St. Peter Track Places 5 Athletes on Podium at IESA State Meet

The long-distance athletes took the day as both Maria Tavierne and Jon Young earned all-state honors at the IESA state meet in East Peoria in the 1,600-meter run on the first day of the two day meet last Friday. Not to be outdone, the eighth-grade girls 400-meter relay team of Maria Tavierne, Shea Vero, Bridget Byker and Colleen Grady placed eighth in dramatic form on Saturday.

After a fast start, Tavierne had to dig deep through laps two and three to stay in medal contention. She finished strong for sixth place in a time of 5:43.99, earning the first ever-IESA state track meet medal for St. Peter.

Through almost three laps, all 12 competitors in Young’s heat stayed within 10 meters of each other with two runners finally breaking away from the pack nearing the final lap. With 300 meters to go, Young made a move, passing several runners to place him in medal contention. It was a fight to the finish with Young placing seventh in his heat, eighth overall with a time of 4:59.87.

Seeded 19^th the eighth-grade girls 400-meter relay team was a long shot to make the podium. They won their heat with ease in a St. Peter record time of 4:31.78 with Shea Vero taking the lead for good with a time of 67 seconds in the second leg of the relay. Now it was a matter of waiting for the last two heats to finish and determine their fate. At the conclusion of the event, the official results had the St. Peter girls in eighth place by tenths of a second, thus securing All State honors and medals on the podium.

Rounding out the St. Peter’s IESA state competitors were Eileen Burke, 33^rd in the 100-meter hurdles, Colleen Grady, 27^th in the 400-meter dash, Charlie Zimmer, 17^th in the 1,600-meter run and 11th in the 800-meter run and Shea Vero 18^th in the 800-meter run.