Hononegah girls finish second in NIC-Indoor Track & Field Championships

ROCKTON — The 4x800-meter relay set the tone for Hononegah’s girls as Allyson Niedfeldt, Lauren Frake, Jordan Dimke and Kylie Simpson roared to first place in a school-record 9 minutes and 50.04 seconds in the first event on the track at Saturday’s NIC-10 Indoor Track & Field Championships.

The host Indians went on to finish runner up in the meet with 115 points, trailing only champion Rockford Guilford (140). It was definitely a two-horse race as third-place Rockford Auburn had just 55 points.

Guilford swept as the Vikings boys scored 116 points for a six-point win over Belvidere North. Hononegah was third with 106.

A strong second was just fine with Hononegah girls coach Ashley Kentner.

“I knew Guilford was going to be very competitive,” Kentner said. “All our girls met the expectations we had for them. We were really excited with our 4x8. They did amazing. We were looking forward to breaking our indoor and field house records and we did that.”

The 4x800 relay blew away the old record of 9:56.99 set in 2018.

Three members of the relay were all late editions to the indoor team, joining after the varsity basketball season ended.

“They came in as if they had never left,” Kentner said. “They were doing workouts on the side. They’re all super athletes and they are so intrinsically motivated to do amazing.”

In fact, she expects an even better time from the relay outdoors.

“They all ran solidly but I wouldn’t say it’s not what they could run,” she said. “During the outdoor season, they will have a breakaway moment and do even better. I think they would agree.”

Dimke had another outstanding meet for the Indians, winning the 200-meter hurdles (31.08) and in addition to the 4x800, she ran a leg of the first-place 4x400 relay with Chidiuto Ezeani, Frake and Simpson (4:15.95). She was also second in the high jump (5-6).

“Dimke is just a natural athlete who can do so much,” Kentner said. “She can do sprints. She can do distance. She can do hurdles. She can jump. At Bryon last week she had jumped 5-7. The sky is the limit for her.”

Hedges gave the Indians a first place in the long jump with a leap of 17-feet, 7.75 inches and Amelia Bronnimann was first in the pole vault (9-9).

“Amelia is about 3 inches away from reaching the standard to get to state and I know she is one her way to getting that,” Kentner said.

Niedfeldt was second in the 1600 (5:28.21) and Simpson second in the 800 meters (2:25.12). Frake was third in the 400 in 1:04.93 .

Hononegah’s Isabelle Molitor, Sophia Frommer and Averi Bronnimann went 2-4-5 in the 3200, finishing in 12:39.33, 13:11.47 and 13:11.59, respectively.

The Indians’ Sophia Hodges picked up fourth in the 60 dash (PR 8.06 seconds) and Averi Bronnimann was fourth in the pole vault (7-6).

Kali Schleis gave Hononegah a fifth in the long jump in 15-6.50 and Keila Borges Aragon was fifth in the 800 (2:33.76) . The 4x200 relay of Kylee Evans, Emerson Czizek, Ava Schaumburg and Hailey Underwood finished sixth (1:57.68). Ezeani was sixth in the 400 (1:08.44).

The Indians definitely know who the team to beat is in the outdoor season as well.

“I think it’s going to be challenging (to beat Guilford),” she said. “We’re working on building up our field events. We have a lot of promising high jumpers. We have some girls were still training in the triple jump. We have a lot of new girls joining our program and it’s really growing. I think our program can grow into something great.”

For the boys, Hononegah’s top scorer on the track was Coen Lee, who won the 60-meter hurdles (8.62) and 200 hurdles (25.97). Teammate Jack Ginter was fourth in both events.

Lee also ran a leg of the winning 4x400 relay (3:37.34) that included Anthony Otero, Sam Hagg and Matthew Mahan.

The boys’ other first-place finish was by senior Jake McLarty, who won the pole vault (11-foot, 8-inches).

The Indians picked up a second from the 4x800 relay of Ben Cooper, Camden Juno, Landon Samuelson and Nicolo Altamore in 8:18.95 as well as from Alex Barth in the 3200 (10:17.54). Caleb Greving was fourth in 10:45.31.

Cristian Lobato was second in the 400 (52.79) and fourth in the 200 (23.32). Sam Hagg finished sixth in the 400 (54.19).

Cooper and Anthony Otero finished 5-6 in the 800 in 2:05.07 and 2:05.28, respectively.

Altamore gave Hononegah a fourth place in the 1600 (4:36.65) with Landon Samuelson fifth (4:37.49).

The 4x800 relay of Matthew Mahan, Mitchell Meichtry, Chase Cutler and Lee finished fifth (1:35.23).

Jacob Benson gave Hononegah a third in the shot put with a toss of 14.73 meters (48-4). Ben Klink finished fourth in the triple jump (39.6.5) and sixth in the long jump (21-1.5).

Hononegah got a fifth from Lobato in the high jump (5-7).

