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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION | ||||||
| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives wish to congratulate the Franklin Park Middle | ||||||
| 4 | School boys track and field team, the Bobcats, on winning the | ||||||
| 5 | 2026 Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Association | ||||||
| 6 | (SIJHSAA) Class L State Championship; and | ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, The SIJHSAA Class L State Championship Boys Track | ||||||
| 8 | and Field Meet was held at Carterville Junior High/High School | ||||||
| 9 | on Saturday, May 9th, 2026; and | ||||||
| 10 | WHEREAS, The state meet began with the shot put event, | ||||||
| 11 | where Ben Lux opened with a personal record throw of 48 feet, 7 | ||||||
| 12 | inches; Tanner Purintun opened with a throw of 46 feet and | ||||||
| 13 | finished with a throw of 51 feet, 4 inches to clinch the state | ||||||
| 14 | title in shot put, earning the team 18 points; and | ||||||
| 15 | WHEREAS, The duo scored additional points for the team in | ||||||
| 16 | the discus event with respective third-place and fourth-place | ||||||
| 17 | finishes, with Ben Lux throwing a personal record of 151 feet | ||||||
| 18 | and Tanner Purintun throwing a personal record of 137 feet, 7 | ||||||
| 19 | inches, helping the Bobcats score 29 points in the two | ||||||
| 20 | throwing events; and | ||||||
| 21 | WHEREAS, During the field events, Kayne Rhynes cleared 8 | ||||||
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| 1 | feet, 6 inches in the pole vault, earning a fifth-place finish | ||||||
| 2 | and 4 points for the Bobcats; and | ||||||
| 3 | WHEREAS, In the hurdles, Eli Purdy secured a third-place | ||||||
| 4 | finish with a time of 14.57 seconds to score 6 points for the | ||||||
| 5 | team; and | ||||||
| 6 | WHEREAS, In the 4x100 relay, the team, consisting of | ||||||
| 7 | Kendrick Mickens, Ben Lux, Lendyn Horton, and Kaiden | ||||||
| 8 | Washington, achieved a time of 48.33 seconds to secure a | ||||||
| 9 | sixth-place finish and additional points for the Bobcats; and | ||||||
| 10 | WHEREAS, Kaiden Washington earned even more points for the | ||||||
| 11 | Bobcats with his fourth-place finish in the 100-meter dash; | ||||||
| 12 | and | ||||||
| 13 | WHEREAS, The state meet culminated in the 4x400 relay, | ||||||
| 14 | where the Bobcat team of Eli Purdy, Emit Gibson, Dakota Gregg, | ||||||
| 15 | and Ben Lux finished fifth overall to take home Franklin | ||||||
| 16 | Park's first-ever state championship for boys track and field | ||||||
| 17 | after state runner-up performances in 2018, 2022, and 2023; | ||||||
| 18 | and | ||||||
| 19 | WHEREAS, The Bobcats are led by Head Coach Tyson Moore, | ||||||
| 20 | who has fostered one of the best throwing programs in Illinois | ||||||
| 21 | since joining the team in 2016 and taking over as head coach in | ||||||
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| 1 | 2021, with the Bobcats having a throwing state champion at | ||||||
| 2 | every state meet since 2019; therefore, be it | ||||||
| 3 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 4 | HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 5 | we congratulate the Franklin Park Middle School boys track and | ||||||
| 6 | field team, the Bobcats, on winning the 2026 Southern Illinois | ||||||
| 7 | Junior High School Athletic Association (SIJHSAA) Class L | ||||||
| 8 | State Championship; and be it further | ||||||
| 9 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 10 | presented to the coaches and players of the Franklin Park | ||||||
| 11 | Middle School boys track and field team as a symbol of our | ||||||
| 12 | respect and esteem. | ||||||