The Waterloo Junior High School girls track team completed an undefeated season by winning the Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Association Class L state meet in Carterville on Saturday.

Waterloo finished with 64 points, which was 16 points better than the second place school.

“It was a cold and rainy day, but that proved to be no match for our girls,” WJHS track coach Taylor Sebestik said. 

Some of the girls were on the WJHS girls cross country team that also went undefeated and won an SIJHSAA Class L state title.

“I can’t say how rare it is or if it’s ever happened before for any other team, but it has definitely never happened for me as a coach,” Sebestik said. “While I would like to win every competition we are in, it is not a priority.  This is especially the case in track. A lot of the regular season meets, I’m trying out different scenarios to see what works best with the big picture being the focus. Ultimately, I know the conference, regional and state meets are the only ones that matter. All this to say that it is fun and cool to have an undefeated season, but that is never the goal. The results for the last three competitions are what matter the most. The fact both these teams went undefeated in addition to winning their respective state competitions is just a bonus. Is it rare? Probably. “ 

Last year, both the WJHS girls cross country and track teams placed second at state.

At Saturday’s meet, Molly Grohmann won the high jump by tying her own school record of five feet, two inches.

Teagan Nodorft and Grohmann placing second and third, respectively, in the 400 meter run.

“Teagan missed the school record by a quarter of a second in very wet conditions,” Sebestik said.

Anne Hicks placed ninth in the long jump and fifth in the 200 meter run at state.

Ali Kloeppel and Angelynn Kanyuck went 1-2 in the 1,600 meter run.

“Ali is now back-to-back state champion in that event and Angelynn had a fantastic race running a person record by five seconds to be your event runner-up,” Sebestik said. “It will be fun to see what these two seventh graders can do when they come back next year.”

Kloeppel, who also won the state cross country title this past fall, also placed third in the 800 meter run. 

“She was in the race to the very end,” Sebestik said. “She was the only girl that ran both the 1600 and 800 that day.”

Waterloo’s 4×200 relay team of Grohmann, Kristin Smith, Taylor Thorsten and Nodorft placed fifth. The same four girls placed second in the 4×400 meter relay.

“Kristin and Taylor are sixth graders who have worked very hard all year and gained valuable experience that will benefit them as they return to the state meet in future seasons,” Sebestik said.

Sebestik thanked all those who helped make this undefeated track season possible.

“A big thank you to all the parents, family, teammates that made the trip to Carterville on a terrible day to support these girls,” he said. “We appreciated it greatly and I know that it was not easy to be a spectator.” 

Other state results

At the SIJHSAA Class S state track meet in Herrin, Immaculate Conception School eighth grader Dominic Voegele won the 100 meter dash, placed fifth in the long jump and placed 10th in the shot put. He also competed in the discus at state.

For the girls, ICS eighth grader Abby Eichenseer placed second in the 200 meter run and fifth in the 100 meter dash at state.

ICS seventh grader Izzy Foutch placed seventh in the discus at state.

Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School also had a few students compete at state. 

Hadley Schneider placed third in the 400 meter run and fourth in the 100 meter dash for the Falcons.

The SPPCS 4×100 relay team of Schneider, Lauren Eichholz, Noelle Willson and Rachel Bradley placed 10th. 

Paul Steingruby placed sixth in the 800 meter run at state.

At the Class L state meet in Carterville, Waterloo’s Joe Schwartz placed third in the 1,600 meter run, Dupo’s Logan Stevens placed fifth in the 800 meter run and Millstadt’s Zach Wolf placed fifth in the high jump.