Girls track: Princeton’s Morgan Foes, St. Bede’s Lily Bosnich hope to win multiple medals

On Saturday when her classmates are walking across the stage and celebrating graduation, Princeton senior Morgan Foes will likely be nearly 200 miles away in Charleston.

While she’s disappointed to be missing the pomp and circumstance with her classmates, she hopes to have another reason to celebrate Saturday as she looks to win multiple medals at the IHSA Class 2A State Track and Field Meet.

“Missing graduation for state is definitely really sad, but I’ve accepted it by now,” Foes said. “I’ll miss seeing all my peers, but it is comforting to know I will be competing for PHS. I plan to make the unconventional trip worth it, and it will make a good story some day. I think I will end up bringing my cap and gown to the state meet with me to take some pictures and cherish the moment.”

Foes is seeded fifth entering the state meet in both the discus and shot put with tosses of 35.87 and 11.3 meters at the Princeton Sectional.

“I’m really proud of how far I’ve come and being a top five seed means a lot to me,” Foes said. “It shows I have made some great strides this season and I’m hoping to use those seedings and make PHS proud. No matter what happens, I have had a breakthrough season, especially in shot put.

“I want to place at my seeding level or higher and keep my consistency. I’ve made improvements in practice and I want to be able to show those improvements in a meet.”

Last season, Foes brought home a fifth-place medal in the discus and also completed at state in the shot put, placing 17th.

“I do think my past state experience will help me this year because I’ve been through the first-time jitters,” Foes said. “Hopefully, I will be able to go to state with a good attitude and see some personal bests.”

Teammate Camryn Driscoll will once again join Foes at state.

The sophomore is seeded 13th in the 400 meters in 1:00.15. Driscoll ran a 59.78 at state last year to place 16th.

In Class 1A, St. Bede sophomore Lily Bosnich will compete in four events and looks to bring home multiple medals for the second year in a row.

Last year, she placed sixth in the 300 hurdles and helped the Bruins’ 4x100 and 4x200 relays to medals.

Bosnich enters this year’s state meet with the third-best sectional time in the 100 hurdles (15.36) and 300 hurdles (46.6), which are both school records, after winning both at the Bureau Valley Sectional.

“I have pretty high hopes,” Bosnich said. “My confidence is definitely boosted these past couple meets being able tom beat records over and over. I have a really good feeling about this.”

Tuscola junior Lia Patterson is the No. 1 seed in both hurdle events. She won the 300 hurdles state title last year and placed second in the 100 hurdles.

“I remember last year, Lia Patterson was amazing,” Bosnich said. “Keeping up with her is my goal.”

Bosnich is seeded in 14th in the 200 (14.41) and will anchor St. Bede’s 4x100 relay, which is seeded 14th (51.41). She’ll run with Sierah Shaver, Emerald De La Torre and Mackenzie Stanbary. Shaver and De La Torre also were on last year’s medalist 4x100.

Bureau Valley is sending three individuals and three relays to state.

The Storm foursome of Connie Gibson, Taylor Neuhalfen, Kate Salisbury and McKinley Canady are seeded third in the 4x100 (50.58) behind El Paso-Gridley (49.97) and North Mac (50.31) and sixth in the 4x200 (1:49.23).

“I just hope we get a medal,” Canady said.

Canady, who anchors both sprint relays, is running track for the first time as a junior and is excited to be having success in her first season in the sport.

“It’s really encouraging because when I came into track I didn’t think I was going to be good because I played softball my whole life and growing up I was chunky and I was told that I was slow, so I thought I was going to be bad, but it feels really rewarding (to qualify for state), Canady said.

Salisbury and Gibson also will compete in the 4x400, which is seeded 21st, along with Lynzie Cady and Emma Mussche.

Addie Wessel is seeded 12th in the 100 hurdles and 15th in the 300 hurdles, Cady is seeded 25th in the long jump and Maddie Wetzell was sectional champion in the 1,600 and 3,200 and is seeded 28th and 29th, respectively.

“I really just hope to PR and have my last run of the season be the best one I’ve done all year,” Wetzell said.

The Amboy co-op will have three individuals and a relay at state.

Elly Jones will compete at state for the fourth time in her career as she’s seeded 11th in the 100 hurdles (16.56) and 20th in the triple jump.

Jillian Anderson is tied for the 11th seed in the high jump and Bella Yanos is tied for the 27th seed in the long jump.

Jones and Yanos also will run on the 4x100 relay, which is seeded 21st, along with Maddie Althaus and Alexa McKendry.