By Michael Newman, ILXCTF.com Editor

 

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Here are highlights from the IHSA 3A Sectional Meets that took place from May 10 to May 12.

 

 

May 10 & 11 – Antioch

 

This sectional moved into a two day meet after rainy weather and timing problems postponed the meet Wednesday night just before the 800 Meter Relay. What was also irregular was that this meet was run in conjunction with the NLCC Boys Conference Meet. Belvidere qualified nine to the state meet as they won the team title with 94 points with DeKalb finishing second (84 points).

Belvidere North started out the meet running a season’s best 9:19.49 to win the 3200 Meter Relay behind a strong anchor leg by 2A state cross-country champion Jenna Lutzow. She came back to run 2:18.57 to win the 800 Meter Run ahead of DeKalb’s Katherine Olsen. Belvidere North picked up wins by Sabrina Elder in the 400 Meter Dash (57.74) and Taylor Ferguson winning the Pole Vault (10-9).

The 1600 Meter Run was closer than most of the sprint races in this meet. Belvidere North’s Madison Diercks ran 5:01.22 to win the race were the first four finishers were within 56 hundredths of a second of each other.

DeKalb’s Brioment Buggs had a good meet helping her team qualify in the 400 & 800 Relays as well as one individual event. Buggs ran 25.05 to win the 200 Meter Dash. DeKalb ran 48.78 to win the 400 Meter Relay as well as the 800 Meter Relay (1:42.62) ahead of Huntley (1:43.03 and McHenry (1:43.29). Five teams qualified for state in that event.

 

 

May 11 – Bartlett @ Streamwood HS

 

West Aurora rolled to the sectional title with 146.33 points qualifying 12 individuals along with two relays for next weekend’s state meet. Dajour Miles was the star of the meet winning the three sprint events. The sophomore stared in the 400 Meter Relay anchoring West Aurora’s team to the event win (48.24). She ran a season’s best of 12.11 to win the 100 Meter Dash ahead of teammate Tamia Rayford (12.48). Miles came back to run 56.14 to win the 400 Meter Dash again ahead of Rayford (57.25). She ended her meet by running 24.63 for the 200 Meter Dash win more than a second ahead of the rest of the competition.

Madison Marasco of Schaumburg ran one of the state’s fastest times in winning the 800 Meter Run (2:13.85) ahead of Streamwood’s Maddie Exline (2:15.46. Schaumburg ran 9:22.79 to win the 3200 Relay with Hoffman Estates second (9:29.41) getting the other auto-qualifying standards. Hoffman Estates ended the meet running 3:58.38 to win the 1600 Meter Relay ahead of conference rival Schaumburg (4:03.53).

 

 

May 12 – Belleville West

 

This was a MONSTER qualifying meet in the sprints. Nine teams qualified for state in the 400 and 800 Meter Relays. 12 athletes qualified in the 100 Meter Dash, nine athletes in the 100 Hurdles and “only” 6 athletes qualified in the 200 Meter Dash. A whopping 66 athletes qualified for the state meet out of this sectional along with 23 relays.

 

East St. Louis-Senior set themselves up as a contender for the 3A state title next week winning the team title in this high-powered meet with 91 points. The Lady Flyers advanced 11 (individuals / 2 relays) to Charleston. They could have had one more relay qualifying if not for a bobbled exchange in the 400 Meter Relay. Evangeline Harris threw 44-11.25 to win the Shot Put. Jazzmine Poole threw a personal best 149-6 to win the Discus. She will be one of the favorites in the event next week. Rokelle Stanley won both hurdle events. She won the 100 Hurdles (14.53) while Kelvi Searcy of Belleville West finished second (14.75). Stanley ran the state’s best time in winning the 300 Hurdles (43.82).

O’Fallon finished second in this meet (68 points) and could surprise some people next week a Charleston. The Panthers ran the fastest times in the state in winning the 400 and 800 Relays. O’Fallon ran 47.09 to win the 400 Meter Relay with Granite City a “distant” second (47.94, IL #3). They came back to run 1:39.91 to win by close to three seconds in the 800 Relay. East S. Louis-Senior ran 3:56.98 to capture the 1600 Relay ahead of O’Fallon (3:59.66).

Ozzy Erewele of Springfield was the only other double individual winner. She ran 25.13 to win the 200 Meter Dash after running 11.91 to win the 100 Meter Dash ahead of O’Fallon’s Tamya Houston (12.09).

 

 

May 12 – Reavis

 

Lyons Township scored 136 points to win the sectional team title ahead of Morton Township’s 97.5 points. The Lions qualified all four relays along with eight individuals for next weekend’s state meet. Sarah Barcelona did not qualify in the 3200 Meter Run. A leg injury during the race forced her out. “It was a leg issue that came out of nowhere,” Lyons Township distance coach Alex Lyons said. Her teammate Emily Henkel won the event (10:57.65).

