Beatties breeze into pair of finals

Hampshire’s Holly Plichta runs in the Class 2A preliminaries of the 1,600 meters Friday during the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet in Charleston. Plichta qualified for today’s final. (Clark Brooks – For the Northwest Herald)

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CHARLESTON – Woodstock’s Kayla and Elise Beattie crossed the finish line in the Class 2A 1,600-meter run, high-tenned each other and looked as though they hardly had broken a sweat.

It was good, because they know today at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet will be much more demanding. The Beatties will run their final high school races together in the 3,200 and 1,600 finals at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium.

“We wanted to run and expend as little energy as possible,” said Kayla, a junior and the favorite in the 3,200. “It’s nice to qualify with it feeling easy.”

Elise, a senior, led most of the way, but Kayla took off in the final 100 meters to finish in 5:04.54, the fastest qualifying time in Class 2A. Elise’s time of 5:07.04 was third, behind Kayla and Mount Vernon’s Margo Richardson (5:05.21).

“This is about soaking in the moment,” said Elise, who will run next year at New Hampshire. “It was nice to enjoy another race with my sister. She’s my sister and teammate, so there’s nobody I’d rather lose to than her.”

The 1,600 is loaded with area runners, as Hampshire’s Holly Plichta, Crystal Lake Central’s Taylor Miller and Marengo’s Katie Adams also qualified in the 12-runner field.

Hampshire’s Cassie Kruse had a big day, competing in four events and qualifying in the 800 and with the Whip-Purs’ 4x800 relay team. That group – Kruse, Plichta, Paige Membrano and Autumn Chomenko – set a meet record in 9:32.11, knocking almost five seconds off its sectional time. The Class 2A records were started last year when the IHSA expanded from two to three classes.

Other local Class 2A qualifiers were Marengo’s Allison Rogutich (triple jump), Prairie Ridge’s Taylor Humm (discus) and Marengo’s 4x800 relay team of Katie Sprague, Paige Malinowski, Morgan Bartlett and Shawney Damisch.

Miller knocked 11 seconds off her 1,600 time, running 5:13.61 in the preliminaries.

“I thought I had a shot, but I wasn’t seeded in the top 12,” said Miller, a senior who will run at NCAA Division II Wisconsin-Parkside. “I told myself I wasn’t going to go out with the first girls, and I did it anyway. I’m really happy.”

Adams, a freshman, missed the Class 2A state cross country meet when she caught the flu before the sectional meet. She won the 800 and 1,600 at the Illinois Elementary School Association State Meet last year.

“It was great, it felt good,” said Adams, who won her heat in 5:14.14. “I knew what I needed to do to get in the finals. I didn’t want to push too much, so I drafted behind [Antioch’s Erin Poss] until the last 100. I waited until just after the last curve so she couldn’t see me coming.”

Rogutich’s personal-best triple jump of 35-10 put her in eighth place entering the finals.

“I’m just happy I got a personal best,” she said. “I’m hoping to get over 36 feet and possibly place. That was my goal.”

Humm’s discus throw of 110-9 puts her in eighth place for the finals. She is looking forward to drier conditions in the finals after changing one shoe in the preliminaries. After warming up, Humm’s left shoe had taken on so much water that she was slipping. She wore a regular running shoe on her left foot and her throwing shoe on the right.

“That was the worst form in my entire life, I just muscled it out there,” she said. “It worked much better [with the left shoe]. I want to get 120 and break my school record.”

Kruse was part of Hampshire’s 4x800 team that took seventh last year.

“It’s state, and we didn’t hold back at all,” Kruse said. “We wanted to go out strong and do it. We were ready for that race.”

Kruse’s 2:17.41 in the 800 was her personal best and the fourth-fastest time in the preliminaries.