IHSA Girls Class 1A track: Du Quoin, Pinckneyville bound for prelims
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Athletes from Perry County will compete in five events Thursday during the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 1A State Girls Track and Field meet.
Du Quoin freshman Kiyanna Dejear is a double-qualifier in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Pinckneyville has one individual qualifier-Samantha Schneider in the 400-and sends three relay squads to state.
Dejear's sectional times in both events ranked 24th while Pinckneyville's three relays (4x100, 4x200 and 4x400) all ranked out of the top 30, as did Schneider.
Du Quoin scored 32 points at sectional and Pinckneyville had 36. the showing turned out to be the best in several years for the Lady Indians.
"Overall, the team scored 32 points, " Lady Indians assistant coach Shawn File said. "I believe that's the best total team points in quite some time for Du Quoin Girls Track at the sectional level. Kiyanna is also the first girl to reach state in quite awhile."
File pointed to a few "near-misses" for Du Quoin at sectional.
Andrea Smith was third in the 200 (the top two qualify) and joined Dejear,Gabby Weis and Alexis Mitchell on the 4x200 relay that bested its previous top time by several seconds and barely missed the state qualifying mark in a fourth place finish.
Shelby Presley (ninth place, Discus), Smith (100 meters, fifth place), Mitchell (100 hurdles, fifth) and the 4x800 relay (Alexis Korbar, Latesha Nesbitt, Lauren Helsley, Fatima Pirtle) also placed ninth.
PRELIMINARY STARTING TIMES
Thursday, May 20
4x100 meter relay-11:40 a.m. (Pinckneyville)
100 meter dash-12:40 p,m. (Kijanna Dejear, Du Quoin)
4x200 meter relay-1:12 p.m. (Pinckneyville)
400 meter dash-1:36 p.m. (Samantha Schneider, Pinckneyville)
200 meter dash-2:40 p.m. (Kijanna Dejear, Du Quoin)
4x400 meter relay-3:02 p.m. (Pinckneyville)