Nija Redmond of Morton was one of two double winners in this sectional. She won the 100 Meter Dash (12.46) just a tenth of a second ahead of Proviso West’s Tanayea Kimbrough. Redmond came back to run 57.90 to win the 400 Meter Dash. Lyons Township’s Sonia Slusarczyk won both the 100 Hurdles (15.44) and the 300 Hurdles (46.58).

 

Reilly Revord of Hinsdale Central went under 5 minutes in the 1600 Meter Run (4:58.72) winning the event by 10 seconds ahead of Lyons Township’s Cara Palikas. Grace McCabe ran a personal best of 2:15.08 in winning the 800 Meter Run. Both McCabe and Revord were part of Hinsdale Central’s winning 3200 Meter Relay (9:31.38). Lyons Township ran a season’s best of 3:57.77 to win the 1600 Meter Relay with Hinsdale Central two seconds behind.

 

 

May 11 – St. Ignatius College Prep @ Concordia University

 

Oak Park-River Forest scored 171 points to easily win this sectional qualifying 13 for next week’s state meet. Amira Young, the defending 3A champion in the 100 and 200, won both of those sectional titles in this meet for the second year in a row. Young started with a 12.03 time in winning the 100 Meter Dash. She won the 200 Meter Dash by more than a second (24.46). Young was also a part of Whitney Young’s 400 Meter Relay and 1600 Meter Relay that qualified for Charleston.

 

 

May 11 – Downers Grove South

 

It was a close team battle throughout this meet with Bolingbrook leaving the track with the sectional title 85-80 ahead of Downers Grove North. Lockport Township finished third (89 points) ahead of Lincoln-Way East (70 points). Romeoville stole the show winning both sprint relays along with both individual sprint events. Kaniyah Rush was a double winner for Romeoville winning the 100 Meter Dash (12.30) just six hundredths of a second ahead of Bolingbrook’s Claire Young as well as a 25.21 time that gave her the win in the 200 Meter Dash. Romeoville’s relay looked strong as they ran 47.84 to win the 400 Meter Relay almost a second ahead of owners Grove North (48.80). They also ran the second fastest time in the state (1:40.95) to win the 800 Meter Relay again ahead of Downers Grove North but this time by almost two seconds (1:42.75).

The closest race of the night happened in the 1600 Meter Relay when Downers Grove North edged Lockport Township by three tenths of a second for the event title (3:57.27-3:57.73). Lincoln-Way East was a close third (3:57.73) that they achieved without Ololade Ayoola in their lineup. Ayoola earlier finished third in the 400 Meter Dash to qualify for state as well as clearing 5-5 to win the High Jump.

Four runners punched their tickets to Charleston in the 800 Meter Run. Emma Moravec ran a 61-second first lap and held on to win the race with currently the second fastest time in the state (2:13.64) ahead of Lockport’s Kayla Isom. The finish of the 1600 Meter Run was also close as Morgan Bollinger outkicked Shepard’s Kelli Callahan and Downers Grove South’s Erin Reidy to win in 5:07.37. Callahan (5:07.88) and Reidy (5:07.96) were less than a second back. Both Bollinger and Isom were a part of Lockport’s winning quartet in the 3200 Meter Relay (9:20.88).

The horizontal jumps were close. Maddie Manganiello of Downers Grove South jumped a season’s best 18-7 to win ahead of Isabel Maletich of Downers Grove North (18-6). Rachel Blumenstein of Hinsdale South was a surprise winner in the Triple Jump (37-10.75) as she finished just one quarter of an inch ahead of Maletich (37-10.75).

 

 

May 12 – York

 

Just when we think we have seen something amazing come from the amazing feet of Glenbard West’s Katelynne Hart, she just takes it another step up to amaze us even more. The freshman runner had a great night winning two distance events as well as helping her team to the win in the 3200 Meter Relay. Wheeling won the sectional team title with 77 points as Glenbard West finished a close second (75.5 points). It was Hart that everyone was talking about leaving the York High School track.

Hart’s exploits started in the 3200 Meter Relay as the anchor runner for the Hilltoppers. She took the baton 35 meters behind York. She made up that ground running a sizzling 2:13.2 split to give Glenbard West the win (9:19.73) ahead of York (9:23.94).

She had less than 30 minutes to rest but she was back on the track to compete in the 3200 Meter Run. Hart had the lead in the first 100-meters never looking back as she ran the state’s best time (10:14.47) in winning ahead of teammate Lindsey Payne (10:41.82). Both were back on the track 100 minutes later for the 1600 Meter Run. All Hart did was run the state’s fastest time (4:47.54) in winning ahead of Hersey’s Sarah Harden (5:02.06) and Payne (5:03.50).

Lauren Kroll of Addison Trail was the meet’s other double winner as she won the 100 Meter Dash (12.42) and the 200 Meter Dash (25.36). Isabelle Kennedy of Lake Park perhaps had the best field event performance as she jumped a personal best of 18-7.25 to win the Long Jump. Kennedy finished second in the Triple Jump (37-10) behind the 38-9 winning jump of Wheeling’s Timber Terrell.

