WLB girls bring home a State
Championship in track and field
Grace Bivin captures state title in high jump
[May 19, 2025]
Logan County was well-represented this weekend in the 2025
IESA Class 1A and 2A State Track and Field Championships at EastSide
Centre in East Peoria.
Several area athletes reached the podium and were awarded medals,
but no one topped the West Lincoln Broadwell girls track and field
team.
The Wolverines won the Class 1A 8th grade State Track and Field
Championships on Saturday by earning 42 points. WLB finished ahead
of Sigel St. Michael’s, who scored 35.5 points.
WLB coach Tiffany Battin knew going into the weekend that the girls
had a real chance to come away with a state championship.
“We had a lot of success last year at State and wanted to build on
it this year,” said Battin. “Chrissy (Short) and I were evaluating
and making changes throughout the season that would give the girls
the best chance for individual and team success. Through it all the
girls were open minded and optimistic. They trusted us and meet
after meet they continued to improve, breaking county records and
WLB records multiple times.”
Chrissy Short is also one of the coaches at WLB and she’s mom to
three amazing runners: Mallory, Preston and Taylor. Taylor, an 8th
grader, placed second in the 400m and 800m over the weekend.
Short said that in 2002 WLB won the Class 1A 8th grade State Track
and Field Championship. Both Short and Battin had been eyeing the
possibility of a team championship since last season’s success at
State.
“Last year we finished in 8th place with 24 points,” said Short,
referencing the 7th grade competition. “The winners had 34 points.
We thought going into this year the potential was to score in a
couple more events. Going into the state meet, the 4x200 relay team
had the fastest sectional time, the 4x400 relay team was ranked
second, Taylor was second in the 400 and ranked first in the 800 and
Grace was ranked 8th in the high jump.”
“Starting on Friday, Taylor ran a personal best 1:00.82 in the 400,
finishing second (8 points) behind Mt. Olive’s Alena Graham in first
at 59.96. Bright and early on Saturday morning, after 8th grade
graduation where all five of these eighth graders graduated with
high honors, they hit the track, kicking off with the first event,
the 4x200 relay. Sage Gilbert, Olivia Woodhall, Taylor Short and
Paisley Holmes did not run their best time but it was still good
enough to get the silver. Their time of 1:54.26 was good for another
8 points. Meets are scored 10 points first/8/6/5/4/3/2/1.
[to top of second column] |
West Lincoln Broadwell brings home team hardware from the 2025 IESA
Class 1A State Track and Field Championships. Photo by Cindy Bivin
Several events went by where we had no entries until the 800 and
high jump, going on simultaneously and knowing we had a chance to do
really well. Taylor went out leading the pack the first lap in 1:04
and looked super strong but just couldn’t quite hold on as Champaign
Judah Christian’s Henley Parsons closed the gap, inching out Taylor
by .13 seconds. Both ran impressive times in the 800, Parsons ran
2:20.40 and Short ran 2:20.53. Both girls bettered the State record
by over a second and ran the fastest girls times of the day. Taylor
scored 8 points. Grace at the high jump moved ahead, clearing 1.50m
(4’11”) and winning the gold for 10 points.”
“As the girls went down to run the 4x400 relay, Tiffany and I
started to do the math,” added Short. “Looking at the scores going
into the last event WLB was behind the lead by 1.5 points with the
lead team not competing in that event we knew. If the girls got at
least 7th place, we’d do it. And sure enough, we stayed at the front
of the pack, finishing second in 4:26.29, a season best.”
Sage Gilbert, Grace Bivin, Paisley Holmes and Taylor Short ran the
4x400 relay at the very end of the day on Saturday that solidified
the state championship.
Paisley Holmes also hit a PR of 28.34 in the 200m on Saturday,
finishing in 10th place.
Olivia Woodhall finished in 14th place in the shot put. Woodall
threw the shot 26’ 2.25” or 7.98 meters.
Congratulations to the Wolverines on their state championship!
[Teena Lowery
|
