By Michael Newman

It is a tale of two disciplines for the 2017 3A Girls Track & Field season in Illinois.

State champions are back in all three of the individual sprint events. There will be new state champions in the hurdles as LaJarvia Brown and Savannah Long have graduated.

The wild card in the sprints could be DaJour Miles. We wrote about the sophomore at the beginning of the last year as a difference maker in the events after successful times in club events. She competed in only one meet last year while attending Waubonsie Valley. She has since moved into the West Aurora school district where she should compete for the school’s team. She has been playing basketball for West Aurora this year. Only time will tell if we will see her again on the track. If we do, she could do some great things.

100 Meter Dash

Top 25 Returnees

Outlook – Four athletes return from last year’s finals led by defending state champion Amira Young (Whitney Young, junior).  Young ran a season’s best 11.79 in winning the state title. Ozzy Erewele (Springfield, junior) should be her chief competition as she finished third last year at state. The junior had a seasonal best 11.94 also in the finals. Hannah Wilson (Glenbrook North, senior) and Lauren Kroll (Addison Trail, senior) are the other finalists back looking to finish in the top five.

DaJour Miles (West Aurora, sophomore) ran 12.17 during the summer. She could be a threat in this event if she is entered in it. Tamaya Houston (O’Fallon, senior) and Amelia Wilson (Danville, junior) both ran 12.20 during last season and should be some of the runners to watch towards the front. Kayla Perry (Bolingbrook, senior), Melzina Johnson (Joliet West, senior), Olivia Oliver (Homewood-Flossmoor, junior), and Lyn’Nikka Vance (Crete-Monee, sophomores) are some of the other runners to watch during the next couple of months.

200 Meter Dash

Top 25 Returnees

Outlook – Amira Young is also the defending champion in this event. Her 24.24 at state is the second fastest returning time. Dajour Miles ran 24.14 during the summer and has the fastest returning times. If both choose to run this distance in the state series, we could see times under 24 seconds. Do we see it get close to Alexandria Anderson’s 12-year-old record off 23.32?

Hannah Wilson and Lauren Kroll made the finals in this event as well last year. Both ran under 25 seconds and could be in the mid 24’s in May. Kersten Douglas (O’Fallon, senior), Lyn’Nikka Vance, Hannah Schlarman (Batavia, senior) and Jaclyn Greci (Lockport Township, senior) are some of the athletes that will be challenging for a finish in the top five.

400 Meter Dash

Top 25 Returnees

Outlook – DaJour Miles ran 53.98 to win the 15-16 age group at the AAU Junior Olympics last August. This distance could be her best event. The same can be said about defending 3A champion Kylie Welch (Bloomington, senior). She ran a season’s best 54.84 at her conference meet last year and ran 55.05 to win at state. Just like the 200, two exceptional athletes could push each other to some extraordinary times.

Alexis Knight (Wheeling, sophomore) finished seventh and is the only other finalist back from last year. The time difference between Miles/Welch and the rest of the returnees is more than two seconds. Opportunity is there in this event. Daijah Brown (Plainfield South, junior), West Aurora’s JeMya McClendon or Tamia Rayford, Dana Dwyer (Waubonsie Valley, senior), and Kameron Frazier (Belleville West, senior) are some of the top athletes to return at this distance.

100 Hurdles

Top 25 Returnees

Outlook – Seven of the nine from last year’s finals have graduated including LaJarvia Brown. Who will step to the top of the mountain in this event? Mya Robinson (Thornton, senior) ran 14.70 in last year’s finals placing seventh. She is the top returning athlete in this event. Tauja Foreman (Evanston, senior) and Rokelle Stanley (East St. Louis-Senior, junior) were also under 15 seconds and will challenge for the state title. Emma Jones (Benet Academy, senior) finished eighth in the 2A finals. She did run 14.93 in winning her sectional. I would keep an eye on Jones this upcoming season.

There are several athletes that could challenge for a finish in the top five led by Halle Bieber (Naperville North, sophomore), Destinee Jackson (Hoffman Estates, senior), Corey Rinella (Palatine, senior), Josclyn Stewart (Danville, junior), and Kelvi Searcy (Belleville West, sophomore).

300 Hurdles

Top 25 Returnees

Outlook – Five of last year’s finalists are back led by fourth place finisher Halle Bieber. The 44.57 that she ran in the finals is the fastest returning time by almost half a second. Rokelle Stanley, who ran 44.98 last year but did not make the finals, could be one of the top runners in this event. Emma Jones finished sixth in the 2A finals running 45.16. She has the talent to win this event. Mya Robinson and Georgia Reed (Geneva, junior) lead a pack that are within three tenths of each other making this event wide open.

Relays

The relays in 3A will be interesting to watch since Lincoln-Way East graduated the core of their sprinters from last year’s three state championship relays. They do have Nicole Humenik and Ololade Ayoola back from the 800 and 1600 relays. Lincoln-Way East is deep on the sprints with a good group from closed Lincoln-Way North coming over. It will be interesting to see how their groups develop during the season. This is not the time to count this team out.

Homewood-Flossmoor could be one of the top relay groups back challenging for both the 400 and 800 relays led by Jaimie Robinson and Olivia Oliver. All four runners from last year’s all—state teams are back. O’Fallon returns all their runners from their second place 800 relay and should be the favorite in that event as well as the 400 relay. Proviso West returns all their runners from their all-state team in the 400 relay and could be factors. Batavia, Granite City, and Barrington are teams that I would watch during the season in the short sprint relays.

Lincoln-Way East returns two from their 3:49.84 championship 1600 relay team and will be one of the teams to watch. West Aurora did not make the finals last year but do have a good group of 400 meter runners with Tamaya Buford and DaJour Miles to name a few. The possibilities of running under 3:50 is a possibility with that quartet. East St. Louis-Senior is also loaded and a contender for the state title in that event.