1975 - The First Year
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The book on Richwoods High School Women's Track and Field was opened in the 1974 - 1975 school year. The IHSA had only fully recognized girls' track as a competitive sport the preceding season. The memo to the right which documents the preparations for setting the schedule for the Knights' first season also shows the members of the original Richwoods High School Women's Track and Field to have been: |
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Regular Season Competition
Competition began on April 15, 1975 with a triangular meet against Manual and Limestone. The first event to be run by the Knights was the 110 yard hurdles. That race set the stage for the Knights long tradition of success when it produced the first Richwoods woman trackster victory with Cheryl Helfer having won in :16.3 seconds. The original score sheet from that race is below left. The Knights went on winning 11 of the 17 events in their first meet. The event scoresheet from the meet may be seen below in the middle right. The final scores saw Richwoods with 75 points, Limestone 72, and Manual 24. The original team score sheet may be seen below right.
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The Knights went on to finish the regular season with a record of 6-1, the lone loss - by a single point to IVC.
1975 Richwoods Meet Results
| 4 / 15 / 75 | Richwoods 75 | Limestone 72 | Manual 24 |
| 4 / 17 / 75 | Richwoods 76 | Normal 61 | Dee - Mac 40 |
| 4 / 29 / 75 | Richwoods 81 | Limestone 60 | |
| 4 / 30 / 75 | Richwoods 94 | Spalding/AOL 25 | |
| 5 / 5 / 75 | IVC 66 | Richwoods 65 |
District Competition
May 9, 1975 Richwoods traveled to Galesburg to compete in the IHSA District Meet (now known as the Sectional Meet). This was the qualifying event for the State Championship. The Knights won 5 events at District, each a meet record (complete meet records list from 1975 below middle right):
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As the Peoria Journal Star article (below right) which reported the event noted, the Knights qualified 9 individual events and 2 relays for the State Championship meet. (Event results shown below middle left) The winning Richwoods effort produced 56 points and overwhelmed the 26 teams competing against them. (Team score sheet below left) Galesburg's 29 points were enough to net second place for the Silver Streaks.
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State Competition
The following week the qualifying Knights competed at the IHSA State Championship. The strong performances produced the entire season by Richwoods continued at State. The Knights provided three medal winning performances:
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Top Performances
The 1975 Richwoods Women's Track & Field Team led by Mrs. Nelson, in her only season as coach, had produced a sterling opening chapter to the Richwoods Women's Track & Field story. The team's top performances that season were
| Event | Performance | Event Leader |
| 4 x 110 y | :51.4 | Vikki Sheets, Cheryl Helfer, Sheri Moore, Lynn Gannon |
| 2 mi | 11:22.7 | Bev Roland |
| 110 y HH | :14.8 | Cheryl Helfer |
| 100 y | :11.7 | Lynn Gannon |
| 880 y | 2:29.1 | Sherri Moore |
| 4 x 220 y | 1:49.5 | Sharon Marr, Cheryl Helfer, Cheryl Coker, Vikki Sheets |
| 50 y | :06.2 | Lynn Gannon |
| 440 y | :59.6 | Sheri Moore |
| 80 y HH | :11.3 | Vikki Sheets |
| 1 mi | 5:31.0 | Bev Roland |
| 220 y | :26.9 | Sharon Marr |
| 4 x 440 y | 4:46.3 | Kris Orth, Beth Hutcheson, Kathy Noack, Sharon Marr |
| Discus | 74' 2" | Leah Lynch |
| Shot Put | 31' 8" | Diane Kahn |
| High Jump | 5' 2" | Sheri Moore |
| Long Jump | 16' 9.5" | Cheryl Helfer |
| Triple Jump | 28' 0" | Eileen Flanagan |
