Robinson sisters lead Whitney Young to 3A State Championship

 

Ince accomplishes middle distance double; Evanston dominating easily winning 4x4; Allman adds to Glenbard West distance legacy with 1600m win; Torian wins hurdle doubles; Johnson accomplishes jumps double

 

By Michael Newman [email protected]

 

Charleston, Ill – It would take a near perfect finals Saturday to win the 3A team championship. There were up to five teams that left the prelims with a chance to bring home championship gold.

 

Where other teams had to deal with questions, Chicago’s Whitney Young had all the answers.

 

The Lady Dolphins were nearly perfect on a rainy afternoon at Eastern Illinois University. This team picked up three event wins on their way to the program’s first state title. Whitney Young scored 53 points to claim the top trophy finishing ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor (44 points) and Prospect (43 points). This was the second year in a row that Homewood-Flossmoor placed in the runner-up position. Evanston (41 points) and Huntley (33 points) rounded out the top five.

 

Sydney Robinson and Rachel Robinson were the two cogs that ran the Whitney Young machine in this meet. The Robinson sisters, who will attend the University of Wisconsin/Madison beginning this fall, were part of all the points that Whitney Young scored.

 

The success for Whitney Young started in the 4x100m Relay where they had the top state and prelim time. Handoffs were perfect for Rachel Robinson, London Gibson-Purcell, Jayden Eickhoff-Brown, and Sydney Robinson as they won the state championship in the relay (47.84) almost a second ahead of city rival Kenwood (48.81), Neuqua Valley (48.82), and Evanston (48.86). Homewood-Flossmoor, who had the third fastest time in the prelims, had handoff problems finishing seventh.

 

The over two hour storm delay did not affect the Robinson sisters as they settled in the blocks for the 100 Meter Dash finals. Rachel got off to a great start running into a -1.2 m/s headwind. She had to hold off her sister Sydney for the win in 12.03. Sydney ran 12.08. The important thing for the team is that they had just scored 18 points. Katelyn Lehnen of Chatham-Glenwood finished third (12.23) ahead of Alexandria Edison of Homewood-Flossmoor (12.36).

 

The roll of success continued for Whitney Young in the 4x200m Relay. The same quartet as in the 4x1 opened up a big lead after the first two legs. They moved on to run 1:40.06 to win by almost two seconds ahead of Evanston (1:41.87) and Kenwood (1:42.21). There was no celebrating. This was all business. They still had work to do.

 

The Robinsons were in the rain back in the bocks for the final race of their high school careers. It could also mean shutting the door on the rest of the teams in this team championship race.

 

The two sisters came off the curve close together. They would also have to deal with Chatham-Glenwood freshman Katelyn Lehnen who had a pair of third-place finishes in this meet. Lehnen edged Sydney Robinson 24.75-24.77 for her first state title. Rachel Robinson finished third running 24.90 giving her team 17 points in the event. It also gave a lock on the state title even though Homewood-Flossmoor was 10 points back and would need to win the 4x400m Relay.

 

There was drama between the raindrops in some of the other events. Allison Ince of Normal Community would be ready to toe the line to defend her title in the 800 Meter Run. She was the commanding favorite having the fastest seasonal best by almost nine seconds. Ince pushed the pace for the first 400-meters with the lead at 63.7 seconds. Only Bella Domier of Grayslake Central dared to stay with Ince as she was just two tenths of a second back. Catie McCabe of Hinsdale Central was another second behind in third.

 

What Ince does the best in this event is run the third part of the race which can kill runners if you don’t make a concentrated effort. Ince made a huge surge on the back stretch dropping Domier off the pace. Ince was on her way to back to back state titles. She came across the line under control running 2:10.22 for the win. This was not about record times. This was about the win and getting ready for the 400 Meter Dash.

 

McCabe edged Domier for second by just one hundredth of a second (2:14.21 – 2:14.22). Brooke Berger, who ran on York’s 4x8 earlier, came from ninth after the first lap running an even 67/67 split to finish fourth in 2:14.82. Audrey Ginsberg of Prospect finished fifth (2:15.02) just two hundredths of a second ahead of her sister Lily (2:15.04).

 

Ince is a novice in the 400 Meter Dash concentrating on it for the first time this season. “All the 400 is about running the first 200-meters hard, and then gutting it out for the second half,” Ince said afterwards.

 

That is what happened in this race. Alexandria Edison was running her seventh race of the weekend. This was Ince’s sixth though the distance that she ran was slightly longer. Edison got off to a big lead going around the curve with Katelyn Lehnen within reach. Off the curve came Ince fighting the lactic acid in her legs.

 

The margin closed until the final few meters of the race. Edison started to stumble just before the line as the two leaned for the win. Ince had the edge (55.25) with Edison finished second (55.50). Lehnen ran a personal best of 56.43 to finish third.

 

Ince would anchor Normal Community in the 4x400m Relay like she did a year ago when she edged Evanston at the line for the event title.

