Jasmine Merideth and Paige Vasquez qualify for State
BY JIM BEERS
Contributing Writer
CHESTER – The Chester High School Lady YellowJackets Track and Field Team competed at the 2023 IHSA Class 1A Sectional Track and Field Meet Thursday May 11. The event was hosted by Chester High School at the Dr. Charles R. Young Memorial Track and Field Complex on the Campus of CHS.
Athletes from a total of 21 schools were represented with 16 schools able to support a team score.
The 21 schools attending the meet included Breese Mater Dei, Carlyle, Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran, Chester, Cobden, Dupo, East St Louis SIUE Charter School, Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran, Glen Carbon Father McGivney, Lebanon, Madison, Maryville M. Christian, Nashville, New Athens, O’Fallon First Baptist Academy, Okawville, Red Bud, Sparta, Steeleville, Trenton-Wesclin, and Waterloo-Gibault Catholic.
The 16 team scores with points and rankings included Nashville (1st, 137), Glen Carbon Father McGivney (2nd, 95), Okawville (3rd, 50), CHESTER (4th, 42), Carlyle (5th, 34), Trenton-Wesclin (6th, 31), Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran (7th, 29), Madison (8th, 28), Breese Mater Dei (9th, 27), Red Bud (10th, 24), Dupo (11th, 22), Sparta (12th, 18), O’Fallon First Baptist Academy (13th, 8), Maryville M. Christian (14th, 7), Lebanon (15th, 4), Edwardsville (16th tie, 1), and East St. Louis SIUE Charter School (16th tie, 1).
The Chester Lady Jackets had a great day and placed 4th out of 16 team scores and competing against athletes from a total of 21 different schools. In addition to a great team finish of 4th Place, the Lady Jackets had two athletes qualify to advance to the 2023 IHSA Class 1A State Track and Field Meet.
Paige Vasquez qualified to advance in the Shot Put and Jasemine Merideth qualified in the 100-Meter Hurdles. All 1st and 2nd Place finishers automatically qualified to advance to State while other individual athletes were qualified to advance by meeting pre-decided performance times and distances.
Vasquez finished 3rd in the Sectional Shot Put event, but qualified to advance to State by exceeding the pre-determined standard of throwing at least 10.77 Meters. Vasquez threw 10:83, thusly advancing to State. The winner of the event was Isabelle Ware of Sparta with her toss of 10.98. Second Place was Ellie Bartling of Nashville with her 10.95 performance.
Jasmine Merideth placed 2nd in the 100-Meter Hurdles with her time of 17.59, thusly automatically advanced to State. The winner, Alyssa Statler from Okawville, had a time of 17.51.
Other Lady Jacket results include:
Field Events
Erin Liefer (5th, High Jump, 4-07.75)
Jessica Stumpe (4th, Pole Vault, 7-00.50)
Bethany Baughman (8th Pole Vault, 6-06.75)
Aubrey Coleman (12th, Long Jump, 13-04.25)
Cailey Bainter (13th Long Jump, 13-03.50)
Jasemine Merideth (6th, Triple Jump, 30-05.00)
Briley Miles (7th, Discus, 89-11)
Rylie Miles (17th Discus, 70-02)
Paige Vasquez (3rd, Shot Put, 35-06.50) * Met qualifying distance to advance to State
Emma Eggemeyer (4th, Shot Put, 35-04.00) * Missed qualifying for State by just 2-inches!
Running Events
4 X 800 Relay: (Chester, 8th, 13:32.62) Rylie Conley, Maleia Absher, Josalynn Anaya & Kylee Kempfer
4 X100 Relay: (Chester, 6th, 54.86) Lillian Diskey, Camrynn Howie, Paige Vasquez, & Aubrey Coleman
3200-Meter Run: (Adelynn May, 3rd, 12:51.55)
3200-Meter Run: (Mackenzi Diemund, 8th, 16:41.96)
100-Meter Hurdles: (Jasmine Merideth, 2nd, 17.59) * Qualified to advance to State!
100-Meter Hurdles: (Lillian Diskey, 14th, 14.59)
100-Meter Hurdles: (Liberty McCormick, 23rd, 17.02)
800-Meter Run: (Kylee Kempfer, 17th, 3:17.91)
4 X 200 Relay: (Chester, 6th, 2:00) Aubrey Coleman, Lillian Diskey, Gianna Eggemeyer, & Camrynn Howie
400-Meter Dash: (Josalynn Anaya, 16th, 1:17.89)
300-Meter Hurdles: (Jasmine Merideth, 3rd, 50.32)
1600-Meter (1-Mile) Run: (Adelynn May, 5th, 6:04.26)
200-Meter Dash: (Camrynn Howie, 17th, 30.74)
4 X 400 Relay: (Chester, 6th, 4:46. 96) Jasemine Merideth, Erin Liefer, Lillian Diskey, & Gianna Eggemeyer
Coach Jenny Cartwright said, “I am of the opinion that we competed very well today at Sectionals. We had some close finishes in events that barely missed qualifying to advance to the State Meet.”
