Girls track & field: Rock Falls girls dominate, Dixon fares well at Rock Falls Rocket Invite

ROCK FALLS – Rock Falls finished first with 152 points, Dixon placed second with 97, Bureau Valley took third with 96, and Newman finished seventh with 19 at the seven-team Rock Falls Rocket Invite on Friday at Hinders Field.

Rock Falls’ Carli Kobbeman won the 100 meters in 13.4 seconds, finished second in the 400 meters with a 1:04.28, and took second in the long jump with a leap of 4.67 meters.

“I felt good. I’ve been working on my block start, and I think that helped,” Kobbeman said about the 100. “My PR I think is 13.31, so I’m just always trying to beat that.”

The Rockets’ Ariel Hernandez won the 3,200 meters in 12:00.93, Emma Rumley won the 100-meter hurdles in 18.06 seconds, and Kayla Hackbarth won the shot put with a throw of 9.71 meters; Hackbarth added a second-place finish in the discus with a toss of 29.6 meters, and Rumley had a third-place finish in the 100 hurdles, clocking a 20.33 seconds.

Also for Rock Falls, Hana Ford, Tayli Hultin, Scott and Gracie Rippy ran a 10:16.81 for first in the 4x800 relay, about 10 seconds ahead of second-place Dixon. Ford took second in the 1,600 meters, running a 5:36.24, and Scott ran a 2:35.71 for third in the 800 meters.

The Rockets’ Savannah Bufford cleared 1.91 meters to win the pole vault, Amara Thomas took second in the high jump, clearing 1.52 meters, and Aniyah Thomas took third in the high jump, clearing 1.52m; Aniyah Thomas also took second in the 300-meter hurdles in 56.89 seconds.

Dixon’s Olivia Cox won the discus with a toss of 29.7 meters and took second in the shot put with a throw of 9.5 meters, and Hannah Steinmeyer, Mari Fruscalzo, Skylar Smith, Nora Fordham ran a 1:54.81 for second in the 4x200 relay. Fruscalzo, Emma Olson, Fordham and Steinmeyer ran a 54.27 seconds for second in the 4x100 relay; and Fuscalzo won the 200 meters in 27.58 seconds.

“I felt really good [about the relays]. I have a lot of faith in my team, and today I felt really smooth,” Steinmeyer said. “I’ve been practicing a lot of positive self talk, and I feel like that’s really shown today, so it’s refreshing.”

The Duchesses’ Daniela Lovett ran a 2:33.29 for second in the 800 meters, Kate Boss ran a 5:39.49 for third in the 1,600 meters, and Veronica Wade ran a 13:19.2 for second in the 3,200.

Dixon’s Kassidy Matson took third in the 300-meter hurdles, clocking a 59.07 seconds.

Newman’s Brooke Sanchez finished third in the triple jump – potentially setting a school record of 9.89 meters – and fourth in the long jump, leaping 4.35 meters.

“I felt really good. I think I got the school record by half a foot, maybe,” Sanchez said. “I feel like I improved a lot from last year – definitely with the new coaches, they’ve been helping a lot. I feel great for placing with all these good teams here. Some of the girls were so tall.”

Bureau Valley’s Connie Gibson, Ashlyn Maupin, Kate Salisbury and Addison Wessel had a pair of first-place relay finishes in the 4x200 (1:54.2.7) and the 4x100 (53.59 seconds). Jillian Hulsing won the high jump, clearing 1.54 meters, and Wessel ran an 18.78 seconds for second in the 100-meter hurdles.

The Storm’s Lynzie Cady earned three third-place finishes in the 400 meters (1:04.38), the shot put (9.48 meters) and the long jump (4.4 meters), while teammate Maddie Wetzell ran a 13:36.34 for third in the 3,200, and Salisbury took third in the 100 in 13.82 seconds.