Reynolds regroups to win shot put

in Class 3A Bloomington Sectional

By Randy Sharer

For Illinoistoptimes.com

BLOOMINGTON – After woeful results in the preliminaries, Class 3A state shot put leader Marco Reynolds needed something to energize herself in the Bloomington Sectional at John Szabo Track on Thursday (May 15, 2025).

The Eastern Illinois recruit got the jolt she needed from an unexpected source – the discus – in which the Normal Community star launched a state meet qualifying throw of 119 feet, 10 inches in the first round and later reached 120-3 to advance in fourth place to the May 23-24 state meet in Charleston.

“I think discus kind of saved her,” said NCHS coach Jonathan Boenzi. “She doesn’t like discus but having a bad day in shot, to qualify (in the discus) on her first throw kind of brought the energy back.”

Coming in with a state shot put best of 43-6, Reynolds was stuck in fourth after a first-round 35-0½ and two fouls which left her well shy of the 36-8 state qualifying standard. Prior to the shot put finals, she contested the discus prelims and finals.

When Reynolds returned for the shot put final, she threw an emphatic (and winning) 39-5 that put her almost three feet ahead of runner-up Joi Story of Edwardsville (36-7).

“I knew what I needed to do,” Reynolds said.

Boenzi added, “It’s not always easy and smooth like you want it to be. That’s the great part of sports.”

Reynolds came in seeded first in the discus at 139-1.

“I’m super happy I made it in discus because last year I didn’t make it,” she said. “Staying consistent over there (in the discus) helped me stay consistent over here (in the shot put).”

Joining Reynolds in Charleston will be seven other local entrants and four relays.

Belleville East won the team title with 87.25 points followed by defending champion Edwardsville (86), Alton (71.25), Champaign Centennial (62.25), Chatham Glenwood (59.5), and Normal West (56). Normal Community finished 11th (27) and Bloomington 12th (26.5) in the 16-team field.

Normal West sophomore Abigail Jackson clocked a school record 56.37 seconds to win the 400. She grabbed the lead during the first 200 while breaking her previous record of 57.40.

“I just wanted to get out really fast,” she said. “I’m usually not good out of the blocks so I wanted to make up for that the first 200.”

Normal West junior Julie Bach won the 800 in 2:17.76 in windy conditions when the heat index was in the high 90s. She led after one lap in 66.9.

“I was just dead afterward but that just means I gave it my all so I’m really proud of myself,” Bach said. “I was really trying to take the lead right away and it paid off.”

Before she could contest the 1,600, there was an hour lightning delay that allowed her extra time to recover. It was cooler and calmer when Bach advanced second in the 1,600 in a personal best of 5:07.91.

Bach (61.9) and Jackson (55.2) joined forces with Addyson Hammond (59.5) and Lauren Jones (61.9) on West’s school-record setting 1,600 relay, which qualified third in 3:58.54. The same four set the record of 4:01.50 earlier this season.

Normal West’s 400 relay of Jaiden Temples, Ryan Temples, Brooklyn Caffey, and Ayva Davis sped a school record 48.67 to finish eighth among nine qualifiers.

“Going in we knew that every relay team in that fast heat of the four-by-100 had hit the qualifying standard (of 48.92),” said West coach Greg Rogers. “Our goal going in was just to go with everyone else in that heat and see what happens. They have broken the outdoor school record just about every meet this year.”

Davis, a freshman, also advanced sixth in the 100 hurdles in a personal best of 15.42.

“Ayva has worked really hard to improve herself in the hurdles,” Rogers said. “The last couple of meets she’s been at a little bit of a plateau so she was looking for a breakthrough race today and that’s what happened.”

Rounding out the local winners was Bloomington junior pole vaulter Claudia Ifft, who cleared an outdoor season best of 11-10. She had three frustratingly close misses at 12-2.

“We had a beautiful tailwind,” Ifft said. “I got on the poles that were being difficult to me a couple weeks ago.”

Ifft’s sophomore teammate, Kylie Huffaker, advanced fourth in the 100 hurdles in a personal best of 14.93, which put her safely below the qualifying standard of 15.48. Huffaker credited her success to the coaching of BHS alum Tyler Sipes, a two-time state hurdle champion, and her father, Illinois Wesleyan assistant track coach Greg Huffaker.

“(Sipes) thinks that was the best start I ever had,” Huffaker said. “He still thinks I can do better. I feel like when he tells me I can do something, I know he’s not trying to make me feel better. He actually knows what he is doing.

“(Greg Huffaker) helps me a lot. Any off day, we are out training. I’m as good as I am because of him.”

Not being in the fast heat usually dooms entrants from qualifying but NCHS overcame that handicap twice, first with its 400 relay of Jahariah Williams, Lacy Hefter, Cayla Bedeker, and Taylor Washington who qualified ninth in a school record 48.83. The old record of 48.94 was set in 2023 by Williams, Jazmin West, Kendall Luke, and Alena Smith.

“We knew it would be close for them,” Boenzi said. “Not being in the fast heat, we knew they were going to have to push themselves. They did what they needed to do. They deserve it. They work so hard.”

Washington also missed the fast heat of the 100 but won her heat in a personal best of 12.17 to advance fifth. She just missed the 2024 school record of 12.10 by West.

“I usually do better when I have competition but I was prepared to not have much comp so I just had to run my own race,” said Washington, who did make the fast heat of the 200 and qualified fifth in 25.41.

NCHS also qualified its eighth-place 1,600 relay (4:03.87) of Emma Pollitt (61.5), Lily Cavanaugh (59.1), Skylar Hojnacki (61.8), and Bedeker (61.0).

Normal West’s Renee Warren advanced second in the 3,200 in 11:14.54 behind Chatham Glenwood’s Ali Londrigan (11:06.72), who also won the 1,600 (5:02.57).

“We haven’t really experienced anything like (this heat),” said Warren, who didn’t suffer as much as she feared. She had been under the qualifying standard in the 1,600 but withdrew to focus on the state 3,200.