Thursday, May 21, 2009 10:11 AM CDT
Class A state meet looks as strong as it ever has
By RICK DAWSON, Staff Writer
rdawson@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- Expecting a significant falloff in the smallest of the IHSA’s three state track classes?
Think again.
If defending state champions are the gauge, there are five of them, deviating little from past standards. If it’s enrollment, there are actually 10 more schools in Class A than there were a year ago. Or if it’s the caliber of the athlete, just take a look at one from Downs Tri-Valley.
Stephanie Brown is in search of her fourth straight 800-meter title; beyond that, a state record she has been whittling away at feverishly. Breese Central sophomore Jena Hemann may be good enough to compete for four individual titles. And Carlinville soph Molly Card could continue on a path to obliterate the state’s Class A shot put and discus marks.
It’s not exactly a watered-down field.
“Class A got bigger,” Breese Central coach Greg Kruse said. “With the three-class system, to me, they did not split things equitably. But it is what it is. It really hasn’t changed at all. Nobody can complain at anything.
“Now, how things are run in the finals are going to be a factor.”
Kruse was referring in part to the 17 individuals that made the finals in the high jump last year and wondering whether the starting standards — and thus the cutoff point — would be raised.
For Newton, which broke the 4x400-meter relay record at the Decatur Herald & Review Area Best meet this week with a time of 4:07, it’s simply business as usual. The Eagles finished sixth last year and may have enough depth to do well again.
“The thing of it is, is getting people out of Thursday into Saturday,”, said Newton coach Jackie Schackmann, who has a team capable of scoring a number of points in the 200 and 400 (Indiana State recruit Leann Michl), high jump (Maura Cummins) and the 4x100 and 4x200 relays led by Michl, freshman twin sisters Jackie and Jamie Michl and veteran runner Sierra Smith.
“You just never know. You just hope everything goes according to plan. Hopefully we can get a couple of the relays into the finals in field events.”
What makes Regina George’s story so intriguing is that she’s a one-girl track and field show for Chicago St. Gregory. To practice, she often has to make an hour and a half drive through rush hour traffic to Proviso West High School, where coach Mike Brazier works with her after he’s done with his boys’ team.
“It’s not easy, not convenient,” Brazier said. “I coach her after the Proviso practice is over. Give it up to her and whoever comes with her. They take two buses and two trains and get down to Proviso.”
Her best event may be the 800-meter run, but this year she’ll have to settle for being a title contender in the high jump, 200 and 400.
“We tried to run the 800 meters but it conflicted with the high jump, or the high jump conflicted with it,” Brazier said. “Then you throw the 400 meters in after the 800, there’s not a lot of time to recover. We decided to leave the 800 to a meet early in the summer someplace.
“You hate to bail out and not run against the best 800 runner in the state (Brown). But there may be another time for that.”
Watch for Bloomington Central Catholic in the team competition. The Saints, who took third last year, are loaded, with Jennifer Monk (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump) and Kelly Curran (1,600 and 3,200) leading the way. Others to watch include Central A&M, Rushville-Industry, Eureka and Seton Academy.
Here’s an event-by-event rundown in one reporter’s eyes:
Long jump
Favorite: Jena Hemann, sophomore, Breese Central.
Hemann’s sister Jessica was the state high jump champion in 2007 and now a volleyball player at Southwestern Illinois College. Jena has gone 18-5 and is the defending state champion in the high jump. She is also a title contender in the triple jump, long jump and 100-meter dash.
Had she wanted to, she could have switched to the 200 and 400 and battled for titles there instead. But she went with the shorter sprint to conserve energy for the jumps.
“She’s run 58 flat already this year in the 400,” Kruse said. “Obviously that’s contention material already. In the 200 she ran a 25.4 at one of the track meets. So she would have an opportunity in that. But this year is so bizarre with the three-class system. You don’t know how everything will overlap in the finals.
“She’s got an opportunity to place in four events. We’re hoping she can place pretty high in those four events. It’s not an easy thing to do.”
Other key contenders include Carmi’s Lauren Winkleman, Litchfield’s Jalyn Jant and Neoga’s Jaimee Roy.
High jump
Favorite: Hemann, the defending champion, and Regina George, senior, Chicago St. Gregory.
George has jumped 5-8, the state’s best this spring. But the duo faces a lot of good competition: Last year’s top four, including Eureka junior Kelsey Holman, Biggsville West Central senior Miriam Rutzen and Newton sophomore Maura Cummins, are back, along with Camp Point Central senior Kendra Jennings, who tied for the best jump (5-5) in the sectional.
Triple jump
Favorites: Spring Valley Hall senior Kendall Rush, an all-state volleyball player headed to Illinois State on a track scholarship next season, had the best sectional (37 feet, 2 ½ inches) distance. Litchfield’s Jant had the best leap during the spring (38-6), while Hemann and Neoga’s Roy haven’t been far behind.
