Preview: 6 IHSA Class 2A Girls Sectional Distance Meets to Watch

By Michael Newman

There are so many storylines in each of the 11 Class 2A Sectionals to watch for. We will dig deeper in those events in next week’s state meet previews. Instead, we narrow it down to six sectionals where there are some interesting races that could come about in the distance events. Here are the six sectionals in this classification to keep an eye on. Sectionals are listed in alphabetical order.

State Qualifying Standards: 800 – 2:25.12 | 1600 – 5:24.58 | 3200 – 11:47.44 | 4x8 – 10:14.34

Genoa (Kingston): 5/16 – We could see four or more advance out of this meet in the 3200 Meter Run. Izzy Bing of Carmel Catholic and Emaline Foster of Prairie Ridge have times within three seconds of each other at this distance. Bing ran 10:47.82 (2A #3) last week at the ESCC conference meet. Foster’s time of 10:50.09 comes from Distance Night in Palatine three weeks ago. Alexa Spatz of Richmond-Burton has run 11:38.61 this season and should also advance to state. Gabrielle Kohnle of Rockford Boylan won at NIC-10 last week and is also close to making it to Charleston. Reese Kohnle of Rockford Boylan has run 4:56.18 (2A #3) in the 1600 Meter Run. Her teammate Ally Shields won the NIC-10 title last week with a 5:02.84 (2A #7). Both Boylan runners should advance to state. Bing and Foster should double back in this race and times well under 2A qualifying to make it to state. Emily Wahlberg of St. Viator has run 5:16.38 and could also advance. Boylan has the fastest 2A time in the state (9:29.13) in the 4x800 Meter Relay and will have Shields and Kohnle on the relay card. St. Viator and Richmond-Burton will need to run an average race based on their seed times to make it to state. Carmel Catholic and Prairie Ridge are teams that you might also see making it to the Big Blue Oval. Natalie Tekampe of Rockford Boylan and Lila Stewart of Prairie Ridge should make it to state finishing as auto-qualifiers in the 800 Meter Run.

Glen Ellyn (Glenbard South): 5/16 – Erin Hinsdale of St. Francis finished second in last year’s state meet and ran 2:13.77 indoors in the 800 Meter Run. Hinsdale has a 2:15.35 (2A #5) best and the top seed in this event. Her teammate Margaret Andrzjewski and Mia Menendez of Fenwick both have times under 2:21 and should also make it to state. Both Andrzejewski and Hinsdale are entered in the 1600 Meter Run. Andrzejewski has run 5:00.67 outdoors (2A #5) with teammate Hinsdale at 5:05.65 (2A #10) and Sydney Gersten of Montini Catholic at 5:06.07) all able to qualify. Molly McGreal of Trinity also has a time under 5:10 and could challenge for the win in this sectional. There could be up to five runners that could make it to state from this sectional in the 3200 Meter Run led by Gersten who has a 10:49.72 best (2A #5) and Elena Mamminga of St. Francis having a 10:52.55 best (2A #7) leading this field. Ashlynn Lindt of Montini, McGreal, and Juliana Gamboa of Fenwick well under 11:47 qualifying and should all make it to state. St. Francis and Montini should be the auto-qualifiers in the 4x800 Meter Relay. I doubt we will see the top runners from their state champion team in this sectional race.

Mascoutah: 5/15 – Three runners should advance out of the 3200 Meter Run in this meet. Cameron Crump of Waterloo has a best of 10:55.70 (2A #8) leads this field ahead of Molly Robertson of Carterville who has a best of 11:10.71 (2A #11). Alexa Box of Anna-Jonesboro ran 11:26.66 at Distance Night in Palatine and should be among the runners to make it to Charleston. Crump and Robertson are scheduled to double back in the 1600 Meter Run. Both have times under 5:12 and will challenge for the win. Zoe Jones of Anna-Jonesboro is the next runner but has a best of eight seconds behind the qualifying state time and might need a personal best to advance out. We might just have the auto qualifiers advance out to state in the 800 Meter Run. Laney Sambursky of Carterville and Harper Ellermeyer of Murphysboro, both freshmen, have run 2:21 this season. Mascoutah’s Mariah Creamer and Kennedy Bax of Mt. Vernon are within a second of qualifying. A personal best from either of them could get them out of this sectional. 10:14.34 is the qualifying time in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Anna-Jonesboro and Waterloo have auto qualifying times under 10 minutes. Mascoutah and Carterville both have times between six to 10 seconds ahead of qualifying. Both of those teams could also advance. Freeburg with a seasonal best might also make it to state.