 

It would be different for the Wildkits this year. Evanston was on a mission showing in their sectional meet when they torched the field to run the fastest time in the state (3:49.66). They had the fastest time by 10 seconds entering the prelims.

 

What was confusing was that Evanston was not getting the recognition that they deserved when running their preliminary heat. All the focus was the Ince would be running the anchor leg. What was missed was that the Wildkits were so far ahead in a state meet race.

 

Evanston led all qualifiers in the 4x400m Relay running 3:51.73 and again 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Ince ran 56.75 to get her team into the finals. If some were hoping for a repeat in the finals like we saw a year ago, that was not going to happen. Evanston was too good.

 

There was no doubt that Evanston would win as soon as the gun went off. Abrielle Artley and Dystonae Clark gave their team a four second lead halfway through the relay as they handed off to Rikki Gray. She ran a 55.93 third leg to build what was now a seven second lead. Jacklynn Okereke anchored for the Wildkits running 56.40 by herself to give her team the win (3:47.45 and a top 20 time in the United States. Prospect held off Normal Community for second as Ince ran a 54.77 anchor. Prospect’s time of 3:57.60 was again over 10 seconds behind Evanston. Normal’s time was 3:57.82. It was one of the largest winning margin we have seen in the 4x400m Relay in a Girls State Meet. People fleeing the stadium because of the rain would never now because Evanston’s dominance was never announced at this meet. It is a quartet for the ages that we will remember for years to come.

 

Ana-Liese Torian of Homewood-Flossmoor was also a double winner on the track as she was in command of both hurdle races. It is hard to beat this junior in the 100 Meter Hurdles. She is one of the most technical and smooth hurdles that we have seen in this state at least in the past decade.

 

Torian tore through the field in the prelims Friday afternoon surpassing Dawn Harper’s 21 year old record running 13.51. The winds were over the allowable limit of 2.0 m/s. It was still fascinating to watch.

 

The gun went off in the finals. By the second hurdle, Torian had the race won. She went on to defend her state title running 13.82 for the win. Macee Rivers of Belleville West passed Sophia Barnard of Lincoln-Way East towards the end of the race to take second with a 14.19 time. Barnard ran 14.55 to finish third.

 

Torian took to the 300m Hurdles for the first time and has been ranked at the top in the event most of the season. Both Torian and Abrielle Artley had run 44.50 in the prelims. Their seasonal bests coming into this race had them separated by only one hundredth of a second.

 

The two runners kept up the stagger up to the first turn. Torian slowly moved away from her rival on the curve. When she came up to the final three hurdles, the race was hers. The falling rain that hit the big blue oval did not see to bother this junior. Torian exceeded her personal best to win her second state title of the weekend with a 42.88 time. Artley bettered her prelim time running 44.04 to finish second. Ashley Derrick of Waukegan surprised some by running 44.89 to finish third ahead of Breanne Dunn of Barrington who ran a personal best of 44.99. Barnard came back to finish fifth with a 45.25 time.

 

 

The 3A distance races are always a highlight during the Girls State finals. It proved to be the same this weekend.

 

Prospect waited to put all of their team from last year’s state championship team in the 4x800m Relay until Saturday’s finals. They were hoping to repeat. The Lady Knights got their wish.

 

It was close during the first two legs of this final. Prospect opened with a 2:18.92 opening leg from Cameron Kalaway. St. Charles East was a second behind. Lyons Township was another two seconds back leading the pack. Hailey Erickson ran 2:19.06 to continue the lead for the Knights with St. Charles East still within a second. The third leg had a dramatic change of lead as Christina Gu of Naperville North ran a 62 opening lap to put her team in contention after getting the baton in ninth. Audrey Ginsberg retook the lead for Prospect for good as she handed the baton to her sister Lily with a commanding six second lead. Ginsberg ran a 2:13 anchor leg to give her team back to back titles in 9:10.38 (US #9). Emma Berres secured Naperville North with a second-place finish running 9:21.38. York, with Brooke Berger anchoring, brought the Dukes from sixth to third with a 2:14.4 anchor leg and a 9:22.78 time. Yorkville ran 9:23.74 to finish fourth.

 

The 3A race in the 3200 Meter Run followed what was an exciting race in the 2A race. The standard was set in the first section of the event at the start of meet. The story of Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest was the defending champion in this event and won last fall at Detweiller Park in the 3A State race. Welin did not race at all almost all season with another stress fracture. She just had been running for the past month only putting in 20 miles per week she stated after her race.

 

Look what she did.

 

Welin led from the start and never looked back. She ran 5:13 for the first 1600. 5:20 for the second as she ran 10:33.31 for the section win. It was three seconds faster than her winning time from a year ago. It was probable she would be all-state. Welin just would have to wait for the section to be run.

