Jacksonville athletes advance as postseason baseball, track, tennis heat up

Jacksonville-area postseason sports were stacked across three stages at once, with baseball results, state tennis and state track all unfolding in the same late-May window. Liberty kept its run alive with a 7-3 win over Payson and was set to meet Routt on Saturday, while Calhoun shut out Carrollton 3-0 and Pittsfield fell to Williamsville 7-3.

The biggest local spotlight was on Jacksonville High’s boys track and field group, which advanced multiple athletes into the Illinois High School Association state series at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Sophomore Darren Henry was entered in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. Freshman Carlito Mitchell joined him in the high jump and long jump, and sophomore Jeremiah Jackson was entered in the 110 hurdles. Jacksonville also had relay teams in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x800, giving the program a broad footprint on the state stage.

Those qualifiers were not accidents. Jackson finished first in the hurdles at sectionals, Henry won the high jump and Mitchell finished second in the high jump, a strong showing that sent multiple athletes forward at once. For Jacksonville families, classmates and alumni, that meant more than one event to track in Charleston and a rare chance to follow several Crimsons through the same postseason meet.

Jacksonville High’s boys tennis team was also in motion, competing at the Illinois state tournament in Palatine. The IHSA scheduled the 2026 boys tennis state finals for Thursday through Saturday, May 28-30, with Palatine High School serving as tournament central and matches spread across suburban courts. That kept Jacksonville in the state conversation even as baseball brackets tightened and track finals opened downstate.

The IHSA scheduled the boys track and field state finals for Thursday through Saturday, May 28-30, at O’Brien Field on the Eastern Illinois University campus in Charleston, and Jacksonville was listed in Class 3A state-track results. That puts the school in the largest classification, where advancing athletes have to clear a deeper field to medal or even reach finals. With Liberty still alive in baseball and Jacksonville sending competitors to both Palatine and Charleston, the area had a crowded postseason calendar and plenty for Morgan County fans to follow.