Pole vault duo helps Eureka lead Central Illinois squads at Class 2A state finals
- Jonathan Michel
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
CHARLESTON — Eureka girls track and field entered the final day of the season with a strong opportunity to surpass its 10th-place finish at state from 2025.
It wasn’t a matter of if the Hornets would be among the top 10 teams again this year, but more so a matter of how high they could go. The same could be said for the standout pole vault duo of Reagan Bishop and Bre Lehman.
Both athletes earned all-state honors and spots on the podium as Bishop cleared a season-best 3.75 meters (12 feet, 3.5 inches) to place second behind Danville’s Samantha Brown and Lehman finished fourth by clearing a personal-best 3.45 meters (11 feet, 3.75 inches).
“It was super exciting, I love getting to compete with my teammate, it means a lot having both of us here,” Bishop said.
Bishop has qualified for state in the pole vault in each of her three prep seasons, finishing third in 2024 and sixth in 2025.
She started off her indoor season hot with four wins and a third-place finish at the Illinois Top Times Championships, but failed to clear 12 feet during the outdoor season before Saturday. Ending the season on a high note meant a lot to the junior.
“I’m super excited, I’m very happy with it,” Bishop said. “I’ve had kind of a rough outdoor season so this meant a lot and get back to my old jumping and clear some high bars. It’s a great group of girls and it’s always fun when I get to jump with friends.”
Lehman, who also ran on Eureka’s 4x400 that finished in sixth , has also gone three for three in reaching state in the pole vault. Saturday’s fourth-place finish marked a new best at the blue oval, capping off a year where she won the Heart of Illinois Conference and Class 2A Metamora Sectional titles.
Saturday wasn’t the last that the state will see of the duo and both are looking forward to competing in another great state atmosphere as seniors.
“I love it here, I think it’s so much fun having so many people supporting me with my family and all my friends,” Bishop said. “It’s just so fun here because everyone is competing at such a high level and we all encourage each other to do our best.”
The Hornets finished fourth in Class 2A with 33 points that they picked up in a variety of events. Their 4x800 relay of Brenna Metzger, Adeline Hubert, Ava Otto and Sophia Watson took second place in 9:34.03 and its 4x400 of Watson, Metzger, Lehman and Alayna Garza placed sixth in 4:01.75. Watson and Metzger added a pair of individual seventh-place finishes with Watson running the 800 in 2:16.49 and Metzger running a personal-best 46.43 in the 300-meter hurdles. Otto took ninth in the 1600 with a PR of 5:09.37 and Sierra Herrmann ran a personal-best 11:19.70 in the 3200 to place 11th and round out the Hornets’ finals competitors.
Baylie Nena led Metamora with a pair of medals in the hurdles events and took fifth in the 100 hurdles (15.37) and sixth in the 300 hurdles (46.41). In the field for the Redbirds, Olivia Perry set a PR of 17’8.25 to place sixth and Violet Weinman cleared 10’11.75 to take eighth in the pole vault.
East Peoria’s Ava Alt capped off her career with a fifth-place finish in the 100 (12.34) and a seventh-place finish in the 200 (24.92). Canton’s Makaylynne Correa took fifth in the shot put (38’5.5), Morton’s Nyameye Maison slotted in eighth in the 400 (58.92) and Peoria Notre Dame’s Maya Zopel took 14th in the 3200 (11:23.89).
Troy Triad won the Class 2A team title with 43 points.
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