The Class 1A Girls State Track Preliminaries were held Thursday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, and the Lady Eagles punched tickets to Saturday’s state finals in three events.
Sophomore standout Stella Schackmann led the way individually for Newton, qualifying for the finals in the 100-meter dash after placing eighth overall in prelims with a time of 12.41 seconds. Schackmann narrowly missed the finals in the 200-meter dash, finishing 11th overall in 25.77. She also competed in the long jump for the Lady Eagles during Thursday’s preliminaries.
Newton’s 4×100-meter relay team also secured a finals berth with a third-place preliminary finish in 49.74. The relay team of Emma Schumacher, Mariah McVicar, Morgan Schafer, and Stella Schackmann turned in one of the top times in Class 1A and will compete for a state medal Saturday.
The Lady Eagles’ 4×800-meter relay team also advanced comfortably to finals after placing third overall in 9:54.12. Layna Marshall opened the relay with a 2:26.54 split, followed by Avery Geier at 2:28.79, Brooke Gentry at 2:31.40, and Grace Schumacher closing in 2:27.39.
Senior Layna Marshall competed in the 1600-meter run prelims and recorded a personal-best time of 5:22.49, finishing 24th overall. While Marshall qualified for the 3200 she will not compete in the event on Saturdy due to being in the 4×800.
Other Newton performances included the 4×200 relay team of Emma Schumacher, Mariah McVicar, Brenly Francis, and Morgan Schafer finishing in 1:51.47, while the 4×400 relay squad of Brooke Gentry, Avery Geier, Emma Schumacher, and Grace Schumacher crossed in 4:18.18.
Freshman Emma Schumacher also represented Newton in pole vault, clearing 2.75 meters.
Newton’s state finalists will compete Saturday at EIU with the following event schedule:
- 11:00 a.m. — 4×800 Relay Finals
- 11:40 a.m. — 4×100 Relay Finals
- 1:35 p.m. — 100 Meter Dash Finals
