Homewood-Flossmoor edges Prospect for team win behind Mariyah Robinson’s three event win and record 4x100m Relay; Angelina Bullocks breaks Amderson/Akinosun 100 State Record; Prospect wins fifth straight 4x800 Meter Relay; Mia Sirois shatters 3A State Meet Record in the 3200 Meter Run; Annika Swan doubles to 800/1600 win; Dominique Johnson ends high school career with horizontal jumps double and Triple Jump Meet Record

By Michael Newman

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Charleston, Ill – Mariyah Robinson after winning the 400 Meter Dash laid on the ground with her feet up on a chair under a huge red tent as a trainer worked on her legs. She looked exhausted as she knew she had to run one more time in this eight race in 24 hours schedule. When she heard that the awards were given out for the 400 Meter Dash. She got up and jogged to get to the podium just as they handed the medal to her.

The trainer turned and said, “Yes, she’s ready.”

Homewood-Flossmoor seemed to collapse towards the end of the Friday afternoon preliminary session not being able to finish in the 4x200 Meter Relay and missing qualifying by one spot in both the 200 Meter Dash and 4x400 Meter Relay. Robinson willed Homewood Flossmoor to a state title as the Vikings scored 56 points. Robinson played a part in 38 of those points.

Prospect did all they could for defending their team title and finished second with 52 points. St. Ignatius came on strong in two of the three final events scoring 25 points to inch onto the podium scoring 47 points edging ahead of Whitney Young who scored 46 points to place fourth. Plainfield North (39 points) and Lake Zurich (34 points) finished fifth and sixth.

This was a meet for the ages. Athletes struggled through cooler than normal weather in Illinois during the spring. The sun came out on Friday and Saturday with optimal temperatures for athletes to give them in position to succeed. Tom Petty wrote that “the waiting is the hardest part…” It showed on Saturday their patience paid off.

Homewood-Flossmoor shook up O’Brien Field Friday afternoon running a new state record of 45.91 in the final prelim heat. They used the same lineup as Friday with London Willingham, Mariyah Robinson, London Jarrett, and Aniya Mullins running 45.55 resetting their meet record. An amazing four teams went under 47 seconds in this race. Prospect ran a season’s best of 46.28 to finish second followed by Plainfield North (46.53) and Kankakee (46.59).

Angelena Bullocks of Whitney Young was on fire this weekend and bettered a meet record that started in 2004 with Alex Anderson and 2012 with Morolake Akinosun who both had run 11.41. Bullocks got out of the blocks faster than anyone else in this nine-athlete final. She ran a wind legal 11.35 to set the state meet record. Robinson was second (11,56) ahead of Rayna Raglin of Alton (11.81).

Robinson came back in the 400 Meter Dash to win her first individual state title. The junior came off the final curve with the lead which she held to the finish. Her time of 54.17 kept the win. Julia Brown of Oak Park-River Forest was the surprise of the race running under 55 seconds in her final high school race running 54.51 to finish second. Alaina Steele of Lincoln-Way East ran 54.86 to finish third with Naomi Bey-Osborne of Kankakee (55.09) next with a personal best.

Her final race of this meet might have been Robinson’s best. Bullocks came off the curve with the lead in the final of the 200 Meter Dash. Robinson was close in the lane to the west of Bullocks. She saw the Whitney Young senior hesitate and she moved. Robinson got her second title (23.70) just ahead of Bullocks (23.72). Maliyah Miller of St. Ignatius College Prep got her team seven crucial points as she ran 24.26 to finish third. Daisha Brunson of Conant (24.38) and Raglin (24.44) finished fourth and fifth.

“The talk that we had when I got to Homewood-Flossmoor is that we had the people and the coaches to win a state title. We pushed it a lot during the indoor season and outdoors to get us here now,” Robinson said after her day was complete. “All I wanted to do was to get up and win that 200. I was in a lot of pain.”

