Two Heineman Girls Set School Records and Earn Medals at State Track & Field Meet

Posted by: Lorie Woods, CPS District 158 Community Relations Coordinator ALGONQUIN, IL – Heineman Middle School is pleased to announce medal winners Samantha Heustis and Rhian Whitfield at the 2013 Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) Class A State Final Track and Field Meet hosted at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria. Samantha Heustis, an 8th grader at Heineman Middle School, has been working towards an IESA State Track and Field medal since 6th grade. In the past three years, she has qualified for the state meet in the 100M dash as a 6th, 7th and 8th grader. This year, her time of 13.5 seconds was fast enough to earn her an 8th place medal. Samantha is the first girl in Heineman Middle School history to ever advance to the 100M dash finals and place for a medal. In addition, Samantha also qualified for the state meet in the 200M dash, broke the HMS Girl’s Track and Field 200M dash school record running a time of 26.8 seconds, and was also the anchor of the state qualifying 4x100M relay team, which went undefeated in the regular season. Following her appearance at the 2012 IESA State Track & Field Meet as a 6th grader, Rhian Whitfield dedicated herself to the event of pole vault. She attended a few camps in the offseason and showed up ready to jump for her goals for the 2013 season. Rhian set a new Heineman school record of 8’1” at Sectionals and continued that success at State. Her jump of 7’9” at State earned her an 8th place medal, the first pole vault medal in Heineman school history. Rhian also ran in the semifinals of the 100m hurdles at State, finishing 11th overall. The IESA state series in boys track and field began in 1932 and the girls state series began in 1972. The 2013 meet was the 82nd year for the boys and the 42nd year for girls. A total of 260 member schools entered the 2013 Class A state series and 235 of those schools were represented at this year's state meet. Congratulations to Samantha and Rhian for a great 2013 track season at Heineman Middle School.