St. Peter Track Team Makes Some Noise At State, Hein 7th In The 400 Meter Dash

Over two days at the IESA Class A State Track Meet in East Peoria, St. Peter placed one athlete on the podium, another who came very close, and two relay teams that outperformed their seeded place. It was a great way to end an exciting and record breaking season. Around 2700 of the best Class A track athletes competed at the meet from around the state of Illinois on Friday and Saturday.

Eighth grader Therese Hein began the meet for the St. Peter Rockets with a tough and competitive performance in the 400 meter dash. She placed second in her heat with a time of 1:05.37, beating three competitors in the final heat for a seventh place finish and an All State Medal.

Seventh grader Alec Wilson won his preliminary heat in the 100 meter dash paving his way for a podium appearance. It wasn't meant to be as he finished sixth in his semi-final heat, placing him tenth overall. The next day in the 200 meter dash Wilson was given the tough lane eight assignment in the final heat. In spite of a gallant effort in the last 100 meters he finished 8th in the heat and 12th overall with a time of 26.06 seconds. But with a 10th and 12th place finish Wilson left the meet proud of his accomplishments and hungry for more next season.

The girls 4x100 relay team of seventh grader Eileen Drew, eighth grader Rachel Tork, sixth grader Gracie Prange and anchor Therese Hein was seeded 42nd out of 66 teams. Determined to finish better than 42nd, the girls out matched all but one opponent in their heat finishing second, .1 seconds behind first place. The clean baton exchanges and fast anchor leg moved them up to a 35th overall finish.

St. Peter's girls 4x400 relay team was just beginning to hit their stride last week at sectionals. They were hungry for more at state and ready to prove they were better than their 31st out 38 team seeding. Rachel Tork started the team in a solid second place in their heat while eighth graders Toriana Turk and Anna Burke maintained the team's position with good second and third legs. With the team solid in second place but about five seconds out of first, 400 meter specialist and anchor Therese Hein closed the gap and nearly won the heat. The team finished second, .64 seconds out of first place in a time of 4:36.83, good enough for 19th place overall.

St. Peter was also in action at the Aurora Conference Championship Meet at Aurora Central Catholic High School on Saturday. The highlight of the meet was the strong fifth grade girls second place finish (out of seven teams). Also, sixth grader Sam Barton broke the St. Peter 50 meter dash record with a time of 7.84 seconds, placing him third in his race.