Wagner sets state record in discus preliminaries

CHARLESTON -- It was a record day for Grant High senior Bailey Wagner at the IHSA Class AA Girls State Track Meet on Friday.

In the preliminaries of the discus competition, Wagner set a state record with a toss of 157 feet, 8 inches, besting Dore DeBartolo's 155-5 set for Aurora Rosary in 1997.

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Grant High senior Bailey Wagner set a state record in the discus in Friday's prelims at the IHSA Class AA state meet in Charleston. Wagner also posted a state record in shot put, but it was surpassed by another competitor. She will compete in the finals today.
(STNG File)

Earlier in the day, Wagner also broke the state shot put record with a prelim heave of 48-11.5, only to see rival Daniella Bunch of Mahomet-Seymour best the two-time state shot put champion with a toss of 49-1.5.

The previously state record was 48-0.5 set by Greenville's Lisa Ferry in 1979.

The finals in discus and shot will be held today at 12:30 p.m. at O'Brien Field in Charleston.

Wagner's teammate, senior Tori Ziegler, posted the fourth-best shot put (43-4) and fourth-best discus (143-06) to advance to the finals.

In other prelim action on Friday, Warren High junior Heather Olson ran her first sub-five minute 1,600 run time of the season with a prelim best 4:58.56 to earn the top seed heading into today's finals.

Libertyville's 3,200-meter relay team of Lisa Branding, Alyssa Corrigan, Sarah Farish and Anne Strychalski also earned a spot in today's finals by posting a time of 9 minutes, 25.72 seconds. Geneva owned the top prelim time at 9:19.47.

In the 800 run prelims, Lakes junior Ariel Butzine finished fifth in her heat, but her time of 2:16.82 was good enough to qualify for the finals.

The area's two top sprinters -- Lake Zurich junior Olivia Allen and Zion-Benton senior Aireonna Bailey -- both earned a spots in the finals, as Allen posted a 25.03 time in the 200 dash prelims and Bailey finished with a 12.2 time in the 100 dash prelims.

Bailey narrowly missed qualifying in the 200 dash, as her time of 25.56 was edged out by Rock Island's Genesis Johnson (25.42) for the ninth and final berth.

The Indiana University-bound senior also teamed up with Carnesha Johnson, Laqueisha Booker and Dominikque Williams to run a 49.48 in the 400 relay prelims, which also came close but missed out on reaching the finals.

Prep Girls Track