Track and Field: Girls and Boys Both 3rd at Sterling Night Relays

Complete Results
Final Team Standings
Archived Video Broadcast

The SHS Girls’ and Boys’ Track and Field teams both battled their way to strong third place finishes at the 61st Annual Sterling Night Relays Friday at DuWayne Dietz Track and Roscoe Eades Stadium. Rock Island captured the girls’ team championship, while United Township topped the boys’ final standings.

SHS graduate Cody Cutter wrote a comprehensive wrap-up on the entire meet for his website Northern Illinois Sports Beat. Click here to read it.

Sterling Girls Wrap-up
The Warrior’s two first-place efforts came in field events. Lauren Zuidema (9-6), Emily Porter (9-6) and Emelia Peterson (9-0) teamed up to win the pole vault with a combined total of 27-6 – two feet better than second place Dixon. Zuidema and Porter tied with Geneseo’s Darrian Hartman for the individual best effort of the night.

Sterling also took first place in the long jump. Sarah Schneiderbauer (16-9.50, a personal record), Nicole Renner (16-4) and Kaylen Palmer (14-9) combined for a total of 47-7.50, edging out second place Rock Island by just a quarter of a foot.

Sterling received a second place effort from its 4x100 relay team, as Renner, Carly Willman, Rachel Long and Payton Cater clocked in with a time 51.28.

Sterling’s high jump team of Lauren Vos (5-0), Alisha Weir (4-8) and Krista Loos (4-8) was also second with a combined mark of 14-4.

Sterling’s fourth second place effort came from the shot put team of Thallia Arellano (33-4), Weir (32-5) and Cori Delapo (31-8), which combined for a total of 97-5.

The Warriors ended up with 72 points, behind only Rock Island (144) and Geneseo (86).

Next Up: The girls are scheduled for a meet at Dixon Tuesday (5/2) before competing at the first-ever NIB-12 Championships Friday at Kaneland.

Sterling Boys Wrap-up
The highlight of the night for the Golden Warrior boys came in the final event – the DuWayne Dietz 4x400 relay. Sterling’s team of Corey Hartz, Adam Rodriguez, Alejandro Rivera and Kyle Mason won the race by nearly two full seconds and nearly set a new school record in the process. Their time was 3:22.54, with the current school record at 3:22.00.

Sterling’s second win of the night came in the frosh-soph 4x200 relay, as the team of Andrew Garcia, Cornell Hartz, Dale Mikan and Tre Whittaker clocked in with a time of 1:35.85.

Sterling’s 4x800 relay team of Aaron Brenner, Dylan Harkness, Mason and Alejandro Rivera were second in 8:15.50, just off of state-qualifying time of

Jacob Landis, Brenner and Harkness teamed up for a second place finish in the 1600 team race.

Sterling also received a second place effort from its discus team of Jordan Neal (128-10), Adiran Sandoval (113-7) and Josh Knie (109-7).

Next Up: The boys compete at the Northern Illinois Track and Field Invitational Friday (5/6) at Machesney Park-Harlem.