Prospect scored in all four relays in this meet. Their 4x800 Meter Relay was the most anticipated. The Knights have prided their anticipation in the relay. “It seems that everybody on the team wants to be in the 4x8,” Prospect Coach Pete Wintermute said early in the season. Ireland Wildhart is a two-time all-state cross-country runner that played Lacrosse during the spring. This spring, she joined track and was one of the four runners in this relay with Veronica Znajda, Mary Laba, and Meg Peterson. The Knights were looking for their fifth straight title, a record that no one else has been able to obtain.

The top eight teams were separated by two seconds as Lake Zurich was ahead of St. Charles North both at 2:15. Znajda was in sixth as she handed off the baton. Wildhart got the baton and moved during her two laps getting her team into second behind Barrington with Wildhart running 2:17 just like Znajda. Mary Laba give her team the leg moving at the halfway point of her leg. Her 2:16 leg gave Prospect a two second lead as she handed off to Peterson who had been in this position before. Plainfield North was second with Lindsey Wenz anchoring for the Tigers.

Peterson maintained the two second lead. Wenz tried to move closer, but it was something that Peterson would not allow. Peterson crossed the line first with a 2:12 anchor split and their fifth title in a row timed at 9:04.00. Wenz ran a 2:13.51 anchor to place Plainfield North ran 9:07.34 establishing a new school record. Lincoln-Way Central 9:09.11 to finish third finishing ahead of Barrington (9:12.88), Lake Zurich (9:14.10), and Glenbard West (9:16.28).

Mia Sirois of Barrington knows what the records are after which she is chasing. This was also the first year she was running the distance double of the 3200 and the 1600. She said after prelims on Friday she had time to go after the records, She had her two more seasons to do that. Sirois snuck in behind Amelie Ojeda of Willowbrook as the two runners passed the first lap in 73 seconds. Sirois took the lead after that and was at 5:03 after the first 1600 as Allison Shutler of St. Ignatius College Prep maintained a margin of six seconds. Sirois extended her lead with a 74 second laps. Sirois negative split the final part of the race at 4:58 as she closed in a 72 second final lap to break Katelynne Hart’s eight-year-old record running 10:01.12 for the win. Shutler cruised in at 10:16.46 to finish second and enough energy for her 1600 later in the meet. Macy Ermitage of Downers Grove North was a surprise in this race as the freshman ran 10:32.72 to finish third ahead of Maya Ledesma of Minooka (10:33.63) and Ali Londrigan of Chatham-Glenwood (10:40.99) finished fourth and fifth.

Annika Swan of St. Ignatius College Prep was mad at herself after last year’s state race where she finished fourth saying afterwards she did not run a good tactical race. She did so on Saturday taking the lead on the back stretch having control the race throughout right with Lola Satre-Morales of Naperville Central at 64.9 seconds. Mia Forystek of Lincoln-Way Central, Polina Krupsky of Lake Zurich, and Meg Peterson following. Keeping the lead and letting no one by her was the key in this race. Swan came off the final straight away with the lead and held on with a group of runners trying to charge her down. Swan ran a personal best of 2:10.08 to capture her first state title. Satre Morales ran 2:11.31 to finish second ahead of Krupsky (2:11.51), Peterson (2:11.63), and Forystek (2:12.88).

Swan came back two hours later in the 1600 Meter Run. Sirois was running this double at state for the first time. It was a matter for Swan and Shutler to wait on Sirois’ shoulder to capture the win. Sirois took the lead at 76, and 2:29 with Swan and Shutler right on her shoulder. The three runners passed the bell lap at 3:42. Shutler took the lead with Swan taking the lead coming off the curve. Swan closed in 66 seconds to run 4:48.94 to take her second state title in a couple of hours. Shutler and Sirois both closed in 70 seconds with Shutler (4:62.99) edging Sirois (4:53.37) for second. Ali Londrigan completed a successful state meet running 4:57.69 to finish fourth ahead of Jane Lynch of Loyola Academy (4:58.08) and Maya Ledesma (4:58.17).

