Cary-Grove wins girls track sectional

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HUNTLEY – Cary-Grove senior Molly MacInnes has waited four years to reach the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Finals, and now she’s getting her wish.

MacInnes was the third leg in the Trojans’ 4x400-meter relay team that took first place in the Class 3A Huntley Sectional on Saturday with a time of 4:08.75.

Now the senior can’t wait to get to O’Brien Stadium on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston for the state finals Friday and Saturday.

“This feels so, so awesome,” MacInnes said. “We have such an amazing team, it’s so woven together and everyone wants everyone else to succeed. I can’t wait to go out there and show people what we can do.”

C-G had eight girls in all qualify for state, as the Trojans won the team title with 80 points, 14.5 more than second-place Crystal Lake South.

Sophomore Carly Loeffel, junior Lindsay Young and freshman Katherine Wollney will join MacInnes on the 4x400 relay team, and Wollney and Loeffel will race in the 4x100 relay with teammates Sarah Ryan and Anne McGarrigle.

Loeffel also qualified for state in the 400 with a time of 1:01.10 but missed the qualifying mark in the high jump by 4 inches. She said she was happy she didn’t qualify for that event because of a stress fracture in her leg.

“High jump is what hurts my leg more than anything,” Loeffel said. “The doctor was begging me not to run, but I knew we had just two more weeks left, so I kind of had to.”

C-G still will have a representative in the high jump after Kelly McCoy took first place with a jump of 5 feet, 3 inches. McCoy also qualified for state in the 100 high hurdles with a time of 15.38 seconds.

“We got some nice surprises today,” Trojans coach Mark Anderson said. “The girls knew they had to step up and win a couple events today. But I honestly didn’t care if we won or lost, just to get MacInnes in after coming so close for three years is special.”

Host Huntley also will be sending eight athletes to state, including junior Amy Fanella who qualified in four events: the triple jump, 100 high hurdles, 300 low hurdles and as a member of the 4x400 relay team.

“I tried my best out there, and that’s all I ever try to do,” Fanella said. “I didn’t expect to make it in the 100 hurdles because that’s my worst race and I really had to push myself in that one. I just hope I make it to finals in any of my events this year.”

The Prairie Ridge relay team of Shannon Calahan, Sam Nirva, Kyra Saley and Jessica Ayers qualified for state in the 4x100 (51.73) and the 4x200 (1:47.38), and sophomore Taylor Humm took first in the discus with a throw of 118-07.

McHenry sophomore Ashley Conway took first in the long jump (17-11 1/2) and second in the high jump (5-3).

Crystal Lake South will send the 4x800 relay team of Kristina Aubert, Stephanie Woods, Heather Newberry and Marianne Collard to state. Collard also will compete in the 1,600, and Alexis Wells qualified with a first-place finish in the 100 (12.64) and a second-place showing in the 200 (26.39).

Woodstock senior Lisa Kucharski just made the qualifying time in the 300 low hurdles (46.72) and took first in the pole vault (10-6). She’ll be joined by sisters Elise and Kayla Beattie, who both qualified in the 3200 and 1600.

“I had to reach down deep in the hurdles,” Kucharski said. “This feels really cool, though, to go state in my last year.”