The Morris Community High School cross country team left Morris Friday morning with a police escort on its way to the IHSA state championships for the second year in a row.

The top eight 4x800 teams in the 3A race posted season-best times, and the top four – three of them from the Herald-News area – had performances that rank in the top 14 in the nation this season, highlighting a good day for the area at the IHSA State Meet.

The Illinois Elementary School Association held its annual state track and field meets the last two weekends at EastSide Centre in East Peoria, with numerous athletes from area schools scoring top-eight, all-state finishes in the IESA’s multitude of divisions.

Plainfield South's Josh Cygan seeks the gold while Minooka's Nate George balances double duty.

La Salle-Peru, Coal City, Morris and Streator all sent state qualifiers out of the Class 2A Pontiac Sectional contested under the lights Wednesday night.

Minooka's duo of Nate George and Dejay Smith shined, while Plainfield South had a few winners as well on Wednesday at the Southwest Prairie Conference Meet.

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Teams from La Salle- Peru, Ottawa, Kaneland, Sycamore, Rochelle, and Morris competed during the Interstate 8 conference meet on Friday, May 3, 2024 at the L-P Athletic Complex in La Salle.

Lemont's Quinton Peterson won the Class 3A 60-meter hurdles, Lincoln-Way East's Dedrick Richardson the Class 3A long jump and Joliet Catholic's Symone Holman the Class 2A long jump on Saturday at the Illinois Top Times meet in Bloomington.

Here are the varsity prep sports on tap for the Herald-News coverage area this coming week.