By Michael Newman, ILXCTF.com Editor

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Charleston – Most of Dunlap’s team stood on the infield by the final curve as their anchor for the 1600 Meter Relay Sarah Georgieff passed them with lead. There was a moment of celebration knowing they had completed a task that started last January. It was completed on the big blue oval of Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium as the Eagles won the 2A Girls state championship with a whopping 78 points. Defending champion Cahokia scored 57 points to finished second followed by Springfield Southeast (40 points).

The nucleus to the success for this Mid-Illini Conference team was their strength in winning all four relay events. That gave them 40 points before scoring in seven other individual events.

“We just knew that our strength was in our relays,” Georgieff said afterwards. “It just built up as the basis of our team during the year.”

Georgieff was part of the success anchoring her team to win in two of the relays at the beginning and the end of the meet. It was a close race between Georgieff and Washington’s Hailey Tranchitela in the final 800-meters of the 3200 Meter Relay where the Dunlap junior pulled away in the final lap to give her team the win (9:31.91) ahead of Washington (9:33.76). Georgieff ended the day for Dunlap anchoring her team to the win in the 1600 Meter Relay (3:55.99) ahead of a fired-up Westinghouse Prep squad (3:57.75).

Dunlap sophomore Kiara Pauli was the anchor to the other two relays. She got the lead in the 400 Meter Relay then extended it as the Eagles ran 47.74 to finish ahead of Springfield Southeast (48.26). The situation was the same when Pauli received the baton for the final 200-meters of the 800 Meter Relay. She pulled away in the final 100-meters of the race to give her team the win (1:41.50) ahead of Urbana (1:42.70) and Brooks Prep (1:43.00).

Pauli also helped in the individual events giving her team points in the 100 Meter Dash where she finished third. Franny Verville had a big meet on Saturday as she finished second in the 3200 Meter Run as she passed Tolono Unity’s Jordan Harmon in the final 100-meters to secure her team eight points. It was the same in the 1600 Meter Run as Verville passed Rosary’s Claire Hengesbaugh to finish third and another seven points for her team.

Dunlap also received points from Sarah Sullivan’s seventh place finish in the Long Jump, Sydney Bertschey’s fifth place finish in the Pole Vault, Aanise Sajna finishing seventh in the Triple Jump, and Tamara Herrmann finishing fifth in the Discus.

What should be scary for the rest of the state is that most of their team and scorers are underclassmen and will be back in some cases for the next two seasons. This was not a one-time thing for Dunlap. They are in it for the long haul.

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What typifies the fighting spirit of a champion is how a team fights for every place and every point. It showed with Cahokia’s Mariya Hudson as she scored 33 of her team’s 57 points. Maybe one of the inspiring moments of the meet was in the 400 Meter Dash when Hudson had a slight lead coming into the final 100-meters of the race. You could see from the past two days of competition that she had little left in the tank. Yet, she drove towards the line with every ounce of strength that she had holding off Decatur Eisenhower’s Tina Martin to win by only three hundredths of a second (54.48 – 54.51) with defending champion Elizabeth Drab finishing third (55.21). Two steps after she crossed the finish line, Hudson collapsed to the track with no energy left. She was assisted by her teammates and fellow competitors into the infield.

Hudson also came back after the 400 win to finish second in the 200 Meter Dash after placing third in the Long Jump and second in the 100 Meter Dash. She was the heart and soul of Cahokia’s team on this day giving everything that they had to get that second-place trophy.

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Imani Carothers of Brooks Prep’s reaction at the end of 100 Hurdles was the same as the year before when she won the same event. She jumped up and down both times in uncontrolled jubilation. There is no notice of uncontrol in her technique over the hurdles. She proved that she is the top athlete in the state in this discipline as she ran a wind legal (+1.8 m/s)13.72 to win by almost a full second ahead of Vernon Hills’ Jordan Bunning (14.62).

“I was surprised last year when I ran that 13.92 to win,” Carothers said after the race. “I was not surprised this year with my time. I had done the work and knew what I was capable of. I think I can run even faster next season.”

What is in her eye is Shamier Little’s 13.54 IHSA record.

Carothers other performances said a lot of her talent. She finished second in the Long Jump (19-3.25) only one quarter inch behind Erika Furbeck of Geneseo’s winning 19-3.5 leap. The Brooks Prep junior jumped an amazing 42-10 to win the Triple Jump. It was aided by a 2.9 m/s wind. Nevertheless, it was the longest measurement ever by an Illinois athlete in the event regardless of conditions.

2A Highlights

It was Grace McLaughlin of Boylan Catholic that did the chasing last year in the 3200 Meter Run when she tried to stay close to Maryjeanne Gilbert finishing second in the race. It was the competition that had problems staying close to her on Saturday. The junior had a fifteen second lead on the pack halfway through the race. That lengthened to 29 seconds as she crossed the line in 10:40.45 for her first state championship ahead of Dunlap’s Franny Verville (11:09.96) and Tolono Unity’s Jordan Harmon (11:11.14). Kayla Schiera of Sandwich finished fourth as she ran 11:15.18 to win the first section of the event.

McLaughlin also won the 1600 Meter Run with a little help from her teammate Delaney Appino. The two pushed each other most of the way before McLaughlin pulled away the final lap of the race to win (5:02.43) just ahead of Appino’s 5:03.63). They were 11-seconds ahead of the rest of the pack.

“The 1600 was really fun,” said McLaughlin. “We were coming down the backstretch and I was thinking how cool that was. She (Appino) is my teammate as well as my best friend and I will never get a chance to race with her again. It was a surreal moment at the end.”

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Katina Martin stepped into the Illinois sprint spotlight in this championship winning two state titles. The junior got off to a great start to run a personal best 11.52 to win the 100 Meter Dash ahead of Cahokia’s Mariya Hudson (11.79). It was the same in the 200 Meter Dash as Martin’s strong curve run was the difference as she ran 24.20 for the win into a strong wind. Hudson ran 24.69 to finish second.

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Defending champion Rachel Hickey of LaSalle-Peru controlled most of the 800 Meter Run until the final 80-meters of the race when Aurora Central Catholic’s Abby Fioresi made the pass. Fioresi crossed the line first (2:12.37) ahead of Hickey (2:13.49).

“I knew racing her (Hickey) before that she had a great kick,” Fioresi said after running her final high school race. “I just knew I had to be ready to blast it in the final straight.”

“What else could I do,” a resigned Hickey said afterwards. “I ran a personal best and gave it my all. She (Fioresi) just ran faster today.”

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Karyn Best of Wheaton Academy was one of the surprises of this season in winning the 300 Meter Hurdles. She had not run the event before this year. She left the O’Brien Field track with the championship in the event running a personal best 43.49 to win by almost a second ahead of Vernon Hills’ Jordyn Bunning.

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Diamonaisa Taylor of Urbana ended her first year of track in a big way. She stepped into the spotlight indoors when she jumped 5-8 to win the Illinois Top Times Championships in March. She followed that up on Saturday setting a new 2A meet record clearing 5-8 to win the High Jump.

Aliyah Welter of Monticello and Josie Held of Mt. Zion had a close competition in the Pole Vault. Welter won the state championship on this day clearing 12-9. Held was a close second clearing 12-6. Both athletes are juniors meaning we will see another great competition a year from now.

Latavia Maines of Centralia has one of the top ten marks in the country this season in the Shot Put. She won the 2A title with a 47-7.25 throw pushed by A’veun Moore of Mt. Vernon who threw a 46-7.75 personal best to finish second. Moore also finished second in the Discus (137-10) behind the 142-0 state championship winning throw by Dixon’s Tayla Schwarz.