 23 runners — Cheyenne Stewart
• Class A qualifying standard: 12.7 manual / 12.94 F.A.T.

800-Meter Run
• 1st place (2 minutes, 22.37 seconds) / 20 runners — Ruthie Welch *
• 19th place (3:04.89) / 20 runners — Deborah Ladd
• Class A qualifying standard: 2:27.0 manual timing / 2:27.24 F.A.T.
* IHSA Class A state qualifier

Long Jump
• 8th place (14-1.5) / 22 athletes — Angie Jin
• 20th place (11-10) / 22 athletes — Fiona Weingartner
• Class A qualifying standard: 16-4

4x200-Meter Relay
• 4th place (1:54.54) / 12 teams— Uni High (Rachel Skoza, Tuli Bera, Ashley Huddson, Rachel Harmon)
• Class A qualifying standard: 1:51.5 manual timing / 1:51.74 F.A.T.

400-Meter Dash
• 3rd place (1:03.00) / 21 runners — Lizzy Warner
• 9th place (1:08.12) / 21 runners — Katherine Allen
• Class A qualifying standard: 1:01.8 manual / 1:02.04 F.A.T.

300-Meter Low Hurdles
• 17th place (57.81) / 21 runners — Fiona Weingartner
• Class A qualifying standard: 48.6 manual timing / 48:84 F.A.T.

Shot Put
• 23rd place (19-10) / 23 athletes — Linda Song
• Class A qualifying standard: 35-6

200-Meter Dash
• 10th place (29.78) / 24 runners — Rachel Harmon
• 16th place (31.58) / 24 runners — Linda Ly
• Class A qualifying standard: 26.8 manual timing / 27.04 F.A.T.

4x400-Meter Relay
• 4th place (4:20.26) / 12 teams — Uni High (Ruthie Welch, Rachel Skoza, Ashley Huddson, Lizzy Warner)
• Class A qualifying standard: 4:16.5 manual timing / 4:16.74 F.A.T