These are the Rockford-area athletes to watch at the IHSA girls track and field finals

There are some powerful local girls jumping, vaulting, throwing and running their way into Charleston for this year's Illinois High School Association track and field meet, which will start on Thursday with the Class 1A preliminaries and pick up with the 2A and 3A girls on Friday.

The season will then conclude on the blue track of Eastern Illinois University with the finals for all classes on Saturday. The top eight in each running event and the top 12 in the field events advance from the prelims to Saturday's finals.

"We've definitely got a poised group, and they're ready for anything," Winnebago coach Joe Erb said. "These girls have been through a lot and they've been competing at a very high level for a long time. There's a calmness to them right now."

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Winnebago, which placed second as a team at the 1A state cross country meet this fall, now has 12 individual qualifiers and three relay teams in the hunt for 1A state track and field medals. Rockford Christian is right there as well, with three potent individual qualifiers in four events, and three relay teams that will be pushing for a top eight finish, a podium spot, and a state medal.

The 1A prelims run from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. The 2A prelims will be held from 8 a.m.-noon Friday while the 3A prelims will take place from noon-3:55 p.m. Saturday's finals will begin at 10 a.m. and end with the 5 p.m. team awards.

Winnebago with tons of chances

Winnebago set the school record in the 4x400 relay at sectionals and are ranked No. 1 headed into the state meet with a mark of 4 minutes, 7.48 seconds. One of those runners, Grace Erb, has the No. 1 time in the 800 run headed into state at 2:16.65. Her sister Katie Erb has the 10th fastest time in the 800 at 2:25.25, and their teammate Kaylee Woolery has the No. 1-seeded time in the 1600 run headed in with her mark at 5:15.91 at sectionals.

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Grace Erb and Woolery's junior classmate and their teammate, Marissa Roggensack, is seeded eighth in the mile run with a sectional time of 5:24.39, and Winnebago's Sophia Martino is seeded 17th in the 3200 run with a time of 12:30.84.

Senior Renee Rittmeyer is seeded fifth in the 300 hurdles with her sectional time of 47.41, and junior Campbell Schrank, who is seeded 12th in the 100 hurdles with a mark of 16.36, is 11th in the 300s at 48.57

"We're really excited to have so many opportunities, and so many girls going to state," said Rittmeyer, who also advanced to state with a make at 5 feet in the high jump. "All of us are pretty ready for this. It's going to be a lot of fun. Once we get there, it's all business, but once we look back on it all, it's going to be fun."

The group has also combined to head to state with the 11th seed in the 4x100 relay with a time of 51.10 and the 13th ranking in the 4x800 relay, with a mark of 10:47.98.

Winnebago is not just angling for medals on the track side of things.

Senior thrower Hannah Logan is seeded second in the shot put at 39 feet, 7 inches, behind only the powerhouse thrower from Oregon, Jenae Bothe. Logan is also seeded 10th in the discus (117-0), while her teammate Amanda Gustafson is seeded 12th (115-1). Winnebago's senior pole vaulter Ryleigh Warden is seeded ninth with a make at 10-5.

Rockford Christian sprints in

Rockford Christian has two runners with top five times in the 400 run in junior Avery Demo (second at 58.55) and sophomore Giavanna Buscema (fifth at 1:00.25). When you throw Dakota's Kelsie Minkie in there, who is seeded third at 58.62, there are three locals in the top five headed into the 400.

"I knew I had to give it everything I had left," Demo said of her heated sectional 400 race. "This was our chance to get a good time going down to state."

Mandy Nelson has the 11th seed in the 200 dash with a time of 26.89, and she has the 15th seed in the 100 dash with a time of 12.87. Dakota's Kelsie Minkie, who is seeded third in the 400 (58.62) and sixth in the 200 (26.41), is ranked right behind Nelson at 16th in the 100 dash with her best time of 12.92 at sectionals.

