School Sports

Two local athletes have qualified for the Illinois High School Association state track meet after placing at the Newton Sectional on Friday.

St. Elmo junior Molly Hill will become a three-time state qualifier in the discus, after advancing with a throw of 101 feet, 6 inches.

She placed seventh in the state last season.

Patoka freshman Taylor Issak will make her first state appearance after qualifying in the 300-meter hurdles, with a time of 47.96 seconds, which is the 11th fastest sectional time among qualifiers.

Vandalia senior Sierah Ruffner will make her third trip to the state track meet after qualifying in the high jump at Thursday night's sectional meet in Carlinville.

Ruffner cleared the automatic state-qualifying height of 5 feet, 2 inches to place third at the sectional, and will jump at state next Thursday at the Class A state preliminaries on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

She has cleared 5 feet, 5 inches this season, and will be looking to better her best jump at the state meet, which is just 5 feet.

GILLESPIE – Seniors Ryan Ambuehl and Wade Cowger set school records to each earn a South Central Conference individual track championship, and both finished second in another event.

Racing at Gillespie High School, Cowger took an easy win in the 800-meter run (2:01.22), and Ambuehl won a 100-meter sprint at the end of the 400-meter dash (:51.36) to get the win.

“Those guys worked hard and reaped the benefits,” said coach Jane Bell. “It’s always great to have conference champions.”

VANDALIA – It was a long time coming.

Junior Megan Godoyo made her first appearance for the Lady Vandals since she was a freshman last Wednesday and immediately showed why she has been missed so much the past two seasons.

Pitching at about 80 percent of her full strength, Godoyo struck out six over five innings of work to put Vandalia in position to take a 2-1 South Central Conference win from Hillsboro.