WMS 8th grade track finishes 2nd in state

The WMS track and field team took eight individuals to the state championships at the Eastside Centre stadium in East Peoria on May 17th-18th.
These athletes included Hunter Kaitschuck for the 8th grade boys High Jump, Shot Put and Hurdles. Madisen Van Duyne for 8th grade girls Hurdles, Aubree Jandura in 8th grade girls Long Jump and the 4X200 relay with 7th grader Payton Govero, 8th grader McKenna Van Tilburg, 7th grader Kelsie Roeder and alternates 7th grader Lilly Govero and 8th grader Amara Bown. To say they did great is truly an understatement.
The two-day tournament started with Aubree competing in her long jump. She ended up with a jump of 4.38M which was good for 13th place in the state. Hunter started his tournament with the 110m preliminary hurdles where he needed to get top 8 to advance to the finals.
He did just that with a 6th place time of 15.85 which is a new school record! He followed that with a 6th place finish in the finals to secure his medal. Hunter then competed in the high jump. He would finish in 15th place.
McKenna Van Tilburg (nicknamed Mac by her coaches) would run her 100m hurdle preliminaries with teammate Madisen Van Duyne. Madisen finished 14th in state with a time of 17.76. Mac would finish 1st with a time of 16.22.
Mac would then blow away the competition with a 1st place medal and a time of 16.00, which is also a new state record for 3A 8th grade girls!
This was just the start for her as she competed in the 100m dash preliminaries and finished 1st with a time of 12.77 which broke her own school record!
She followed that with a 1st place finish in the finals to secure her second of three 1st place medals.
On Saturday morning the 4X200 relay team ran a new school record time of 1:55.51 which was good for 10th place.That run was amazing but the top four teams all would have broken a state record. The competition was incredible and these girls showed that they belonged and the state wasn't too big.
Hunter threw the shot put on Saturday and ended up with a 20th place finish on a throw of 11.82M. Mac finished the tournament with a record- breaking 200m run of 26.32 which is not only a school record but her 2nd state record!
The points that Mac accumulated was enough to make the 8th grade girls the 2nd place team in state with 30 total points! The individual performance by Mac was the best in WMS history and the team trophy of 2nd place in the best finish in WMS history!
“What a year and what a state championship. We wish these athletes the best in high school next year as we believe they will change the WHS track program immensely. The returning track athletes at WMS will have huge goals for next season,” said coach Nate Strong.