Putnam County’s Alex Rodriguez wins two sectional titles: Thursday’s NewsTribune roundup

BOYS TRACK & FIELD

At Mackinaw: Putnam County sophomore Alex Rodriguez won both throws at the Class 1A Deer Creek-Mackinaw Sectional on Thursday to qualify for state in both events.

Rodriguez won with tosses of 14.36 meters in the shot put and 43.97 in the discus.

Hall senior Caleb Bickett advanced to state in two individual events and a relay.

He placed second in the 100-meter dash (11.55 seconds) and the 200 (23.13) and ran with Ryan Bosi, Joseph Bacidore and Jeremy Smith to finish second in the 4x100 relay (44.95).

Bosi also qualified in the triple jump with a second-place leap of 12.09.

Fieldcrest junior Caleb Krischel placed fourth in the 800 but beat the state-qualifying standard with a time of 2:01.02.

The Red Devils finished fourth in the team standings with 58 points. El Paso-Gridley won with 142.

At Sycamore: Mendota’s Sebastian Carlos placed fifth in the 400 meters at the Class 2A Sycamore Sectional to qualify for the IHSA state meet.

Carlos ran a state-qualifying time of 51.5 seconds.

At Galesburg: Princeton’s Payne Miller won the shot put and discus at the Class 2A Galesburg Sectional to advance to the state meet. He recorded throws of 16.93 meters in the shot put and 48.51 in the discus.

Teammates Cade Odell and Ian Morris also qualified for state.

Odell placed third in the shot put but surpassed the state-qualifying standard with a toss of 15.79, while Morris took third in the discus with a state-qualifying throw of 47.53.

The Tigers tied for fifth in the team standings with 40 points. Morton won with 144.

At Erie: Bureau Valley had two athletes qualify for the IHSA Class 1A State Meet as the Storm placed third as a team in the Erie-Prophetstown Sectional.

Bureau Valley scored 74 points to finish behind Lena-Winslow (108) and Morrison (90.5).

The Storm’s Justin Moon won the triple jump with a leap of 12.61 meters, while teammate Landon Hulsing placed third in the discus with a state-qualifying toss of 44.5.

Amboy co-op’s Ian Sundberg placed fourth in the shot put but beat the state-qualifying standard with a throw of 14.63.

GIRLS TRACK & FIELD

At Charleston: Four area individuals and two relays advanced to Saturday’s IHSA Class 1A finals after their performances during Thursday’s preliminaries.

Henry-Midland sophomore Daniella Bumber qualified for finals in three events as she won her heat of the 400-meter dash and was fourth overall in 57.52 seconds while running the seventh fastest time in the 200 (25.78) and eighth best in the 100 (12.57).

St. Bede sophomore Lily Bosnich also was a multi-event finals qualifier. She won her heat in both hurdles events with the second-fastest time in the 300 hurdles (46.11) and third best in the 100 hurdles (15.19). She broke her own school records in both events.

Bosnich also competed in the 200, finishing 13th in 26.54 and not advancing to finals.

Henry-Senachwine sophomore Taylor Frawley recorded the seventh-best long jump (5.21 meters) to advance to finals, while Amboy co-op senior Elly Jones qualified for the finals in the 100 hurdles with the eighth-best time of 16.16. She also placed finishing 15th in triple jump (10.37), just missing finals as the top 12 advance in field events.

The Bureau Valley foursome of Connie Gibson, Taylor Neuhalfen, Kate Salisbury and McKinley Canady qualified for finals in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays.

The Storm won their heat and had the seventh-best time in the 4x100 (50.76) and recorded the eighth-fastest time in the 4x200 (1:49.03).

Nine other area individuals competed but did not advance.

Bureau Valley’s Addie Wessel placed 21st in the 300 hurdles (50.82) and 24th in the 100 hurdles (17.5), Lynzie Cady finished 32nd in the long jump (4.57), and Maddie Wetzell was 25th in the 1,600 (5:41.35). Wetzell will compete in the 3,200 on Saturday.

For Fieldcrest, Macy Gochanour finished 18th in the 300 hurdles (50.68) and 20th in the 100 hurdles (17.4). Pru Mangan was 22nd in the discus (29.74).

Earlville’s Vyvienn O’Connell placed 15th in the pole vault (2.75), Amboy’s Bella Yanos took 27th in the long jump (4.65), and Henry-Midland’s Daphaney Kessling and Amboy’s Jillian Anderson did not record a height in the high jump.

The St. Bede (13th, 51.55), Amboy (21st, 52.19) and Henry-Midland (24th, 52.46) 4x100 relays did not advance, while Bureau Valley’s 4x400 (22nd, 4:19.97) also did not qualify for finals.

BASEBALL

Newman 11, Mendota 1 (6 inn.): Jack Gillespie went 1 for 2 and drove in the lone run for the No. 7-seeded Trojans in a loss to the No. 2 Comets in a Class 2A Newman Regional semifinal in Sterling.

Brody Hartt was 1 for 2 and scored a run for Mendota (12-9).

Braiden Freeman took the loss on the mound as he gave up six runs (two earned) on six hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Henry-Senachwine 1, ROWVA/Williamsfield 0 (susp.): The No. 4-seeded Mallards led in the top of the second inning when the Class 1A Wethersfield Regional semifinal was stopped due to weather.

Mason Guarnieri singled in the bottom of the first and scored on a groundout by Carson Rowe. Rowe tossed a perfect first inning.

The game will resume at 4:30 p.m. Friday.