Four athletes headed to state in badminton

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Photo by Hector Cervantes

Senior Raynne Belingon and Ashley Manzano practice before going to the state competition.

By Hector Cervantes, Reporter

As the girls badminton season wraps up, four girls qualified to the state competition at Eastern Illinois University on Friday and Saturday.

Seniors Raynne Belingon, Ashley Manzano, Lindsay Bruce, and sophomore Clarissa Vargas made it to state .

“I feel amazing that we made it to state, but there is still the challenge of having to go through state,” Vargas said.

On Thursday the girls will practice before the preliminary competition on Friday.

State finals are on Saturday for girls who qualify.

Bruce and Belingon are partners in state while Manzano and Vargas are partnered together.

“Lindsay has been my partner for three out of the four years and to finally make it to state with her means a lot to me so I am hoping to kill it with her,” Belingon said.

The girls have been practicing the whole week to perform at the best of their ability.

“The advice I had was to enjoy the moment, have fun with it, and play hard. I am proud of each girl who qualified. They work hard and deserve to go to state,” varsity coach Bill Lech said.

According to Manzano, state is important because she has worked four years to be a state qualifier.

“It is really rewarding that I qualified to state since especially this is my second time going to state and with swimming and badminton it makes a great honor,” Bruce said.