ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Township High School boys and girls track and field teams hosted Sterling for a Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference coed dual meet on Tuesday, with the Golden Warriors edging the Lady Hubs by a score of 74-72 and Sterling’s boys defeating the Hubs 93-53.

Girls

Sophomores Katie Van Hise and Emma Smith tied for first place in the high jump with clearances of 4-2, while senior Alexis Bialas placed fourth in the pole vault (6-6) and sophomore Maddie Ohlinger finished sixth in the long jump (12-4). Ohlinger and junior Cam Turner placed fifth and sixth with respective lengths of 29-4 ½ and 28-7 in the triple jump.

“Our kids came out and competed well,” head coach Kyle Kissack said. “I’m really proud of our kids. We’re at the point in the season where each practice matters and each meet matters. Our kids came out tonight and competed hard.”

Sophomore Gabrielle Harding finished first in both the discus (92-4) and the shot put (31-4 ½) on Tuesday, while senior Allysa Harding took second in discus (89-6) and freshman Afi Gati placed second in the shot put (31-4). Sophomore Cristina Alfano took fourth place in both discus (75-2) and shot put (29-6).

Rochelle’s 400-meter relay team of Gati, sophomore Liliana Lopez and juniors Grace Garcia and Cheyene Watson placed second with a time of 1:02.63. Junior Katherine Bakken won two distance events on Tuesday, placing first in the 3200-meter run with a time of 12:34.49 and the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:45.23. Senior Hannah Cruz finished second in the 3200-meter run (12:34.82) and third in the 1600-meter run (6:13.05).

“I’m overly impressed with Katherine and the way she’s responded early on this season,” Kissack said. “You can tell that she’s put in some serious work over the offseason and I’m really looking forward to seeing what she can do over the latter half of the season.”

Junior Abby Tilton was Rochelle’s third girl to win two events on Tuesday, finishing first in both the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 18.32 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 51.14. Watson placed second in the 100-meter hurdles (18.61) and freshman Sofia Lenkaitis took third in the 300-meter hurdles (56.22).

“Abby was banged up early on this season but she’s starting to get healthy and she’s getting on a roll,” Kissack said. “I’m excited to see where she’ll finish out. All of our kids are really competing hard and really grinding things out in practice. We’re excited about the direction we’re heading in.”

Sophomore Macey Ryan finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.11, and Ryan also took second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.35. Senior Jacie Wyatt won the 400-meter dash (1:05.94) with senior Morgan Knight taking second (1:07.31). Rochelle’s 800-meter relay team of Wyatt, Ryan, senior Cesca Vardman and senior Morgan Baker won with a time of 1:51.18.

Boys

Junior Mason DeLille won the triple jump with a length of 39-11 ¼ while taking second in the high jump with a clearance of 5-6 and fourth in the long jump with a mark of 18-3. Sophomore Aaron Vondergathen finished first in the pole vault (8-6) and senior Noah Knight took second in the long jump (18-6) while freshman Trevor Goodwin was second in triple jump (37-2).

“We’re finding a way to get personal bests even though the weather isn’t cooperating with us,” head coach John Dobbs said. “We’re moving guys around in different relays and it seems to be working. We’re hoping to get better every time we step on the track and so far that’s what’s going on.”

Senior Bazil Bennett took second place in the discus with a throw of 135-5 while placing third in the shot put with a heave of 42-5. Senior Zach Miller (41-4) finished fourth in the shot put, and Rochelle’s 3200-meter relay team of sophomore Gyvanziel Quinonez, sophomore Santi Cordoba, freshman Aiden Seldal and junior Connor Lenkaitis won with a time of 10:07.77.

“We had some nice performances in the field events tonight with Mason in the triple jump and Bazil in the discus and shot put,” Dobbs said. “He’s approaching the state-qualifying standard in both of those events so that’s pretty exciting. We’ll need to do good in the field events during the Hub Relays on Thursday.”

Rochelle’s 400-meter relay team of juniors Eddie Villalobos, Knight, Greg Ricketts and senior Austin Tracey finished first with a time of 46.86. Goodwin placed third in the 110-meter hurdles (22.09) and senior Ben Pflipsen was sixth in the 100-meter dash (12.80). Lenkaitis finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:13.83, and Rochelle’s 800-meter relay team of Villalobos, Knight, Ricketts and junior Alex Louck was second in 1:39.37.

Sophomore Jacob Eul took second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 52.19, and Quinonez edged out Sterling’s Mikio Martinez in the 1600-meter run, winning with a time of 4:59.66 while Martinez clocked in at 4:59.69 for second. Louck placed fourth in the 200-meter dash (25.42) and Rochelle’s 1600-meter relay team (Ricketts, Knight, Villalobos and Tracey) won with a time of 3:49.07.

“We’re focusing on relays right now and I like the way Austin anchored his relay today,” Dobbs said. “Noah has been really consistent in the relays as well as Greg… Gyvanziel had a really nice mile race today after coming from behind to take the lead and hang on to win.”