“I learned a lot from that 800-race last year. It was all about mentality and how to manage myself in those situations. I am so proud of myself. I knew today I could not be afraid of failing,” a happy Swan said afterwards. “I had a lot of confidence in that 1600. It did not feel that hard until the last 200.”

Dominique Johnson of Huntley took one jump in the final round of the Long Jump and did not improve on her 19-2.75 distance that led after prelims. Johnson held that position win her first state title in this event. Kyla Motley of Shepard jumped 18-8.75 to finish second ahead of Gabi Karvelis of Neuqua Valley (18-4.50) and Sophia Dalrymple of Wheaton North (18-4.50).

Johnson’s best of the two jumping events is the Triple Jump. Johnson had jumped 40-1 to have the lead, In her opening jump of the finals round, Johnson shut the door on the rest of the field jumping a new meet record of 42-8.75 for the win. Johnson did not need to take her final two attempts. It is special to make your final jump at the state meet a record. It was her third win in that event. Gabi Karvelis jumped 39-6.75 to finish second with Courtney Burt of Whitney Young (39-4.50) and Karen Boakye of Downers Grove South (39-3) finishing third and fourth.

Both hurdle races had repeat winners. Daisha Brunson of Conant got out of the blocks well and had the lead after the third hurdle. The junior repeated her title in the 100 Meter Hurdles running a state leading 13.75 to win her second state title. Nkeoma Nwachukwu of Sandburg ran a personal best of 14.13 to finish second ahead of with Amy Carhee of Schaumburg (14.16), Sophia Shapiro of Edwardsville (14.30) and Aisha Kazeem of Palatine (14.32) to finish in the top five. Kazeem was in full control winning her second state title in the 300 Meter Hurdles. Kazeem ran a state leading and personal best of 42.58 for the win. Kennedy Ruff of Hinsdale South (42.96) and Amyjia Robinson of Belleville West (43.19) both running personal bests.

There were six teams that ran under 1:40 in the 4x200 Meter Relay. Plainfield North was the team that took command running a state leading 1:37.09 to claim the state title. Kankakee ran 1:38.86 to finish second ahead of Prospect (1:38.92). Whitney Young (1:39.50), Kenwood (1:39.83), and Champaign Centennial (1:39.85) were the next three teams to cross the line.

The 4x400 Meter Relay was even more incredible especially with four teams that ran under 3:50. Plainfield North and Lincoln-Way East crossed the line nearly at the same time. The result were the top two times in the state with Plainfield North two hundredths of a second ahead of East (3:47.61-3:47.63). Belleville East ran 3:48.39 to finish third with Prospect (3:48.83) and Kankakee (3:50.21) placing fourth and fifth.

Samantha Yeh of Dunlap cleared 5-8.75 to win the High Jump on fewer misses ahead of Jaeda Benford of Rockford Auburn who cleared the same height. Jordan Dimke of Hononegah cleared 5-7.75 to finish third. Kaylee Meyer of Schaumburg cleared 5-6.50 to place fourth.

Mckena Miglorini of Lockport Township was perfect on her quest for a state championship clearing on her first five heights including her 12-7.50 winning height. Nora DeMaria of Rolling Meadows and Eva Bach of Lake Park both cleared 12-3.50 to finish second and third.

Marco Reynolds of Normal Community was in fourth entering the fifth round of the Shot Put until she unleashed a 42-9.50 put to win a state title. Courtney Clabough of Yorkville had a season’s best of 42-0 to finish second ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor’s Jaloni Wiley who had a 41-7.75 best to finish third. Arisa Bisofa of Lake Zurich held her lead after prelims. The freshman threw 147-10 to win the Discus with Carly Uehlein of Jacobs having a personal best of 139-6 to move up to second. Joi Story of Edwardsville (138-11) and Alice Kotelnikova of Lake Zurich (136-4) to finish third and fourth.