 

The second section was one of those special races. They knew what Welin had run. Aly Negovetich said after the race is all she wanted to do was set an honest pace. The senior did just that. Brooke Johnston of Lake Zurich led a tight pack through a 77 second first lap. All the probable favorites were there including Negovetich, Grace Schager of Glenbard North, Katrina Schlenker of Batavia, Sophia McNerney of Downers Grove South, and Catherine Sommerfeld of Lyons Township.

 

Negovetich took over the next three laps bringing this race past 1600-meters in 5:18. It was five seconds off Welin’s first section pace. Schager decided it was time to take over the lead. The pace went from 77 seconds to 74 seconds on the fifth lap. The pack started to string out with Negovetich, Schlenker, and Johnson all within a second of each other.

 

Schager started to really push the pace in her sectional at the end of the sixth lap of that race. She was about ready to use the same strategy. She opened up a five second lead entering the final lap of the race. Schager picked the pace up even more running a 72 second final lap to improve her personal best by 17 seconds running 10:17.12 for the state title. Negovetich finished her high school career running 10:24.6 to finish second. Johnston moved up one spot to finish third (10:26.67) just ahead of Schlenker (10:26.96). McNerney ran 10:29.76 to finish fifth. Welin’s first section time gave her sixth-place overall.

 

This race was extremely deep. It took 10:40.51 to make all-state. In most years. A time like that would finish in the top five. Katelyn Winton, who earlier ran on York’s 4x8 relay, ran 10:41.32 to finish tenth just missing an all-state place. 19 runners out of the 28 runners in both sections ran under 11-minutes.

 

With Ince not making the Saturday finals, there would be a new champion in the 1600 Meter Run. With the way that Audrey Allman of Glenbard West ran at the Lake Park Sectional blowing away the field in the event that include Schager and Schlenker. Allman ran a lot of 800’s this season but realized during the season that she was more of a miler than a half-miler. It showed in this final.

 

Josephine Welin, who made it to the finals in this race opened the first lap in 73 seconds. Allman was just on her conference rival’s shoulder with Johnston leading the race pack that was all within two seconds of each other.

 

Allman moved early in the sectional race. She did the same on the big blue oval running a 70 second lap to open a six second lead ahead of Welin and Johnston.

 

The ace slowed down the third lap for Allman as she passed the bell in 3:37 now with a seven second lead ahead of Johnston, McNerney, and Welin. There was no doubt that Allman would win. She did not slow down coming down the final 100-meters pumping her fist crossing the line.

 

She follows Katelynne Hart as a state champion for the school running 4:49.81 to win the title. Her margin of victory was an incredible eight seconds. McNerney followed her run in the 3200 Meter Run by finishing second (4:57.13) just ahead of another spectacular race by Welin (4:57.19) and great double by Johnston  (4:57.41) in fourth. Naomi Ruff of South Elgin was all-state in the 800. She ran 4:58.05 to finish fifth. Peyton Schieppe of O’Fallon (4:58.57), Carissa Hamilton of Neuqua Valley (4:58.80), and Mia Pasha of Warren Township (4:59.07) all were under five minutes finishing sixth through eighth. Katrina Schlenker finished her high school career with another all-state performance finishing ninth.

 

Alexandria Johnson was queen of the horizontal jumps winning both events indoors in Lantz Fieldhouse. All the field events were held indoors due to the weather except for the Shot Put and the Discus.

 

The order did not change after the prelims as none of the 14 finalists improved on their prelim performances. Johnson jumped 19-8.25 in the prelims to capture her second state title in a row in this event. Denise Hernandez of Naperville North (19-2.75) and Rylee Lydon of Prairie Ridge (18-10) finished second and third.

 

It was close to the same in the Triple Jump. Alexandria Johnson did not improve on her 40-5.50 winning mark. Her sister Dominique stayed at 39-11.25 to finish second.

 

Rylee Lydon finished second in last year in the finals of the High Jump. She took one step up in this year’s finals. The junior was the only athlete of six athletes to clear 5-6. She cleared that height to win the state title. Baelyn Zitzman of Lake Zurich was one of five athletes to clear 5-5. She finished second on fewer misses.

 

Mia Morello of Grayslake Central cleared 12-3.50 on her first attempt to win the state championship in the Pole Vault. Jaiden Knoop of Lincoln-Way East, Makenna Skoczyas of Lockport, and Paulina Lucer of Lake Park all cleared 11-11.75 to finish second through fourth.

 

Ella O’Neall of Stevenson and her 44-10.75 mark from the prelims held up to give her the state championship in the Shot Put. Maeve Kelly of New Trier had a 43-9.75 best in the finals to finish second. Becca Caliendo of Hersey improved on her prelim mark with a 43-7 put to finish third.

 

Marla Hayes of Lincoln-Way Central’s 140-5 throw from the prelims held as the state championship winning throw in the Discus. Maeve Kelly improved also in this event improving to 136-10 to finish second. Courtney Clabough of Yorkville, who finished fourth in the Shot Put, threw 131-8 to finish third in this event.