Oregon wins first Big Northern Conference title since 2019

DIXON – With a strong start in the field events carrying over to the track, the Oregon girls won their first Big Northern Conference title since 2019 on Thursday. The Hawks held off Rockford Lutheran, 112 to 99.

“It was unbelievable efforts by the girls tonight,” Oregon coach Nick Schneiderman said. “It was evenly-contributed effort to chip away at the points in an unselfish manner. We accumulated a lot of points in all kinds of events that enabled up to jump over Lutheran, who had dominating performances in the distances and sprints.”

Lutheran sprinter Gabriella Davis and distance runner Abigail Bauman combined for 56 individual points. Bauman was particularly impressive in winning the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.

Oregon was paced by senior Grace Tremble and freshman Jillian Hammer.

For the first time ever, Tremble ran under 1 minute (59.67) to win the 400 meters. She was also second in the high jump at 1.57 meters.

“She came out of nowhere to win in what may have been the biggest race of the night,” Schneiderman said.

Hammer remained undefeated for the year in the 110 and 300 hurdles with times of 15.62 and 47.04. She also took third in the 200 and put Oregon in the lead in the 4x200 relay.

“I was happy to run the 200s. I haven’t run any sprint events,” said Hammer, a state-ranked hurdler.

The Hawks took third in the 4x100 relay (51.13), second in the 4x200 (1:48.10) and second in the 4x400 (4.13.25). All three marks made the top 10 in 1A state rankings compiled by Athletic.net.

Noelle Girton substituted goalkeeping duties for the Hawk soccer team to place second in the shot put. Her mark of 9.87 meters was a couple inches away from first.

“They were playing Princeton and since they see them again at regional, [soccer] coach [Seger] Larson said we don’t need to show them everything,” Schneiderman said.

In the discus, Oregon got a second from Alease McLain, with a throw of 31.71. Defending conference champ Sonya Plescia hit state qualifying in the pole vault with a second-place mark of 2.74.

Rockford Christian’s Natalie Forward broke her school record twice en route to a win at 3.05.

Tying Tremble for second in the high jump for Oregon was Skylar Bishop. Lorelai Danhorn added a third place in the triple jump (9.52).

“When you score in all the field events and most of the running events, you have a great opportunity to win,” Schneiderman said.

With a shift in the balance of power in the conference, Dixon and Rock Falls took seventh and eighth place with 39 and 33 points.

“In looking at times, the conference has gotten better,” Dixon coach Simon Thorpe said. “Schools like Lutheran and Genoa-Kingston have really improved.”

Last year G-K was ninth. This year, they were third with 83 points and won 5 events.

The Duchesses’ best finish was a second in the 4x800 relay with a time of 10:34. Dixon got thirds from Payton Cox in the shot put (9.43), Kamryn Rogers in the 1,600 (5:36) and Daniella Lovett in the 3,200 (12:59).

Ariel Hernandez led Rock Falls with a second in the 3,200 (11:43) and third in the 800 (2.31).

“Ariel ran (2A) state qualifying in the 3,200. That’s what she will concentrate on at sectional,” RF coach Mark Truesdell said.

The Rockets got thirds from Kayla Hackbarth in the discus (29.18) and Ryleigh Eriks in the pole vault (2.59).