St. Charles East moves past defending champ O’Fallon for 2014 title

By Michael Newman

mike@dyestat.com

St. Charles East used the strength of their state championship quartets in the 1600 and 3200 relays to vault on top of the 2014 DyeStat Illinois Girls Relay Ratings. The Lady Saints scored 165 points to be rated on top. 2013 winner O’Fallon finished second with 159 points. The Panthers used the same formula of consistency with none of their relays ranked in the top five while all four of their quartets were ranked 18^th or higher. 2014 3A State champion Lincoln-Way East had the fastest state times in the 400 and 800 relays and had the third fastest time in the 1600 relay. They still finished third with 154 points.

In the 2013 all class ratings, there were eight 2A & 1A schools that were among the top 20. This year there were only five schools in the top 20 led by the fourth place finish of Springfield with 135 points.

The DyeStat Illinois Relay Rankings are based off of the DyeStat TFX leaderboards (as of June 15, 2014) for the four relays that are contested at the IHSA State Meet. In the All Class, 3A, and 2A categories, the top 50 quartets are ranked with 50 points given to the fastest school down to 1 point for the 50^th fastest. In 1A, only the top 30 quartets are ranked with 30 points given to the fastest 1A school.

Class 3A

St. Charles East also was on top of the 3A ratings scoring 174 points. Lincoln-Way East leap frogged over O’Fallon to capture the second spot with 169 points. O’Fallon was three points back in third.

Class 2A 

Springfield dominated the two schools in capturing the 2A category with 187 points. The Lady Senators had all four relays ranked in the top 10 including their state champion 1600 relay squad on top in that relay. Last year’s 2A winner East St. Louis-Senior scored 168 showing how dominating Springfield was in the 2A relays this season.

Rosary was a surprise second scoring 154 points. The second through fifth place teams were only separated by 10 points. 2A State Champion Cahokia finished eighth.

Class 1A

There were no 1A schools that were ranked in the top 20 schools in the All Class category. When it came down to 1A, Illini West was the dominant school in the 4 state relays. The Chargers had top relays in the 400 , 800, and 1600 as they scored 103 points to be on top of the 1A category. 2013 winner Erie-Prophetstown, who finished one point ahead of Illini West last year, finished second with 92 points.