Kankakee girls track and field finds success at sectionals: Wednesday’s Daily Journal roundup

Girls track and field

Class 3A Rock Island Sectional: Kankakee finished third as a team with 81 points and will once again send a crowd to Eastern Illinois University for next weekend’s state finals. The Kays won gold in both the 4x100 m (47.29 seconds) and 4x200 (1:40.18), with both teams made up of DaMariana Tooles, Essence Bell, Trinity Noble and Naomi Bey-Osborne, all of whom also qualified in individual events. The 4x400 team of Jasiah Hawkins, Noble, Ki’Asia Wilson and Jamya McMurtrey also won gold (3:55.82).

Bey-Osborne also won the 400 (55.11). Noble is an individual finalist in the 100 after finishing second (12.14). Bell qualified in both the 100 (12.22, fourth place) and 200 (25.03, third). Tooles took second in the 300 hurdles (46.34) and met the qualifying standard when she took sixth in the 200 (25.31).

McMurtrey took fifth in the 400, with her time of 58.48 meeting the qualifying standard. In the field, TaLeah Turner advanced by taking third in the long jump (5.15 m).

Bradley-Bourbonnais will send a pair of runners to state. Nevaeh Brown advanced in both the 100, where she finished third (12.20) and the 200, where she finished fourth but had a 25.14 time to meet the qualifying standard. Niyah Crockett met the standard in the 400, where she finished fourth (58.46).

Class 2A Pontiac Sectional: Reed-Custer earned 27.5 points for an area-best ninth place finish. Sophia Burciaga won gold in the pole vault (3.97) while Alyssa Wollenzein is headed to state in both the 100 hurdles (fourth place, 15.96) and 300 hurdles (second, 46.33).

Manteno freshman Klarke Goranson is headed to state in multiple events as well after winning both the 800 (2:12.43) and 1,600 (5:03.82) to lead a Manteno team that finished seventh with 30 points. Fellow freshman Sophia Most took third in the discus (37.77) to also qualify.

Ella Wills took third in both the high jump (1.54) and long jump (5.29) to qualify in both and lead Coal City, who finished 13th (18). Madelyn Castle met the qualifying standard in the 300 hurdles (48.52) despite finishing eighth in a stacked field.

Peotone’s Terryn Clott is headed to state after finishing fourth and meeting the standard in both the shot put (10.83) and discus (36.72). Celeste Richards qualified with a 2:24.63 in the 800, sixth overall. The Blue Devils finished 15th (13).

Herscher scored 12 team points to take 16th. Kelly O’Connor is state-bound in both the 800, where she took third (2:19.62) and the 1,600, where she took fifth (5:21.84). Fabienne Houberg met the 2.97-meter qualifying distance exactly in the pole vault, where she finished seventh.

Boys track and field

Chicagoland Christian Conference championships: Bishop McNamara senior Keegan Cooper won the discus (43.52) to lead the Fightin’ Irish, who took fifth as a team with 77 points. Cale Hamilton took second in the shot put (14.30), the same finish the 4x800 relay of Sebastian Cortes, Justice Provost, Jack Purcell and David Quigley had.

Girls water polo

Lincoln-Way West 11, Bradley-Bourbonnais 4: At the Class 4A Lincoln-Way West Sectional quarterfinals, no individual stats were available for the Boilermakers, who finished the season at 7-13.

Softball

Bradley-Bourbonnais 4, Andrew 0: Lydia Hammond’s four-hit shutout Wednesday propelled the Boilermakers (20-10, 8-5 SouthWest Suburban Conference) to a home win. The win also allowed the team to pass Andrew for fourth in the SWSC standings. Hammond had seven strikeouts in her seven innings as the Thunderbolts scattered four singles. Suttyn Hop was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs while Bella Pusateri was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Kankakee 11, Thornton Fractional South 1: The Kays (15-9) bounced back from an All-City loss to Bishop McNamara Tuesday with a home nonconference win on Wednesday, their seventh win in the last eight games. Kylee Cunningham allowed just two hits and an unearned run over six innings while recording seven strikeouts. She also went 1 for 2 with a double, a walk, an RBI and two runs. Kylie Glogowski was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs while Lillian Landis was 2 for 4 with a triple, an RBI and two runs.

Beecher 12, Oak Forest 0: A day removed from just their second loss of the season, the Bobcats (29-2) got a two-hit shutout from Taylor Norkus for a win on the road. Norkus had eight strikeouts and one walk over five innings, allowing just two singles. Makenzie Johnson went 3 for 4 with a triple, an RBI and three runs while Ava Olson was 2 for 3 with a walk, an RBI and three runs.

Watseka 7, Momence 6: Abigail Neukomm’s walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday allowed Watseka (10-13) to salvage the win after Momence (1-18) had gone up 6-5 in the top of the inning. Noelle Schroeder had scored on a passed ball two pitches before Neukomm’s hit. Neukomm finished 1 for 3 with a walk, an RBI and a run while Emma Klopp was 2 for 3 with a run and Maya Machev was 1 for 3 with a home run, three RBIs and a run.

Momence’s Alexis Cook was 1 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs. Brooklyn Moeller was 1 for 3 with a solo home run.

Pontiac 4, Gardner-South Wilmington 0: The Panthers (19-10) had a six-game winning streak snapped with a road loss Wednesday in nonconference play. Nina Siano went 2 for 4 out of the leadoff spot while Maddie Simms, Liv Siano and Jo Male each singled in the loss. Simms allowed six hits and four runs over six innings.

Baseball

Andrew 15, Bradley-Bourbonnais 3: What had been a close game through five innings quickly turned into a blowout when Andrew scored 10 runs in the top of the sixth inning Wednesday, handing the Boilermakers (17-13, 5-8 SouthWest Suburban Conference) a loss at home in SWSC play. Ian Irps was 2 for 3 with a run while Mason Shaul and Ty Alderson were both 2 for 3. Cayden Arbour, Jace Boudreau and Kason Bynum had an RBI apiece.

Watseka 10, Momence 9: Andrew Morris singled in the bottom of the seventh Wednesday, leading to an error that allowed Mason Galyen to score and cap off Watseka’s dramatic comeback with a walkoff win. The Warriors (10-13) trailed 7-1 entering the bottom of the fourth. They scored four times in the fourth, twice in the fifth and three times in the sixth to tie it 9-9 entering the final inning. Morris finished the game 2 for 5. Quinn Starkey was 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs while Payton Schaumburg was 1 for 3 with a double, two RBIs and a run.

Momence (7-12) was led by Shane Cook, who went 4 for 4 with three doubles and two RBIs. Austin Lynch was 2 for 3 with a walk, an RBI and a run.

Iroquois West 9, Beecher 2: The Raiders (11-14) bounced back from consecutive losses to beat the Bobcats (12-16) on the road Wednesday. Brody Mueller racked up 12 strikeouts over six dominant innings, allowing just three hits and a run. Rylan Pheifer went 3 for 3 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs while Mario Andrade was 2 for 4 with two runs.

Beecher’s Santino Imhof went 1 for 3 with a run and Maximillian Totos went 1 for 2 with a double.