Tough Day At State, Mercer County Wins Sectional, Chargers And Tigers Advance

The Class 1A girls state track meet preliminaries were held Thursday at Eastern Illinois University and it was a tough day for local qualifiers.  Mercer County’s 4 X 100 meter relay team, the Golden Eagles Brooke Ziegenhorn in the pole vault and Orion’s Danielle Taets in the 100 hurdles and triple jump were able to qualify for Saturday’s finals.

Mercer County won its first Class 1A boys track sectional at Rockridge.  The Golden Eagles scored 107 points, outdistancing Elmwoo-Brimfield with 88 points.  West Central was third with 60.  Those qualifying for state by school were:  Mercer County-4 X 100, 200 and 800 relays, Ethan Adolphson in the 1600 and 3200, Mike Neeld in the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles, Quinton KIng in the 100, Ethan Morrow in the 800.  Rockridge-4 X 400 relay.  Sherrard-4 X100, 4 X 200 relays.  Orion-Cole Schroeder in the 400.  West Central-Luke Ditsworth in the long jump, Jordan Sells in the shot put and discus, Zach Vancil in the 400.

In the Sherrard Class 2A baseball regional semi-finals, Orion upset Rockridge 4-2 in the first game and Sherrard shut out Monmouth-Roseville 3-0.  Both Orion and Sherrard avenged losses from the regular season.  The two will meet Saturday for the regional championship.