“I am very proud of how the girls did and they have improved consistently throughout the season.”
“I know that Paige (Vasquez) and Jazzi (Jasmine Merideth) are excited to get to competition at the next level. It is going to be a great experience and can’t wait to see how they do. This will be the first trip to the State Meet for each of them.”
Vasquez and Merideth will compete at the Class 1A IHSA State Track and Field Meet. The event takes place this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday May 18, 19, and 20 at Eastern Illinois University.
There are 267 schools represented in Class 1A and Chester is one of them. Paige Vasquez will compete in the Shot Put event. There are 30 athletes in this event and out of those 30, Vasquez is seeded 16th. The top seed is Lacey Lester of Henry. She comes into the State Meet with a time of 12.3.
Other local athletes also competing in the Shot Put event include # 3 Maya Rounds of Sesser-Valier (11.62); # 12 Isabella Ware of Sparta (10,98); # 13 Ellie Bartling of Nashville (10.95); and # 22 Lilly Kirkpatrick of Sesser-Valier (10.29).
Jasmine Merideth will compete in the 100-Meter Hurdles event. There are 29 athletes that will be battling in this event. Merideth is seeded 24th with her Sectional time of 17.59. The top seed is Makhiya Stephen OF Maroa Forsyth with her Sectional time of 15.09.
Other local athletes that will compete in the 100-Meter Hurdles will be # 8 Destiny Hooker of Fairfield (16.25); Macie Tosh of Goreville (16.40); and # 23 Alyssa Statler of Okawville (17.51).
CHS senior Paige Vasquez prepares to throw the shot put at the 2023 IHSA Class 1A Girls Sectional Track and Field Meet. Vasquez threw a distance of 10.83 meters which qualified her to advance to the 2023 IHSA State Meet. Jim Beers Photo
Emma Eggemeyer, a senior Chester Lady Jacket shot put athlete, warms up prior to the start of the Class 1A Girls Sectional Track and Field Meet. Eggemeyer, who has been very successful throughout the season, threw a distance of 10.77 meters which was just 2-inches short of qualifying her to advance to the State Track and Field Meet. he placed 4th out of 24 athletes in the competition. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s Jasmine Merideth, a CHS junior Lady Jacket Track and Field hurdler, (lane 5, center) finishes the 100-meter hurdle event at the 2023 IHSA Class 1A Girls Sectional. Meet. She placed 2nd with her time of 17.59 and qualified to advance to the State Track Meet May 18-20 at Eastern Illinois University. Jim Beers Photo
Chester’s Jasmine Merideth, a CHS junior Lady Jacket Track and Field hurdler, (lane 5, center) finishes the 100-meter hurdle event at the 2023 IHSA Class 1A Girls Sectional. Meet. She placed 2nd with her time of 17.59 and qualified to advance to the State Track Meet May 18-20 at Eastern Illinois University. Jim Beers Photo
This is the start of the 1600- meter run at the 2023 IHSA Class 1A Girls Sectional Track and Field Meet. Chester’s Adelynn May finished 5th out of 17 runners with a time of 6:04.26. Jim Beers Photo
Freshman Erin Liefer, a CHS Lady Jacket High Jumper, recorded a height of 1.42 meters to finish 5th out of 12 competitors at the 2023 IHSA Girls Class 1A Sectional Meet. Jim Beers Photo
CHS freshman, Adelynn May, guts out the final lap of the 8-lap 3200-meter (2-mile) run at the 2023 IHSA Class 1A Girls Sectional Track and Field Meet. May finished 3rd in the race with her time of 12:51.55. The top-2 finishers qualified to advance to the State Meet. The pre-determined qualifying time to advance to State by meeting that time was 12:26.55. May just missed advancing to State by one position (3rd instead of 2nd) and by just 26-seconds failing to meet the pre-determined qualifying time. Jim Beers Photo
CHS 200-meter runner Camrynn Howie, a CHS senior, finishes her heat of the 200-meter dash at the 2023 IHSA Girls Class 1A Sectional Track and Field Meet. Little did Howie know that it would be the final race of her high school career as her time of 30.74 would not qualify her to advance to the 2023 State Track and Field Meet. Jim Beers Photo