Monticello: 5/15 – Emily Decker of Tolono Unity has run 10:58.85 (2A #9) outdoors and will be the runner to watch in the3200 Meter Run. Elayna Harker of Taylorsville and Kaelyn Ryan of Mattoon could be challenging for the second place and auto-qualifying position. We could see Decker winning in this sectional in the 1600 Meter Run. Decker has a 5:01.79 best (2A #6) with Savannah Franzen of St. Joseph-Ogden nine seconds behind Decker. Macie Owen of Monticello and Avery Sommer of Mt. Zion both have run 5:12 this season and with good races can punch their ticket to Charleston. Taylor Mabry of Monticello and Jessica Larsen of Effingham and within a second of the qualifier. Both runners could advance. The 800 Meter Run is loaded with nine runners possibly making it south to Charleston. Ashlyn Denney of Tolono Unity ran 2:13.79 (2A #3) on this track two weeks ago and is primed to run faster over the next two meets. Franzen ran 2:17.19 (2A #11 last Friday on her home track and should make it out. Mackenzie Pound of Tolono Unity is the only other runner to go under 2:20 in this field. Mackenzi Thomas of Richland County, Larsen, Marley Yau of Urbana, Ella Tingley of Robinson, Owen, and Sommer all have run under the 2:25.12 state qualifying time and could all advance. Mabry is right at 2:25 and could make it ten from this distance. It is a good bet that five teams will advance to state in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Tolono Unity has run 9:38.24 and should qualify even without Ashlyn Denny in their lineup. Effingham, Mt. Zion, and Richland County all have times under 10 minutes and should be state qualifiers. Monticello might be another quartet that you can see advance.

Pontiac: 5/14 – Klarke Goranson of Manteno said after her win at Distance Night in Palatine that she had not changed her mind about doubling in the 800 and the 1600 in the Class 2A Meet. Looking at the entries for this sectional, she did change her mind and is entered in all three events. That could change when she gets to Charleston. Goranson ran 10:44.1 (2A #3) in an early season home triangular in the 3200 Meter Run. Zoe Carter of Normal University has the fastest time of 10:39.41 (2A #2). Goranson ran 11:01.80 last week at her conference meet. Emily Amand of Mahomet-Seymour could also advance to the state meet. Goranson has an outdoor best of 2:13.12 (IL #2) and leads this field in the 800 Meter Run. There are six runners that could qualify in this event. Avery Braker of Morton has run 2:19.01 and has the second fastest seed. Sophia Watson of Eureka, Kelly O’Connor of Herscher, Emma Swartzendruber of Olympia, Isabella Grieder of Morton, and Adeline Hubert of Eureka are part of the group that could be running the 800 at EIU. Goranson has a 4:50.29 Illinois Indoor best, 4:51.07 (2A #2) outdoors in the 1600 Meter Run. This is another talent ladened event with Carter, Braker, Meika Bender of Eureka, Anaud, O’Connor, and Ava Otto of Eureka all have possibilities of qualifying in this race. Up to seven teams could qualifying the 4x800 Meter Relay led by Eureka and Normal University and followed by Pontiac, Olympia, Mahomet-Seymour, Clinton, and Morris.

Williamsville: 5/15 – All eyes will be on Louisa Wilson of Williamsville in the 3200 Meter Run as she runs her final meet on her home track. Wilson enters this meet as the top seed in the event with a 11:24.22 (2A #19) season’s best. We could just see two runners advance from this event. Brenly Kelly of Jersey has run 12:08.21 and should win the second automatic qualifying position. The rest of the pack is 33 seconds behind Kelly and close to a minute behind the time qualifying standard. The 800 Meter Run could just have the two auto spots advancing to the state meet. Joelle Wilson of Williamsville is having a great sophomore season. Her 2:18.03 time (2A #13) leads the field by four seconds ahead of Peyton Frey of Highland who is also under the time standard. Calista Gardner of Rochester has not run under the 2:24 standard and is the closest runner with the possibility of qualifying on time. With good average on personal best racing, we could see three runners making it out of this sectional in the 1600 Meter Run. Brooke Zeibert of Rochester has run 4:56.45 (2A #4) at Distance Night in Palatine and is the overwhelming favorite in this race. Her sister and teammate Ashley Zeibert and Paityn Brady of Sacred Heart-Griffin both have 5:17 and should make it to state both challenging for second place. Hannah Nation of Williamsville will need to improve by six seconds to make it to state. This senior could achieve that. Four teams should advance in this sectional in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Rochester has run 9:38.08 (2A #2) and will be the team to beat with both Zeibert sisters slated to run. Sacred Heart-Griffin at 9:52.87 (2A #8) should nab the second qualifying spot. Williamsville and Troy Triad are under time qualifiers and squads that should also advance to Charleston.