The 1A Girls state championship highlights bring the life of another great time in Peoria
Head Coach/coaches: Jason Retz
Last year's finish: State Runner-Up
Projected top 7: Rajlich, Bagby, Suits, Jillian Plotner (11), Hanna Eastin (10), Ally Monk (11), Maclayne Taylor (12)
Newcomers: We will have our largest incoming freshman class. Looking at bringing in 12 freshmen
Coach's thoughts on the team: It's been a good summer. Lots of fresh blood mixed with our experienced group. Should be a fun bunch with a love of the sport of running. There will be a healthy competition with our largest team in quite a few years. The team you see at the beginning of the year may not reflect who we may turn into by November. Should be exciting!
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The race to be the best will start with defending champion Emma Argo. The senior from Eureka came to the forefront after the legendary Anna Sophia Keller finally graduated. Everyone in the cross country world is well acquainted with the former star from Effingham St. Anthony High School, who now runs for the University of Notre Dame. Argo should be ready for another banner season if you consider the success that she had during the track and field campaign. In it, Argo competed in 2A and anchored her 4x800 relay mates to a state runner-up finish. Now back again for the fall, expect some surprises to unfold. First on the list is defending state-runner Ailey Mitchell of Shelbyville. She ran a personal best 17:46 which was impressive. However, the track season did not go as well with the numbers 5:29.91i and 12:18. But perhaps the championship form will return this fall. We will watch closely and wait and see. Lydia Roller of Staunton, Caroline Jachino of Pleasant Plains, Alyssa McPike of Monticello, Mia Mclain of Benton, and Karlie Hey of Sterling Newman Catholic are some names that you cannot miss out on this season.