Sterling sets two varsity boys relay records at Friday’s Night Relays

STERLING — The conditions and setting made for a perfect environment for the Sterling Golden Warriors to set a couple school records at Friday’s Sterling Night Relays.

Sterling’s Cole Stumpenhorst, Joseph Holcomb, Ryan Gebhardt and Maurice Delacruz broke the school’s 4x200 relay record with a first-place time of 1 minute, 28.14 seconds to help the Warriors take second in the team finish.

Delacruz also closed out relay wins in the 4x100 and 4x400.

“We’ve been trying to get this all year, trying to get all the right guys,” he said. “It just worked out. We had good handoffs, good reads, and we wanted to finish really good. It was a great race.”

Sterling had 74 points in the varsity standings, second to United Township’s 88. Dixon (57) was third, Rock Island (48) was fourth, followed by Galesburg (45), Rock Falls (42), Ottawa (27) and Freeport (4).

Delacruz said competing at home against some familiar teams contributed to the record-setting finishes.

He joined Derek Prieto, Aiden Lacy and Holcomb to clock a second school record of 3:22.07 in the 4x400.

“We had some really great competition today and we really worked hard,” he said. “We’ve never run like this before. It was great weather and it helped us all finish perfectly. Everyone had PRs.”

Prieto, Holcomb, Gebhardt and Delacruz clocked a 42.52 to win the 4x100, which was .07 seconds off another school record.

Sterling’s Kaedon Phillips tied for first in the high jump with a leap of 1.93 meters to match UT’s Malal Sy. Rock Falls’ Anthony Valdivia hit a PR of 1.87.

Sterling’s Carter Frieberg was third in the discus with a PR of 44.76.

Dixon’s Owen Belzer won the long jump (6.17 meters) and Dean Geiger took second for the Dukes in the 1,600 with a PR of 4:27.17. Owen LeSage was third in the shot put (15.38).

Dixon’s Keegan Shirley, Aaron Conderman, Hayden Fulton and Averik Wiseman won the 4x800 in 8:18.53.

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Sterling’s Kaedon Phillips clears the bar in the high jump Friday, May 2, 2025, at the Sterling Night Relays. (Alex T. Paschal)

On the girls’ side, Rock Island took first in the varsity standings with 92 points, followed by Sterling (80) and Geneseo (64). United Township (47) was fourth, followed by Dixon (36), Rochelle (33), Ottawa (16) and Rock Falls (6).

The Warriors had three pole vaulters in the top five as seniors Presley Winters and Finley Ryan matched the Class 2A state qualifying standard with season bests of 2.97 meters to tie for first with Geneseo’s Meghan Scheider.

Rock Falls junior Ryleigh Eriks (2.67) was fourth and Sterling sophomore Paizley Johnson (2.52 meters) tied for fifth.

“I was really excited today, we got new poles and it was just really amazing,” Winters said of the performance. “It was super fun.”

Winters, a Augustana College track and field commit, said it’s beneficial to have another pole vaulter like Finley on her side.

“She’s like my sister, it’s awesome,” Winters said. “If she makes it over a crossbar, I get the encouragement to go over the crossbar and vice versa.”

Winters hopes to keep clearing 2.97 meters to qualify for state this season after falling short at last year’s sectional.

“Even though I’ve jumped the height before, I kind of choked,” she said of last season. “My goal is to go to state this year.”

Winters joined Taah Liberty, Alivia Gibson and Anessa Johnson to take second in the 4x100 relay.

Johnson also won the 300 hurdles and took second in the 100 hurdles. Kaelee Varden and Abby Ryan tied for first with a 1.54-meter leap in the high jump to tie for first while Nia Harris (1.49) tied for third with UT’s Reemaz Adam.

Sterlin’s Lillian Hauck, Jaz’Mya Castaneda, Laney Zuithoff and Connie Ibarra took second in the 4x800 relay.