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Bloomington, Ill --- If you were watching very closely, you could see that Janille Rogers (Minooka HS) was getting closer and closer to unleashing a monster Long Jump. All season long, she has been lurking in the mid 18 foot range. She has been in the shadows behind the great performances established by Emma Spagnola (West HS, Aurora) and Maya Neal (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville). Both athletes were in the field for the Illinois Top Times 3A Meet in the Shirk Center. Spagnola was coming off two great performances at Nationals and then her conference meet. No one was expecting what was to happen on the south runway.

Rogers hit the board almost perfectly as she flew into the pit. They measured it and stopped the competition for a minute to get the meet referee. It was confirmed that the senior had flown out to 19-7 ½. It was almost 7 inches better than she had gone outdoors last year. It also beat a seventeen year old meet record of 19-3 ¾ that Proviso West’s Jasmin Jackson set. Spagnola came up and then hit a 19-2 ¾ jump. The future University of Minnesota athlete is a money jumper. She had, however, never been pressured by an Illinois athlete this year like Rogers was doing.

Rogers came up in the fourth round and again unleashed another long effort. The referee was called in again. Not another record again? The jump was measured 19-10 ¾. It is the longest jump indoors ever by an Illinois Girls athlete going past the jump by Savannah Carson two years ago. It is also the fourth longest jump this indoor season in the United States. Let’s not sell Spagnola short either. Her jump is ranked 12^th in the nation. She also improved her personal best by a ¼ of an inch making her the third best athlete in this event indoors all time in Illinois.

“We knew that she had that jump in her,“ Minooka coach Kevin Gummerson said. “We have just been waiting for it to come out. She was getting closer and closer. Today it came out.”

“I felt I had more speed on my jumps today. I also had more height on them,” a happy Rogers said afterwards. “I just moved my steps back a little bit so that I could hit the board. My next goal is 20 feet.”

The field events got the brunt of the records in this afternoon session. Banki Oginni (Hoffman Estates HS) wanted to get to 46 feet in the early rounds and relax from there. She did that and then went 48-0 feet to break Kelsey Card’s meet record. “I just wanted to get my one good throw out there, my 46,” Oginni said. “I told myself I had nothing to lose. I was just really calm today.”

Earlier this season. Hannah Swift vaulted 12-0 at the Windy City Summit. She was back on her home runway at the Shirk Center where she had jumped the first two years at Clinton. You could see the comfort level by the Pekin junior in every attempt that she took. The event came down to Swift and Brooke Catherine as the only athletes left after they cleared 12-3. The bar went up to 12-8 ½ where Swift prevailed. She veered a little to the right but barely made it over the bar. It did not matter if it was barely over the bar. The main thing was the bar stayed on the standards. Swift jumped out of the pit and leaped into the arms of family and friends. It was a huger PR for her. It also gave her the event win and a new meet record.

“I felt super, super good. I have been working on my mechanics lately and I am just putting it together, “an elated Swift said.”

The times that Lauren Van Vlierbergen (Jacobs HS, Algonquin) has been putting up on small tracks this season has been quite amazing. At the beginning of March, she ran 2:14 for the 800 on Wheeling’s small track wearing flats. So when the junior stepped to the line for Saturday’s 800, there was a sense that she was about ready to run a great time.

The first 200 meters of the race was evidence that this was going to be a fast race. She went by in 31 seconds and started to pull away from Stephanie Urbancik and Emma Moravec (North HS, Downers Grove). At the 400 in 63 seconds, there was the possibility that this race could go under 2:10. She had opened up a 4 second lead on Urbancik and Allison Wilson (Waubonsie Valley HS, Aurora) who had moved up from the back of the pack. This race was Van Vlierbergen’s. 1:38 at the 600 then she zoomed home for a meet record 2:11.80. There was a gap of seven seconds, then came Christina Santiago (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect). Santiago moved into second on the final 100 meters passing Wilson who had a great breakout race.

“I knew that there were some people here that were under 2:20 so I knew there was going to be some competition,” she said after her run. “I just wanted to go out fast and finish strong.”

There was some doubt that Van Vlierbergen would be coming back in the 1600. Her coach Kevin Christian wanted to make sure she was okay after the 800. “It’s her decision,” he said as they walked back to the team area. 30 minutes later he gave a thumbs up that she would be running in the 1600. It would be a different strategy for her this time. Instead of trying to blow people away at the beginning, she was just going to wait and let the race come to her.