GIRLS

Team scores: Rockford Guilford 140, Hononegah 115, Rockford Auburn 55, Freeport 45, Harlem 45, Rockford Boylan 40, Belvidere 37, Belvidere North 16, Rockford Jefferson 3.

60 hurdles: 1, A. Jones (RG), 9.41; 2, Marmion (RA), 10.80; 3, M. Jones (RG), 11.06. 60 dash: 1, Graves (RA), 7.90; 2, McElroy (Free), 7.91; 3, Burnett (RG), 7.92. 200: 1,, McElroy (Free), 26.62; 2, Jarrett (RG), 26.99; 3, Horton-Graves (RA), 27.00. 400: 1, Jarrett (RG), 59.68; 2, Weatherly (RA), 1:04.30; 3, Franke (Hono), 1:04.93. 800: Harmsen (RG), 2:24.20; 2, Simpson (Hono), 2:25.12; 3, Rudolph (2:28.04). 200 hurdles: 1, Dimke (Hono), 31.08; 2, Jones (RG), 31.21; 3, M. Jones (RG), 31.94. 1600: 1, Kohnle (RB), 5:19.67; 2, Niedfeldt (Hono), 5:28.21; 3, Tekampe (RB), 5:36.39.

3200: 1, Fiore (Belv), 11:50.43; 2, Molitor (Hono), 12:39.33; 3, Johnson (Har), 13:06.04.

4x400 relay: 1, Hononegah (Hedges, Drake, Dimke, Simpson), 4:15.95; 2, Harlem, 4:28.88; 3, Boylan, 4:31.34. 4x800 relay: 1, Hononegah (Niedfeldt, Drake, Dimke, Simpson), 9:50.04; 2, Boylan, 10:14.67; 3, Harlem, 10:56.24. 4x200 relay: 1, Auburn, 1:48.72; 2, Guilford, 1:49.56; 3, Freeport, 1:50.46.

Long jump: 1, Hedges (Hono), 17-7.75; 2, Burnett (RG) 17-4.50; 3, Baumgartner (Belv), 16-2.75. Triple jump: 1, A. Jones (RG), 34.6; 2, Webster (RG), 34-05.0; 3, Sterenberg (Belv), 33.7. Shot put: 1, Bowman (RG), 11.68M; 2, Wuebbels (Free), 10.34; 3, Dorsey (RB), 9.62M). High jump: 1, Burnett (RG), 5-9; 2, Dimke (Hono), 5-6; Colon (RG), 5-4.

BOYS

Team scores: Rockford Guilford 116, Belvidere North 110, Hononegah 106, Rockford Auburn 71, Rockford East 40, Harlem 21, Rockford Boylan 14, Rockford Jefferson 11, Belvidere 7.

60-meter hurdles: 1, Lee (Hono), 8.62; 2, Ndkumana (RA), 9.14; 3, Turner (RJ), 9.46. 60 dash: 1, Nguyen (RG), 6.98; 2, Docket-Lewis (RE), 6.99; 3, Johnson (RB), 7.01. 800: 1, Bachata (RG), 2:00.56; 2, Lawson (RG), 2:00.90; 3, Avila (BN), 2:04.79. 200: 1, Tilson (RG), 22.71; 2, Nguyen (RG), 23.08; 3, Johnson (RB), 23.26. 400: 1, Brown (BN), 52.07; 2, Lobato (52.79); 3, Taylor (RA), 52.98. 200 hurdles: 1, Lee (Hono), 25.97; 2, Brown (BN), 26.69; 3, Ndkumana (RA), 27.85. 1600: 1, Kramer (BN), 4:26.35; 2, Malmgren (Har), 4:34.99; 3, Lawson (RG), 4:35.93.

3200: 1, Johnson (RG), 10:10.14; 2, Bartch (Hono), 10:17.54; 3, Rediger (BN), 10:24.88.

4x200 relay: 1, Rockford East, 1:32.48; 2, Guilford, 1:33.17; 3, Belv. North, 1:34.49. 4x400 relay:: 1, Hononegah (Otero, Hagg, Lee, Mahan), 3:37.34; 2, Belvidere, 3:40.72; 3, Guilford, 3:43.02.

4x800 relay: 1, Belvidere North, 8:10.73; 2, Hononegah, 8:18.95; 3, Guilford, 8:42.74.

Pole vault: 1, McLarty (Hono), 11-8; 2, Schultz (BN), 11-2; 3, Zupon (BN), 11-2. High jump: Nguyen (RG), 6-3; 2, Brown (BN), 6-3; 3, Johnson (BN), 5-11. Shot put: 1, Penney (Har), 15.45; 2, Dubose (RA), 15.34; 3, Benson (Hono), 14.73. Triple jump: 1, Spates (RA), 42.8.50; 2, Gasmund (RG), 42.2.50; 3, Murray (RA), 42-0.5. Long jump: 1, Murray (RA), 23-0; 2, Powell (RE), 21-6.50; 3, Spates (RA), 21-5.