Friday, May 22, 2009 11:44 PM CDT
Mount Vernon runner coasts in 1,600
By BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- With a little better hearing, Margo Richardson might have put her name higher on the IHSA all-time girls’ track 1,600-meter lists.
“I went out pretty hard,” the Mount Vernon junior said. “I wanted to break five minutes. About the second lap I heard the time and thought I couldn’t get it. If I would have known I was that close to five minutes, I would have booked it a little more.”
Not hearing split times announced with a lap to go, Richardson eased through the final 400 meters and settled for a time of 5 minutes, 4.82 seconds to still finish nearly seven seconds ahead of the second-place runner in Friday’s IHSA Class 2A girls’ state track preliminaries.
That time is among the 17 state meet records set Friday in 2A, the new middle class as the IHSA expanded from two to three classes this year.
Many of those marks figure to be bettered today when all three classes have finals starting at 10 a.m. at Eastern Illinois’ O’Brien Stadium.
But maybe not in the 1,600.
“I’ll have the 3,200 first (today),” Richardson said.
Last fall’s state cross country champion, Richardson last week posted the best 2A sectional time of 11:08.24 in the 3,200, which has no prelim race at the state meet.
She can go for that record today.
“That’s pretty neat,” Richardson said. “You can say ‘I got the state record.’
“I like (the new class) because it gives you a chance to get a championship but also your times aren’t the greatest because you aren’t running against all of the best people.”
Given the choice between a victory and a sub five-minute 1,600 while getting beat today, Richardson said: “I’d rather have the time. Colleges look at times more than anything else.”
Still, the 5:04.82 and finals berth was a welcome change.
“The past two years I’ve come up here and didn’t make the finals,” Richardson said. “For a while, I thought this track was cursed.”
Other notable performances in the 2A prelims included:
- Springfield sophomore Alexandria Harden soared 19 feet, 1 inch in the long jump while Galesburg’s Bailey Jackson, who had a sectional best 18-11.75 last week failed to advance to the finals going 15-11.5 on Friday.
- While not matching her state the state meet record 49-4.75 she set last year, Mahomet-Seymour’s Daniella Bunch still easily led Friday’s qualifiers with a 45-5 while her 136-3 discus throw ranks second to the 141-7 by Marion’s Hannah Baker.
- Cahokia’s Laquitsha Bejoile is the leader in the hurdles with a time of 14.78 in the 100 high hurdles and the 300 lows in 45.18.
- Kankakee sophomore Dominique Kimpel, living up to her sectional performances, was the fastest in the state prelims in the 100 dash in 12.03 and
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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