IHSA Class 1A girls state track prelims: Dejear just misses 100 finals
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Du Quoin High School freshman Kiyanna Dejear had the best showing of Perry County athletes during Thursday's Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 1A State Track and Field preliminaries.
Dejear was third (13.06) in her heat of the 100 meter dash and later finished fourth in heat four of the 200 meters (26.9).
The winners of each heat and the nine best overall times make the finals. Dejear's 100 effort was 11th among the 100 runners and ranked 17th for the 200.
Pinckneyville senior Samantha Schneider was eighth in her heat of the 400 meters (65.79).
The Lady Panthers relay teams also had a rough day. The 4x100 squad (Mallory Timpner, Evelyn Epplin, Katie DuVardo and Deanne Brand (53.25) had a seventh place heat finish.
Pinckneyville's 4x200 team Timpner, Epplin, DuVardo and Jessilyn Thompson also took seventh in its respective heat (1:51.89).
In the 4x400, the Lady Panthers were sixth place heat finishers in 4:21.71. That roster included Schneider, Thompson, Brand and DuVardo.
Class 1A runners return for the finals Saturday morning at Eastern Illinois University's O'Brien Stadium.