Junior Rachel Harmon runs in the 4x200 at the Unity Invitational Friday night. Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

TOLONO — The Illineks did their best Friday night under difficult circumstances, but they failed to place at the annual Unity Girls Invitational.

Twenty-one teams scored points, led by winner St. Joseph-Ogden with 75. Stanford Olympia was second (67), followed by Moweaqua Central A&M (57).

The Illineks, however didn't make the list of scoring teams. Without juniors Tuli Bera and Cheyenne Stewart, both of whom were out with injuries, the already small Uni squad was down to seven athletes.

The closest the Illineks came to scoring was in the 4x200-meter relay. Senior Lizzy Warner, juniors Linda Ly and Rachel Harmon, and sophomore Ashley Huddson ran the event in 1 minute, 58.95 seconds, good for eighth place out of seventeen teams.

But only the top six finishers in each event earned points. SJ-O won the relay with a time of 1:51.89.

Among individual competitors, Hudson turned in the best Uni performance. She ran the 200 dash in 29.32 seconds to finish 14th out of 43 sprinters. Senior Tori Hagy of Vandalia won in 27.56 seconds.

The loss of Bera especially hurt Uni's chances of scoring. By the end of the indoor season, she had established herself as one of the top sprinters in the area, a legitimate threat to advance to the Class 1A state meet in the 100 dash. Without Bera, Uni was also missing a key component in the 4x200.

The Illineks look to get back on the board when they return to action Tuesday afternoon in a girls and boys meet at St. Thomas More in Champaign.

UNITY GIRLS INVITATIONAL AT A GLANCE

• TEAM PLACINGS
  1. St. Joseph-Ogden, 75 points
  2. Stanford Olympia, 67
  3. Moweaqua Central A&M, 57
  4. Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, 50
  5. Decatur St. Teresa, 47
  6. Vandalia, 44
  7. Tolono Unity, 29
  8. Pana, 24
  9. Clinton, 20
  9. Hoopeston Area, 20
  11. Jamaica, 19
  12. Heritage, 17
  13. Oakwood, 16
  14. Bismarck-Henning, 15
  15. Paxton-Buckley-Loda, 12
  15. Sullivan, 12
  17. Macon Meridian, 11
  17. Monticello, 11
  19. St. Thomas More, 6
  19. Villa Grove, 6
  21. Tuscola, 5
  Note: Uni High did not score any points and therefore is not listed in the final team placings

• 100-Meter Dash
  27th: Linda Ly (jr), 14.81 seconds
  No. of sprinters: 39
  1st: Rachel Ballard (fr), St. Joseph-Ogden, 13.17

• 200 Dash
  14th: Ashley Huddson (so), 29.32
  26th: Linda Ly (jr), 30.24
  No. of sprinters: 43
  1st: Tori Hagy (sr), Vandalia, 27.56

• 400 Dash
  25th: Katherine Allen (jr), 1:12.91
  No. of sprinters: 35
  1st: Kayla Houston (sr), Vandalia, 1:00.25

• 800 Run
  25th: Sarah Heffley (fr), 2:56.89
  26th: Deborah Ladd (sr), 2:57.16
  No. of runners: 37
  1st: Erika Ramos (sr), Hoopeston Area, 2:22.33

• 300 Low Hurdles
  15th: Lizzy Warner (sr), 56.14
  No. of hurdlers: 27
  1st: Lydia Mitchell (so), Tolono Unity, 47.52

• 4x200 Relay
  8th: Uni (Lizzy Warner, Linda Ly, Rachel Harmon, Ashley Huddson), 1:58.95
  No. of teams: 17
  1st: St. Joseph-Ogden, 1:51.89

• High Jump
  17th: Ashley Huddson (so), 4 feet, 2 inches (4-2)
  No. of jumpers: 18
  1st: Amy Martin (jr), 5-1

• Long Jump
  16th: Lizzy Warner (sr), 13-3
  No. of jumpers: 32
  1st: Rachel Ballard (fr), St. Joseph-Ogden, 17-1

• Shot Put
  27th: Rachel Harmon (jr), 23-10
  No. of throwers: 41
  1st: Hannah Wilkins (sr), Jamaica, 40-3

• Discus Throw
  36th: Rachel Harmon (jr), 57-6
  No. of throwers: 39
  1st: Erica Funk (jr), Macon Meridian, 131-10