McHenry jumper cruises into 2 finals

McHenry's Ashley Conway lands in the sand during long jump at the IHSA Class 3A Girls Track and Field State Meet in Charleston. She qualified for Saturday's finals in both the long jump and high jump. (PhotoNews/Clark Brooks)

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CHARLESTON – McHenry sophomore Ashley Conway made it all look so effortless, so clean, so matter-of-fact.

Conway needed only a five-minute stretch to qualify for today’s finals at the IHSA Class 3A Girls Track and Field State Meet in two events.

Conway soared 17 feet, 63⁄4 inches in the long jump, walked 30 yards to the high jump area, sat down and changed her shoes, then cleared 5-3 in the high jump with plenty of room to spare.

Conway was one of several area athletes to lock down spots in multiple events for today’s finals at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium.

Cary-Grove’s Kelly McCoy (100-meter high hurdles, high jump), Crystal Lake South’s Marianne Collard (4x800 relay, 1,600 meters) and Woodstock’s Kayla Beattie (3,200, 1,600) also are in two events for the finals.

Woodstock’s Lisa Kucharski (300 low hurdles) and Elise Beattie (3,200) also will be running today.

One of the area’s top athletes, Huntley junior Amy Fanella, will not be competing, though. She narrowly missed in the 300 low hurdles and the triple jump.

“I think I could do better,” Conway said of her triple jump. “I’m reaching every time, and my steps are off. I haven’t done my right form yet, I need to arch my back and stay in the air more.”

Conway is in fifth place for the long jump; the high jump starts over again today.

McCoy surprised herself a little bit with her time of 15.55 seconds in the 100 high hurdles to qualify. She also was one of the 13 competitors to make 5-3 and qualify in the high jump.

“Warming up [for the hurdles] felt good,” she said. “My coach [assistant Jack Kalivoda] has been telling me to get through the first hurdle faster, so I did that and tried to keep up.”

Beattie ran 5:04.60 in the 1,600 to break the Blue Streaks’ school record of Katie Hartmann and qualify for the finals. Her sister, Elise, scratched from the 1,600 to conserve energy in the 85-degree heat for today’s 3,200 finals.

“My goal was to get 5:00,” Kayla Beattie said. “When I heard the split at the half-mile I knew I had to push the pace a little.”

Collard ran a strong 1,600 in 5:09.54 but almost fell victim to a slow heat in which she was boxed in for two laps.

“I didn’t want to take it over,” Collard said. “I couldn’t really make a move [early], but I liked where I was [in the pack]. My coach [assistant Ken Greenfield] told me to hang on to the front pack and get in the top three.”

She did, and her time was the 11th-fastest, just getting her into the 12-competitor finals field.

South’s 4x800 team of Stephanie Woods, Kristina Aubert, Heather Newberry and Collard hacked 14 seconds off their sectional time with a 9:34.30 to get the final qualifying spot in the 12-team finals.

“Oh, my God!” Woods said. “I was honestly surprised about it. We all put it together at the right time. It was pretty nerve-racking. I couldn’t even talk when we were in the bullpen.”

Woods, Aubert and Newberry all ran career-best splits, and Collard ran her best 800 split of the season.

Kucharski making the 300 hurdles finals ahead of Fanella was a small upset. The two have had great races all season, but Fanella always finished ahead.

“I remember thinking right before, ‘This could be my last high school race, I’m going to give it everything,’ ” Kucharski said. “Just the experience of going, if this was my last race, I’m completely satisfied.”

Kucharski learned shortly after that she had qualified.