Smith, Cragin earn top-6 individual event finishes

STERLING — The Rochelle Lady Hub varsity track and field team concluded the 2023 season at the IHSA 2A Sterling Sectional on Thursday evening. Rochelle finished 13th out of 14 schools with five points in the meet. Freshman Kyrie Cragin took fifth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 52.25 seconds, while junior Kylie Smith finished sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.97 to lead the Lady Hubs in the individual running events at the sectional meet.

Rochelle’s 800-meter relay team (Rylee Jackson, Ryelee Bogle, Alex Neece and Zoe White) finished fifth with a time of 1:54.59 to lead the Lady Hubs in the relay events. Rochelle’s 1600-meter relay team (Zoe White, Kyrie Cragin, Arline Villanueva and Kylie Smith) placed seventh with a time of 4:29.03 and Rochelle’s 400-meter relay team (Ryelee Bogle, Rylee Jackson, Alex Neece and Kylie Smith) took 10th with a time of 54.91 seconds.

“I think we had a really successful season with a really young team that we’re looking to develop,” head coach Alison Vrana said. “I thought we did well at the sectional and we’re looking to improve next season. I think our girls were able to see where they stack up against other junior and senior athletes and many of our freshmen and sophomores will be able to come back next season. I think the sectional meet was a great learning experience for them.”

Senior Samantha Sanford finished 11th in the shot put with a heave of 8.95 meters and senior Macy Ramos took 13th in the high jump with a clearance of 1.38 meters. Junior Kennedy Adamski placed 14th in the triple jump with a distance of 9.15 meters and freshman Rose Luxton earned top-15 finishes in the 800-meter run (15th in 2:55.00) and the 1600-meter run (14th in 6:36.91). Freshman Ryelee Bogle finished 15th in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.75 and senior Rylee Jackson took 15th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.47.

“Our girls realize that they are varsity athletes now and they still have areas where they can improve,” Vrana said. “I thought the sectional went well and we had a lot of personal records. We didn’t get any athletes down to state which wasn’t how we wanted to end our season, but I don’t think that means our season was unsuccessful.”