At the Mattoon Class 2A Sectional on Thursday, the Mt. Carmel Lady Aces track team qualified three individuals who will advance to the Illinois State Track Meet. Hazel Earnest, Leah Lewis and Zoie Randall will head to the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charlestown on Friday to compete in their respective events.
Sophomore, Zoie Randall, with a jump of 1.54 meters (5’1”) earned a fifth place finish in the high jump. She will advance to the state meet by equaling the 2A qualifying standard of 1.54 meters.
Junior, Leah Lewis, competing in the discus throw, threw a toss of 34.30 meters (112’6”) on her first throw to break her own school record and exceed the 2A qualifying standard of 33.42 meters. Lewis’ throw was good for a fifth place.
Junior, Hazel Earnest, competed in both the 100 meter high hurdles and the 300 meter low hurdles. Earnest finished third in the high hurdles with a time of 16.50 seconds, just missing the qualifying standard by .08 of a second. Earnest came back in the low hurdles and ran a personal best 48.48 seconds to qualify for the state meet. Earnest’ run earned her a fifth place medal and was noteworthy as it came from the second and slower heat.
As a team the Lady Aces finished 14th with a score of 18 points. Also competing for the Lady Aces were Ellie Couch who finished 9th in the discus with a personal best throw of 28.84 meters (94’7”) and the sprint relay team of Ella Turner, Kate Andrews, Mercedes Dillard and Macy Glenn who ran personal best times in the 4x100 relay (57.11) and the 4x200 relay (2:01.91).
