Consistency key for Conway

McHenry sophomore Ashley Conway is the Northwest Herald Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Conway earned two medals – in the long jump and high jump – at the IHSA Class 3A state meet. (H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@nwherald.com)

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Ashley Conway sped down the runway at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium and hit the long jump board perfectly.

The McHenry sophomore hit it so well, it looked as if she might have fouled, but one official put up a white flag indicating the jump was good and said, “Mark!” As it was measured, another official joked, “It’s a good thing she cut her toenails.”

Without that jump, Conway might have missed the Class 3A long jump finals at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet. With it, she took eighth place, making her one of the area’s five athletes to win two medals that weekend.

Conway, who also was fourth in the high jump, is the Northwest Herald Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year as selected by the sports staff with input from local coaches. There were several top candidates to consider with Conway.

Crystal Lake Central’s Taylor Cordes was runner-up in the Class 2A 300 low hurdles and ran a leg on the Tigers’ 4x800 relay team with Stephanie Peisker, Molly Flood and Taylor Miller, which finished eighth.

Richmond-Burton’s Lindsey Wilkins finished her outstanding high school career by taking third in the Class 2A 1,600-meter run and sixth in the 800.

Woodstock sophomore Kayla Beattie took sixth in the Class 3A 3,200 the hard way, running in the slower heat, then came back to grab seventh in the 1,600.

Cary-Grove junior Kelly McCoy also took eighth in the Class 3A 100 high hurdles and ninth in the high jump.

But Conway’s consistency all season in the field events earned her the honor. She jumped 5-7 in the high jump during the season and cleared 5-6 at state, an inch better than her state jump in 2008 when she placed fifth.

In the long jump, her best jump was 17-11 1/2, and her placing jump at state was 17-6 3/4.

“She was very consistent,” McHenry coach Jessica Miron said. “We would have liked to see her go higher, but we’re comfortable where she was. She’s still getting used to state. That’s nerve-wracking when you’re out there by yourself. At most meets, she can walk over and just talk to me.”

Miron, a former Huntley athlete who won the Class A triple jump in 2002, knows about the state pressure. Conway has handled the state situations well in her two years. In Friday’s preliminaries this year, she qualified with her perfect long jump takeoff, walked over to the high jump, changed shoes, and made 5-3 to qualify for the high jump finals. She then changed shoes again and finished her long jump prelims.

In a span of five minutes, she had qualified for both events.

“I worked a lot on my form in the long jump,” Conway said. “I worked on arching my back more and getting my right knee up higher. We practiced the long jump a lot more this year, too.”

Although Conway’s best freshman long jump was 17-6 3/4, only 5 inches shorter than this year’s best, Miron felt she made dramatic improvements in that event. She also ran some sprints for the Warriors.

“We definitely worked on more technique with it,” Miron said. “We worked on her landing. Last year, it was kind of, ‘Go run and jump and see where you land.’ ”

When Conway came out of basketball, where she was a rebounding machine, Miron had her working hard in the weightroom and doing more plyometric exercises.

Conway plans to play basketball this summer, but realizes where her future lies regarding college athletics.

“Basketball is fun, but I won’t do that in college,” Conway said. “As of now, I’m thinking about track.”