By Michael Newman

Hillside -- The Proviso West Girls team looked in mid-season form even though it was only the second week of the season. The Lady Panthers captured two of the three relays contested Saturday at Proviso West’s Valentine Relays.

Proviso West had the lead on the first two legs of the final section of the 800 Meter Relay. On the second exchange, Romeoville took the lead but that only lasted for 100 meters. Proviso West’s Zaccaria Fisher took the lead and never looked back. Tanayea Kimbrough ran a strong anchor leg to bring home the win with the fastest time in the state for the event (1:46.35). Romeoville’s Kaniyah Rush edged Kenwood’s Zakya Johnson at the line (1:47.83 – 1:47.94).

There was really no question in the 1600 Relay as Proviso West’s Cameryn Fisher gave her team a big lead on her strong leg of the relay. The only question was whether they would get Oak-Park River Forest’s meet record of 4:07.83. It looked that way as Talia Robinson and TeArra Winters kept a strong pace towards that. A 61.9 anchor leg by Kimbrough gave Proviso West the win and the new meet record (4:07.45). DeKalb, who won Section 5 of the event, was second more than seven seconds behind Proviso West.

Prospect was six seconds behind Schaumburg in third-place in the final section of the 3200 Meter Relay when their all-state runner Brooke Wilson took the baton. Wilson made up the difference in the first 200 meters of her 800 meter leg passing first Mundelein and hen taking the lead from MSL rival Schaumburg. Her 2:25.9 split opened almost a 100 meter lead over the rest of the filed. The Lady Knights ran 10:12.23 to win the event 22 seconds ahead of Schaumburg (10:34.53) and Taft (10:36.90).

State distance powers Minooka and Lyons Township were in the field for the Boys 3200 Meter Relay but did not bring all their parts. Minooka’s state cross country champ Soren Knudsen as well as Lyons Township’s all-state duo of Danny Kilrea and Vince Zona were not a part of their teams’ relays as they have not started their racing season yet. For the first two legs of the final section, Whitney Young was on sub 8 minute pace for the race as they opened a huge lead on the rest of the pack. Marc Harvey led off Whitney Young’s quartet with a quick 2:00.6 first leg. Anthony Tuman followed that up with a 1:59.9 leg opening a huge lead for the Dolphins. Charlie Nevins 2:10.5 split on the third leg of the race followed by Keduse Worku’s 2:05.2 anchor leg gave their team the win (8:15.98) and he fastest time in the state in the second week of the season. Mundelein finished second (8:25.96) ahead of Jones College Prep (8:27.82) and Minooka (8:28.33).

Whitney Young also picked up a win in the 1600 Meter Relay. The Dolphins ran 3:32.30 to win the event over a good Brooks College Prep quartet (3:33.65) and West Chicago (3:35.02).

Lyons Township may have had both of their relay teams in the fifth of six sections in the 800 Relay but that did not matter to the Lions. It does not matter what section you are in but if you have the fastest time when you are done. The Lions did that as the quartet of Rob Hatch, Tom Saggau, Reggie Terrell, and Xavier Armand ran 1:33.64 to win Section Five of the event. They just had to wait a couple of minutes to see what would happen in the sixth and “fast” section. When Proviso West crossed the line and the winner of the section in 1:35.96, it confirmed Lyons Township’s win. West Chicago, who finished second in the fifth section behind Lyons Township, finished second overall (1:35.31) ahead of Proviso West and Lyons Township’s “B” squad (1:36.19).

Results