One for the books

By JOE STEVENSON - jstevenson@nwherald.com

Woodstock’s Kayla Beattie finishes the Class 2A 3,200-meter run in meet-record time Saturday at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet in Charleston. Beattie finished the race in 10:30.62, 10 seconds faster than the time run by the winner of the Class 3A race. (Clark Brooks – For the Northwest Herald)

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CHARLESTON – Woodstock junior Kayla Beattie practically had high school distance running’s triple crown within her grasp as she approached the finish line in the Class 2A 1,600-meter run.

Beattie already had the Class 2A state cross country title from last fall and the Class 2A 3,200 championship from earlier Saturday at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet. This time, however, Mount Vernon’s Margo Richardson, twice the runner-up to Beattie, refused to go away.

In one of the closest finishes of the day at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium, Richardson nipped Beattie by 0.14 of a second for first. Beattie fell to the infield, then was helped up by her sister, Elise, who finished third, and the EIU training staff.

“I knew she was right there with me and she has a better kick,” Kayla Beattie said. “I worked a lot on my kick, running 300s this year, and I’ve improved, but I still have work to do. I was a little disappointed, but I came to the state meet more focused on the 3,200.”

Kayla Beattie won that race in impressive fashion, in 10:30.62, which was a Class 2A meet record and 10 seconds faster than Chicago Whitney Young’s Lavinia Jurkiewicz’s winning time in Class 3A. The Beatties competed with the best in Class 3A last year, but with Woodstock North starting varsity sports this year, Woodstock dropped into Class 2A.

“Kayla’s the true state champion,” a smiling Woodstock coach Steve Erwin said after the 3,200. “We’re pretty jacked about that.”

Richardson developed a friendly rivalry with the Beatties but was tired of losing to Kayla.

“I had that mental drive this time,” said Richardson, who will run at St. Louis University next year. “I had to win this one for myself. Kayla surged in the third lap, and I knew she was trying to lose me. I thought, ‘She’s not going to get me again.’ ”

Richardson took the Class 2A cross country, 3,200 and 1,600 championships for the 2008-09 school year.

Beattie’s 3,200 victory was the first in Woodstock girls track and field history. It was the Blue Streaks’ first state track and field title since Lester Kirkman won the 220-yard dash in 1921. Elise Beattie was thrilled for herself and her sister as she crossed the finish line in third place for the third time this season. She also was third in state cross country and in the 3,200.

“I have so many memories I’ll cherish forever that I got to share with Kayla, my best friend,” Elise said. “I looked at the scoreboard and saw 4:58 and I told her, ‘You did it.’ She wanted to break 5:00. That was our last race together, and I gave her a hug.”

Hampshire’s 4x800 relay team of Paige Membrano, Tiffany Phu, Holly Plichta and Cassie Kruse won the state championship by six-thousandths of a second over Yorkville with a meet-record run of 9:22.042.

McHenry junior Ashley Conway tied for second in the Class 3A high jump (5 feet, 7 inches) and took sixth in the long jump (17-81⁄2). She took fourth in high jump and eighth in long jump last year.

“I’m very happy with my high jump and with my place,” Conway said. “I’m happy with long jump too, that’s better than last year.”

In Class 2A, Kruse also took third in the 800 and Marengo grabbed three medals, with Katie Adams taking fourth in the 1,600, Allison Rogutich taking sixth in the triple jump and the 4x800 team taking eighth.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” Adams said. “I put more expectations into my run and wanted to stay with the pack. I gave it all I had.”

Rogutich improved by a foot Saturday to move up in the triple jump.

In Class 3A, Cary-Grove’s Carly Loeffel tied for fifth in the high jump at 5-4, and Crystal Lake South’s Marianne Collard was fourth in the 1,600. South’s Kristina Aubert took ninth in the 3,200 out of the slower heat in that race with her career-best time of 10:49.01.

Collard broke 5:00 in the 1,600 for the second consecutive day, running her career-best of 4:58.12.

“I didn’t feel as good today as Friday, but I tried to forget about it mentally,” Collard said. “I just try to look at the girl in front of me and stick with her.”