It was a good field. Amanda Thate (South HS, Downers Grove) took the pace early as they went by the first 400 in 74 seconds. Right on her was Van Vlierbergen, Skyler Bollinger (Yorkville HS), and Megan Biddle (Hoffman Estates HS). Both Bollinger and Biddle had run 2:18 splits in the 4x8 but you could not tell early on. 200 Meters later, the pace was starting to suffer. Bollinger knew she had to take the lead. Van Vlierbergen was right on her side with Biddle and Torree Scull (East HS, St. Charles) separating themselves from the rest of the pack.

The next 400 was a battle of Bollinger trying to gap herself from Van Vlierbergen’s speed. When they got the 1200, Bollinger started slowly pull away. Christian was yelling at his runner “don’t let her go!” It was too late. She was already gone. Bollinger pulled away the last 200 meters to run 4:56.09 (IL #2). Van Vlierbergen was next three seconds back. Scull finished third just missing breaking 5 minutes (5:00.92).

The 3200 Meter Run was pretty much over by the half-way point. Lindsay Graham (Glenbard West, Glen Ellyn) built up a ten second lead by the mile, then cruised to an indoor best 10:44.98 (IL #2). The Downers South trio of Amanda Thate, Haley Albers, and Abby Kargol finished 24 seconds behind 2-3-4.

The 4 x 800 Meter Relay could have been one of the most exciting races of the afternoon session. Yorkville and Prospect traded off the lead through the first three legs. It was a five team battle as Yorkville took the baton for the final 800 Meters. Hoffman Estates was less than a second behind. Loyola Academy, Prospect, and Downers Grove South were more than a second back. On the first 200 of that final leg, Loyola’s Sarah Kelly made a defining move to take the lead ahead of Yorkville’s Kelsey Leedy and Hoffman Estates Meagan Biddle. With 200 Meters to go, Kelly had a two second lead on Biddle. The Hoffman Estates sophomore charged from behind to catch Kelly with 20 meters left to secure the win for her team (9:30.51 – 9:31.94).

The sprints were missing the talented squads from Lincoln-Way East who were at the Texas Relays, and Rock Island who journeyed to Edwardsville for the Southwest Illinois Relays. It really did not matter to Briyanna Desrosiers (North Lawndale Prep, Chicago). She cruised to an easy win in the 400 Meter Dash ahead of Jordan Shead (East HS, St. Charles) and Simone Carr (Glenbard North HS, Carol Stream) who were more than a second behind. Desrosiers winning time (56.35) was more than a second behind her season’s best of 55.04 that was run in January.

Desrosiers would have company in the 200 Meter Dash. Antoinette Broughton (Homewood-Flossmoor HS) had earlier in the meet won the 60 Meter Dash (7.68, IL #5) by less than tenth ahead of Brittany Thomas (Bloom Township, Chicago Heights). Broughton started in Lane 6 and had to run the first 100 not knowing where her competition won. Desrosiers closed in the middle of the curve but there was still a gap to make up. Desrosiers had a strong finish but the lead that Broughton had in the first 150 meters was the difference. Broughton had edged Desrosiers according to the scoreboard 24.94 – 24.96. However, a red flag was up in the corner heading into the final straight. Broughton had run on the lane line. She was disqualified giving the Desrosiers the win. The North Lawndale senior left the Shirk Center with an impressive pair of races and two gold medals.

Emma Spagnola won the 60 Meter Hurdles edging Maya Neal at the line for a five hundredth of a second win. Spagnola got off to her traditionally fast start, only to have Neal close on the final two hurdles.

Other winners from the meet included Homewood-Flossmoor winning by less than a second ahead of Bloom Township (1:43.04, IL#2). St. Charles East was the first Illinois school under 4 minutes this year in the 4 x 400 Meter Relay. The Lady Saints ran 3:59.73 to win over Bloom by more than four seconds.

Jess Skudlarek (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) won the High Jump clearing 5-5. Alison Chemlik (East HS, St. Charles) just missed her seasonal best, but still won the Triple Jump (37-5 ¼). Cierra Pulliam (Romeoville HS) jumped an IL#5 37-1 to finish second.