Rockford Christian is seeded third in the 4x400 (4:11.13), third in the 4x100 (50.07) and ninth in the 4x200 (1:48.90).

Watch out for Bothe, Byron

Oregon's Bothe has been taking aim at a shot-put/discus double victory at state all season long, and it's now within reach. She had a shot put toss of 41-5 for the No. 1 ranking headed in to state in that event. While she is seeded 16th with a 113-5 from sectionals in the discus, she threw a 137-3 at conference, and that would have her seeded No. 1 at state.

"It's all about winning state," Bothe said midway through the season. "And I want to do it in both."

Byron has a grouping that clocked the fastest sectional time and earned the No. 1 seed in the 4x200 with a time of 1:46.52, and the Tigers are seeded sixth in the 4x400 with a mark of 4:13.72, as well. Byron senior Alana Julian is seeded 15th in the 100 hurdles at 16.40.

West Carroll freshman Emma Randecker is seeded fifth in the 200 dash at 26.18 and and sixth in the 100 dash at 12.73. Her teammate Olivia Shelly is 21st in the triple jump at 32-4 and Kylie Hill is at 31st in the long jump at 15-3.

Others to watch in 1A from the area are: Forreston sophomore Sydni Badertscher has the fifth seeded distance of 37-1 in the shot and 18th with a distance of 113-0 in the discus; her Forreston teammate sophomore Letresse Buisker is seeded seventh in the 100 hurdles at 16.16 and 18th with a make at 5-feet in the high jump; Oregon's Sophia Stender has the 13th seed headed into the 100 hurdles at 16.38, and her freshman teammate Sonya Plescia is seeded 37th in the pole vault with a make at 7 feet; Lutheran junior Adelyn Richard is 17th in the triple jump at 33-2 and Lutheran sophomore Amaya Teague is 18th in the long jump headed in at 16-5.

Throwers lead 2A, 3A stars

Not a single 2A or 3A local girl hauled in a medal at state last year, but that should change this weekend — and just from the throwers who advanced.

Boylan's Madelyn Bishop soared to the top of the list for shot putters, and is now favored to win the 2A state championship after a sectional toss of 41-7. She's also seeded ninth in the 2A discus with a mark of 121-6.

Harlem's Emma Rich is poised to make the finals in the 3A discus event as she heads in seeded 11th with a distance of 119-0.

But only the top eight in each event earn a medal.

Sticking in 3A, Auburn sophomore Essence Horton-Graves is seeded eighth in the 100 dash with a 12.16, while Guilford junior Jolena Sites is at 16th with a sectional time of 12.29. Sites is also seeded 11th in the 200 dash with a mark of 25.39, and Horton-Graves is seeded 16th in the 200 at 25.59. And in her third and fourth events at state, Sites is seeded 11th in the 300 hurdles with a time of 46.49, and has the 400 relay squad seeded seventh with a time of 48.52.

Harlem senior Hannah Bilodeau is seeded 11th in the 400 with a time of 57.98. Guilford junior Michelle Gasmund is 13th in the 800 with a time of 2:19.22, and she helped the 4x400 crew haul in the 20th seed with a time of 4:04.54. Guilford freshman thrower Natassja Bowman is seeded 24th at 35-5, while Hononegah junior Indigo Sterud is seeded 14th in the 300 hurdles at 47.05.

Back to 2A, Boylan's 4x800 is 16th with a time of 10:17.54, and Belvidere freshman Emma Pierson is seeded 21st in the 400 with a time of 1:02.54.

Rochelle's Teagan Meyers is seeded third headed into the 2A state high jump competition after she cleared 5-2 1/2 at sectionals, and her teammate Alivia Henkel is seeded seventh after clocking a time of 46.69 in the 300 hurdles. Liberty Hayes is seeded 28th at 13.53 in the 100 dash for Rochelle as well.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Mike Woolery contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: IHSA girls track & field: Preview of Rockford athletes at state