Streaks, PR send 8 to state

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RICHMOND – Woodstock and Prairie Ridge finished second and third in the IHSA Class 2A Richmond-Burton Sectional on Friday, but neither girls track and field team came away disappointed about not winning it all.

Including relay teams, the Blue Streaks (78 points) and Wolves (73.5) boasted eight state qualifiers, and Crystal Lake Central, which finished sixth with 49 points, had six.

Vernon Hills won the 16-team meet with 94 points. Qualifiers advance to the IHSA State Meet on May 21 at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium.

Woodstock’s Kayla and Elise Beattie finished first and second, respectively, in the 1,600 meters (5:06.99 and 5:13.75) and the 3,200 (10:50.23 and 11:06.13), easily eclipsing state qualifying times. Woodstock’s Gabby Schmidt beat the state qualifying time in the 100 high hurdles (16.00 seconds) and then finished second in the next event, the 100 dash, to advance to state in both.

“We just signed up for both the 100 open and the hurdles just to see what I could do,” Schmidt said. “I wasn’t sure about making the finals for the [100 meters] and when I did, it was just an added surprise to what I expected to do in the hurdles.”

Woodstock’s Sharon Mwale was second in the high jump by matching the qualifying height of 5 feet 1 inches, and the Blue Streaks’ 4x800 relay team of Odessa Peters, Hailey Jacobs,
Kerstin Wolf and Cynthia Arroyo advanced with their best time of the year (10:02.32).

Prairie Ridge sophomore Jessica Ayers beat out Schmidt for first in the 100 (12.96) and was a part of two Wolves’ relays to qualify for state. Ayers, Sam Nirva, Shannon Calahan and Kyra Saley made up both the second-place 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams to qualify.

“I really wanted to show myself I could qualify in the 100 and pushed until the very end,” Ayers said. “I knew we had a good chance of qualifying in the relays because we made it [to state] last year.

Nirva also qualified for the Wolves with a second-place finish in the 200 (26.97), and Taylor Humm smashed the qualifying standard in the discus (117-8) to take first. Humm also took second in the shot put (36-21⁄2).

Brooke Basler was second in the long jump for the Wolves, and Amanda Marwitz qualified with a sixth-place finish in the 3,200.

Crystal Lake Central Taylor Miller won the 800 (2:24.53) and took fifth in the 1,600 to qualify, Central’s Katy Idstein won the 200 (26.96), freshman Jessie Wells took second in the triple jump (33-41⁄2), Molly Flood qualified in the 3,200 (11:52.67) with a seventh-place finish and the 4x800 relay team of Flood, Idstein, Miller and Rachel Bush took second.

Johnsburg senior Liz Hinley, who missed out on state by inches last year, matched the state qualifying distance of 112-6 in the discus to qualify.

Richmond-Burton’s Elizabeth Kaht was second in the pole vault (9-6), beating the state standard by 6 inches, and R-B’s 4x800 relay team of Skylar Bayer, Talia Sheedlo, April Wanagas and Samantha Wilkins qualified with a fifth-place finish.