Tuscola Lady Warriors track team moving toward postseason play
By Lenny Sementi
Tuscola’s girls track team ran shoulder to shoulder with some of the best 1A and 2A competition in Central Illinois this past Friday evening at the Tolono Unity Rocket Invite. Coach Drew Sterkle’s squad was a near miss of a team trophy in the thirteen school meet taking fifth place overall with 54 points. Seven girls in all added to the point total in two relays and six individual events and eleven posted either personal or season best times.
It was business as usual for speedster Alyssa Williams breaking her own school records for the fourth straight week. The junior standout went toe to toe with St. Joe Ogden star Atleigh Hamilton in three contests and came out on the right side of two of them. She not only broke her own school records in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes but also the meet and facility record in both.
Williams crossed the finish line a half second in front of Hamilton in the 100 breaking the tape in 12.16 seconds. Then found gold in the 200 edging Hamilton at the line with a personal best time of 25.46. She was a near miss in the long jump setting the early tone with a leap of 17 feet 7 and a three quarter inches. Hamilton touched the sand at 18 feet six inches earning her spot on the top of the podium. Williams donated 28 points in all to the Lady Warriors totals.
Natalie Hastings helped the team’s cause with a third place finish in the discus. The freshman fired the disc just shy of the 100-foot mark collecting the bronze medal. Carlie Seip found her way to fourth place points in the triple jump with a hop, skip and a jump that spanned 32 and a half feet.
Freshman Sydney Moss scored in the demanding 300-meter low hurdles taking sixth place with a personal best 54.29 seconds. Laney Cummings was right on her heels in seventh with a season best time of 54.33. Reagan Smith was a near miss in the open 800 finishing mere seconds out of scoring with a personal record time of 3:03. Hannah Hornaday was a few steps behind Smith and also fell just short of scoring in the 3200-meter circling the track in 15:20. Brynn Tabeling rounded out the distance races, posting a season best time of 6:21.
Tabeling, Cummings, and Hausmann joined with Carlie Seip in the 4×200-meter relay and Paige Goad in the 4×400-relay. The group secured fourth place and four points in a loaded 4×2 with a time of 1:55 and fifth and two points in the 4×4 crossing the line in 4:35.