IHSA Girls State Track & Field Championships - Friday 3A Preliminary Highlights

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Charleston, Ill – The battle for the 3A State Team title did not any clearer as six teams are in contention to take home the state championship trophy Saturday afternoon. Prospect advanced nine to Saturday to lead all teams. Whitney Young had a great day qualifying seven to the finals. Homewood-Flossmoor also qualified seven. Evanston bounced into contention advancing six. Huntley, Neuqua Valley, and Batavia still are among the teams looking for a top three finish.

The Friday 3A afternoon preliminary session was crazy. The weather helped with that as temperatures went past 80 degree with wind consistently from the south at 24 mph gusted at times over 35 mph.

If there were any events that benefitted from these conditions, it was the straightaway sprints and hurdles. Ana-Liese Torian of Homewood-Flossmoor ran faster in the 100m Hurdles than the state meet record set by Dawn Harper (13.54) in 2001. Her time of 13.51 led all qualifiers. It will not be recognized as a state record because the wind was over the allowable limit of 2.0 m/s at +2.9 m/s.

Torian tied for the fastest time in the 300 Meter Hurdles with Abrielle Artley of Evanston. Both had times of 44.50.

Rachel Robinson of Whitney Young led all qualifiers in both the 100 Meter Dash and 200 Meter Dash. Her time of 11.54 was one of the few races that was under 2.0 m/s. All nine qualifiers in that event ran under 12-seconds. Rachel and her sister Sydney had the top two times in the 200 Meter Dash. Rachel was timed at 25.18 to win her heat. Sydney won her heat running 25.25. The Robinson sisters led Whitney Young to the top time in the 4x100m Relay of 47.76. They had the top time by just .03 seconds ahead of Chicago City Rival Kenwood (47.79).

Evanston took control of the other two sprint relays. The Wildkits led all qualifiers in the 4x200m Relay (1:41.87) finishing just ahead of Whitney Young (1:42.01).Evanston led all qualifiers in the 4x400m Relay (3:51.13) ahead of the rest of the field by 10 seconds.

One of the spotlight events on this Friday afternoon was any event that Normal Community sophomore Allison Ince was in. Ince is the defending 3A champion in the 800 Meter Run and 1600 Meter Run. She added the 400 Meter Dash to her state meet program by also winning that event in her sectional at Danville.

She almost advanced in all three events.

Wind played a factor in her effort for getting to the Saturday finals in three events. At 2:00 PM, she stepped to the track to run the first heat of the 800 Meter Run. The pace was slow as Ince was among the leaders that went past 400-meters in 71.5. Ince picked up the pace in the final 250-meters to cruise to the win in 2:18.09.

In less than 30-minutes later, she was on the starting line in Lane 5 for the final heat of the 400 Meter Dash. Ince surged 250-meters into the race, and then held on to run 57.47 to win her heat and qualify for the finals. She has the fifth fastest time overall. Ashley Oliver of Hoffman Estates led all qualifiers running 56.24.

She was back on the track for her third race within 90 minutes. The second heat of the 1600 Meter Run went out in a snail’s pace of 80 seconds for the first lap. Runners started to pick up the pace. This time, Ince could not respond to the changes of pace. The short rest between her events had hit her as he dropped further and further back. She ended up finishing with a 5:44.78 time.

It was thought she would scratch out of the 4x400m Relay. Yet, she was back on the track. She got the baton in seventh-place. She finished moving her team up to second qualifying her relay for state with a 56.75 anchor leg.

The craziness of the weather played on slow qualifying times in the distance events. Catie McCabe of Hinsdale Central led all qualifiers in the 800 Meter Run with a time of 2:16.82. It took 2:20.75 to make it to the finals. It has in the past taken anywhere from 5:00 to 5:02 to make the finals in the 1600 Meter Run. A time of 5:14.50 was the time you needed to advance to Saturday’s finals. Katrina Schlenker of Batavia led all qualifiers (5:00.48). This was the second meet for Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest who missed almost all season due to an injury. Welin made it to the finals with the second fastest time (5:01.76).

You only needed a 9:44.43 time to make the finals in the 4x800m Relay. York won the second heat (9:30.73) to lead all qualifiers.

The Huntley Johnson sisters again put their mark on the Triple Jump as they are 1-2 after the preliminaries. Alexandria Johnson jumped 40-5.5 to lead all qualifiers in the event with her sister Dominique jumping 39-11.25. Alexandria also has the lead in the Long Jump with a 19-8.25 best.

Marla Hayes of Lincoln-Way Central lead the Discus after the first three throws with a 140-5.5 personal best. Ella O’Neall of Stevenson leads all qualifiers in the Shot Put with a 44-10.25 event leading mark.