Shot put
Favorite: Carlinville sophomore Kelsey Card, the defending state champion in both the shot put and discus, is a heavy favorite. Her best throw (47-3) is better than any at a Class A state meet since Greenville’s Lisa Ferry in 1979.
“We tried real hard during our indoor season to compete against some of the bigger schools north and south of us,” Carlinville coach Shelly Mills said. “We even went to one indoor meet where we could see (Mahomet-Seymour’s) Dani Bunch (the Class AA record-holder). They finished first and second. Neither girl had a great night, but they both finished first and second.
“One of the neat things about Kelsey is that she understands that in order to improve, you change. So she allows us to work with her and tweak her – anything you can do to get better. We’ve kidded her that she’s going to go off to college and her coach is going to tell her we’ve done everything wrong.”
Four others – Paris’s Leann Spesard, Lexington’s Erica Jenkins, Salt Fork’s Hannah Wilkins and Sullivan’s Olivia Herzog – have thrown over 40 feet.
Discus
Favorite: Card could win the Class 3A title in this event. She topped 150 feet at the Rochester Invitational in April — the Class A record is just 145-3 – and her sectional throw was 15 feet farther than anyone else’s.
Pole vault
Alyssa Donner, senior, Princeton.
Donner has come closest to 11 feet this spring and had the best sectional height (10-3). Rushville-Industry has a pair of solid contenders in this event in senior Candice Caldwell and freshman Ashley Thomas, with juniors Erica Bertrand of Rochester and Allie Piper of Paris both clearing 10 feet at sectional.
100-meter run
Favorites: In a head-to-head matchup, Hemann and Greenville senior Lindsey Holden both finished in 12.24 seconds at the Carlinville sectional. George turned out a 12.25 at Proviso East in April.
This event could be up for grabs, though. Seton Academy has Anisha Johnson and Camille Smith, anchors of solid sprint relays, and 14 girls ran under 12.8 at the sectional.
200-meter run
Favorites: George and Holden. Holden ran the state’s fastest time (25.44) at the sectional, breaking George’s best (25.52) during the regular outdoor season.
400-meter run
Favorites: George and Leeann Michl, a senior from Newton.
The duo finished 4-5 at state a year ago. George’s sectional time (57.40 seconds) was two-hundredths of a second faster.
800-meter run
Favorite: Brown.
She’s the three-time defending state champion, an Arkansas recruit and has one of the best outdoor times in the country in this event (2:10.14). She has run as low as 4:52.10 in the mile and also placed second in the 800 (2:08.97) at the Nike Indoor Nationals in Boston earlier this spring.
Brown holds the Class A state meet record (2:10.96) in this event.
1,600-meter run
Favorites: Brown and Bloomington Central Catholic junior Kelly Curran.
Brown has gone 4:54.87 indoors. On the other hand, Curran has been very good, too, running the fastest Class A outdoor time (5:06.44) this month at St. Joseph-Ogden. Brown finished second and Curran third in the mile in 2008.
Curran won the state title in the two-mile last year, an event in which Brown doesn’t compete.
3,200-meter run
Favorite: Curran, although Rockford Lutheran’s Sarah Kortze, Freeburg freshman Kristen Busch and Springfield Lutheran freshman Kristen Garwood have posted just as impressive times in the event.
100-meter hurdles
Favorite: Megan Stringer, senior, Central A&M.
Stringer has been under 15 seconds more than once this spring. Bloomington Central Catholic’s Jennifer Monk is probably her closest competition, although Riverdale’s Alexa Allen and Rockford Christian’s Courtney McKibben promise to be in the mix.
300-meter hurdles
Jennifer Monk, senior, Bloomington Central Catholic.
It may not be easy for the talented Monk, with Stringer and Byron sophomore Paige Knodle, who is entered in four events, among those in the running.
4x100-meter relay
Favorite: Seton Academy, which is as good as anyone in the sprint relays. Based on seeds alone, Sherrard, Newton and Riverdale could be strong contenders as well.
4x200-meter relay
Favorites: Seton Academy or Rushville-Industry, which turned out the best time in the state (1:47.93) at its conference meet.
It could be close, with Riverdale, Olympia, Rock Falls, Illini West, Murphysboro and Walther Lutheran all in the hunt.
4x400-meter relay
Favorite: Vandalia. All four members of last year’s state champion (Paige Dodson, Kristina Stunkel, Kayla Houston and Ashley Durbin) return. The Vandals also ran the best sectional time (4:07.98).
Oregon and Lexington could push.
4x800-meter relay
Favorites: Four schools have gone under 9:50 (Petersburg PORTA and Chicago Christian at the top, followed by St. Joseph-Ogden and Lexington).
Bloomington Central Catholic, Winnebago and Tri-Valley (with Brown) are a little further behind.
Contact Rick Dawson at rdawson@jg-tc.com or 238-6855.
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