Emily Stegmeier of Elk Grove will contend for the 800 Meter Run based on her 2:13.96 winning time in this meet ahead of Glenbard West’s Janie Nabholz (2:15.90).

 

 

May 11 – Homewood-Flossmoor

 

This was the other sectional with MONSTER qualifying marks. Nine runners advanced to Charleston in the 100 Meter Dash and ten in the 200 Meter Dash. It was Homewood-Flossmoor that had a monster night on their home track winning the sectional title with 126 points. Thornton (75 points) and Crete-Monee (70 points) followed in second and third. The Lady Vikings qualified 10 overall (7 individuals/3 relays) to next weekend’s meet at Eastern Illinois University.

 

Jaimie Robinson once again had another great meet winning four individual events on her final competition on her home track. The senior had control of the jumps winning the Long Jump (19-11) and the Triple Jump (40-8.75) in which she won by more than three feet. It was closer for her on the track. Robinson won the 100 Meter Dash (11.80) by just two hundredths of a second ahead of Danville’s Ameia Wilson (11.82) and Crete-Monee’s Lyn’Nikka Vance (11.89). Both Robinson and Wilson were back in the 200 Meter Dash where again Robinson had the upper hand with the second fastest time in the state (24.11) ahead of the Danville sophomore (24.25, IL #5).

 

Homewood-Flossmoor also captured three of the four relay events. They started by running 48.03 to win the 400 Meter Relay ahead of Thornton (48.38). The two teams duplicated the finish in the 800 Meter Relay with Homewood-Flossmoor (1:42.31) again ahead of Thornton (1:42.83). They finished off the night by running 4:03.05 to win the 1600 Meter Relay.

 

Thornton’s Mya Robinson was the meet’s only other double winner as she ran 14.29 to win the 100 Meter Hurdles and 44.37 to win the 300 Meter Hurdles by four seconds. Kylie Welch won the 400 Meter Dash (56.36) by almost four seconds ahead of Danville’s Keneisha Williams. Welch is the 3A state defending champion in the event.

 

 

May 11 – Grayslake North

 

Nya Carr of Buffalo Grove had a great meet Thursday night winning three individual events. The junior jumped 17-9.5 to win the Long Jump. She followed on the track by winning the 100 Meter Dash (12.25 and the 200 Meter Dash (25.54) in which she won by eight hundredths of a second ahead of Lakes Community’s Taylor Tilmon.

Barrington won the sectional team title with 90 points led by the double distance win by Jocelyn Long. The junior ran 10:46.52 to win the 3200 Meter Run ahead of Libertyville’s Melissa Manetsch (10:51.01). Long won the 1600 Meter Run (5:05.82) again ahead of Manetsch (5:08.68). Kelsey McLaurin also picked up a win for the Fillies jumping 37-2 to win the Triple Jump. She was part of Barrington’s winning 1600 Meter Relay quartet that ran 4:04.09.

 

 

May 11 – Ottawa

 

Naperville North qualified 12 (9 individuals / 3 relays) for the state meet in Charleston as they easily won the team championship (101 points) ahead of Naperville Central (58 points) and Minooka (57 points).

 

Some of the Lady Huskies success came in the distance events starting in the 3200 Meter Relay. Naperville North ran 9:20.83 for the win ahead of state qualifiers Oswego (9:24.80) and Yorkville (9:27.86). Emily Shelton of Minooka won the 3200 Meter Run in a personal best 10:33.81 leading seven runners that qualified for state in that race. North’s Alex Morris (10:35.34) and Sarah Schmitt (10:37.19) finished second and third. Six runners advanced to state in the 1600 Meter Run as Claire Hamilton won over a tough field (4:55.82) five seconds ahead of Minooka’s Mackenzie Callahan (5:00.80) and Hamilton’s teammate Hannah Ricci (5:01.74). Shelton, Oswego’s Isabelle Christiansen, and Yorkville’s Emily Eberhart also qualified for the state meet in that event.

 

Halle Bieber also picked up a win for Naperville North as she ran 44.27 (IL #3) to win the 300 Meter Hurdles. North also picked up wins by Sarah Wastek in the Shot Put (41-11) and their 800 Meter Relay (1:43.34).

Melzina Johnson of Joliet West was a double winner in this sectional winning the 100 Meter Dash (12.20) and the Long Jump (17-9.5).

 

 

May 11 – Loyola Academy

 

New Trier rolled to the sectional title (114.5 points) advancing 13 (10 individuals/3 relays) to Charleston. Glenbrook South (68 points) and Evanston Township (66 points) were next in the team standings. New Trier ran the fastest 3A sectional time in winning the 3200 Meter Relay (9:17.03) 11 seconds ahead of Maine South.

 

 

There were two individual double winners in this sectional. Glenbrook North’s Hannah Wilson ran 12.16 to win the 100 Meter Dash and 25.02 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Maine West’s Alisa Fallon was in charge of the weight events. She threw 40-5 to win the Shot Put as well as throwing 126-4 to win the Discus.