ILXCTF.com 2022 IHSA Girls Track & Field Previews - 1A Distances

By Michael Newman [email protected]

The shuffling of the three IHSA classifications for the next two seasons could have the biggest effect in the three 1A distance events. All three of the 2021 1A State Champions have graduated. Eris Nelson of Belleville Althoff finished second in both the 1600 and 3200. Nelson missed most of the cross-country season due to injury. Her school has been moved to Class 2A for the next two year.

The shuffling brought some great talent into Class 1A this season. The biggest move has Eureka moving down. Anna Perry, who was all-state in both the 1600 and 3200 in Class 2A last season becomes one of the runners to watch in the next few months.

Haley Heiar of Galena was all-state in the Class 2A 3200 last season. Heair did not run last fall concentrating on volleyball. She could be one of the distance runners in Class 1A if she chooses to run.

Winnebago had a disappointing end to the 2021 Cross-Country season finishing second. They have a powerful group coming back with hopes of a state team championship.

The fall cross-country season brought us a great group of freshmen that could be factors on the track this spring. Louisa Wilson of Williamsville finished third in Peoria last November and should make some noise in which ever distance event she runs in. Savanna Franzen of St. Joseph-Ogden, Graziella Narcisi of IC Catholic Prep, and Nellie Melick of El Paso-Gridley were all-state at Detweiller Park. All of these three runners could be factors in one of the three distance events.

Let us not forget Elena Rybak of Father McGivney who missed last fall’s state meet due to an injury in her sectional race. She ran 17:20 for 3-miles on a cross country course. Let’s see what she can do on the track.

Here is a look at each of the three distance events this season in Class 1A.

3200 Meter Run

Notes – This is a deeper distance event than what we witnessed last June in Charleston. There are six all-state athletes back from that race. Add in Anna Perry of Eureka who finished third in the 2A race, and Haley Heiar of Galena, who finished sixth in the same race. Perry enters this spring with the fastest returning time (10:45.26) with Heiar running 11:06.04.

Carly Manchester of IC Catholic Prep qualified and ran in all three distance events last spring in extreme conditions. Manchester started off the meet finishing fourth in this event. She showed great improvement last fall and will be a runner to watch in the front. Kate Ahmari of Urbana University also showed improvement in cross country campaign of last fall and will play a big part in this event. The junior finished fifth last June at state. Brooklyn Bender of Marshall finished sixth in this event after helping her team in the 4x800 earn all-state honors. She will also be a factor in this event.

Sophia Martino of Winnebago finished eighth last year. We saw her improvement last fall and could show even more in this track season. Miranda Reed of Cambridge and Aleigha Garrison of Judah Christian were also all-state. We should see their times drop during the season. Chloe Proffitt of Wilmington and Kelly Giardina of Rockford Christian are some of the runners to keep an eye on during the season.

800 Meter Run

Notes – Olivia Phillips is the ultimate team leader for DuQuoin. Phillips in last year’s state meet anchored her team to a second-place finish in the 4x800 and then ended the meet anchoring DuQuoin to the state championship in the 4x400. In between the two relays, Phillips pushed to finished second in this event. She is the lead time returning runner in the event (2:18.73). This will be a tough event with five other all-state runners coming back.

Another team runner to keep an eye on in this event is Grace Erb of Winnebago who anchored her team to a win in the 4x800 and second in the 4x400 with finishing fifth in between in the 800. Erb, along with her sister Katie should be difference makers in this two-lap race. A runner to watch for is Trixie Johnson of Paxton-Buckley-Loda. The junior ran 2:21.83 last year and finished sixth in the 2A finals. She comes into Class 1A with the third fastest returning time.

Sophia Scheider of St. Edward finished third and should be chasing after Phillips and Johnson. Kennady Anderson of Kewanee Wethersfield, Kaitlyn Hatley of Father McGivney, and Heidi Heldt of Argenta-Oreana were all-state with times under 2:26. Any of these runners could challenge for times under 2:20 this spring.

Marissa Roggensack will help Winnebago in the 4x800 along with her teammate Kaylee Woolery. Either of these runners should be putting up some fast times this spring and could place individually. Evita Martinez of Kankakee McNamara, Elle Knapp of Eureka, and Ellie Nohren of Shelbyville could be some of the athletes to watch for this spring in this event.

1600 Meter Run

Notes – This event in this classification is so hard to determine. The state race last weekend had so many runners doubling (or tripling) in this race. We could see the distance double from Anna Perry of Eureka in this race. Perry enters this season with the fastest time (5:05.85) by six seconds. She finished seventh in last year’s 2A state race. Perry will be one of the favorites in the 3200 Meter Run. She could also be in front in this event.

Four of the top six returning runners come from Winnebago. The big question is which of the two will be part of the lineup? It could be Grace Erb or Kaylee Woolery. Both runners were under 5:20 as sophomores last year. Woolery finished fifth in the state finals. It could also be Katie Erb or Marissa Roggensack. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

There are five runners back that were all-state last year. Eris Nelson will not. She finished second last year but will be running in Class 2A this spring. She could be replaced by Haley Heiar of Galena that is scheduled to compete this spring in 1A. She has a 5:11.89 on her resume.

Carly Manchester of IC Catholic Prep tripled last spring but still finished fourth in this event. Kaitlyn Hatley of Father McGivney doubled back from the 800 but still placed seventh. Chloe Proffitt of Wilmington surprised some by finishing third. She will not be a surprise this spring. Eden Mueller of Mercer County finished ninth and will be looking for a higher finish in 2022.

Kate Ahmari of Urbana University, Kennady Anderson of Kewanee Wethersfield, and Brooklyn Bender of Marshall finished in the top 12 last season. They will be some of the runners to challenge for an all-state finish.