Girls track and field: Prospect starts strong at state
The excitement and drama got underway Friday as step one to deciding who is going to be crowned state champions began at the IHSA girls state track and field meet at Eastern Illinois University.
In the Class 3A meet, perennial power Prospect got off to a great start with school records in three of the four relays as well as a school record by senior Charlotte Deines (24.52 seconds) in the 200-meter dash.
The Knights will have Deines competing in the long jump finals on Saturday along with teammates Adeline Wind in the discus and Brooke Neri in the pole vault. After placing second in the state to Huntley last year, Prospect coach Pete Wintermute is optimistic his team can bring home another top-three trophy.
"We have lots of opportunities to score points tomorrow and we'll just be focusing on doing it for each other," said Wintermute, who has Meg Peterson and Lily Ginsberg running in the 800. "This is a metric group. A large part of the cast that will be competing tomorrow were all a part of what we did last year, and I'm proud of these girls and their willingness to work hard and compete to try to be the best."
Conant sophomore Daisha Brunson is in a great position to win back-to-back state titles in the 100-meter hurdles. Palatine junior Aisha Kazeem is going to make a strong push for the 300-meter hurdles crown along with Brunson, Prospect's Amina Hadziahmetovic, and Maine West's Amelie Mach.
"She (Kazeem) is looking great heading into tomorrow and she should have even better races tomorrow," said Palatine coach Kevin Conway. "The key is having a clean start and setting the tone after the first hurdle, and she should be impressive in what we do tomorrow."
Barrington's 4x800 team of Abby Lewis, Sydney Sukel, Madison Miles, and Scout Storms are state title contenders while Storms will also make a run for the 1,600 championship. Barrington's Kaleigh Burns is also in the 1,600 finals with Prospect's Veronica Znajda.
Another runner ready to make a run for first place is Grayslake Central's Bella Domier, who had the top time in the 800-meter run (2:10.87) in the prelims.
"That was a PR for her and a school record so she did great," said Grayslake Central coach Colleen Wire. "Bella is a really smart competitor so she's going to race smart and she's definitely a (title) contender."
Rolling Meadows' Roisin Grandberry was the top area finals qualifier in the shot put (11.82 meters) while Lake Zurich's Riley Betz broke the 12-second barrier (11.98) to reach the finals in the 100-meter dash. The Bears also have Baelyn Zitzmann (high jump), and Alice Kotelnikova (discus) in the finals. Stevenson's Samantha Almy reached the discus finals as did Barrington's Sofiabella Amirante in the shot put, Antioch's Charlee Kempf in the shot put, and Grandberry in the discus.
Other high jump finalists are Wheeling's Lindsay Kane, Schaumburg's Kaylee Meyer, and Conant's Chekiya Henderson Willis.
In Class 2A, Carmel Catholic's Zubaydah Akorede (11.26 meters) had the second best mark in the triple jump while teammate Izzy Bing made the finals in the 1,600. The Corsairs' 4x200 team of Ella Dicara, Abby Hartzer, Natalie Ferguson, and Leanna Bell also made the finals.