Conway, Loeffel set up showdown

McHenry’s Ashley Conway clears the bar during the Class 3A high jump preliminaries at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Conway, a senior, qualified for today’s finals. (Clark Brooks / For the Northwest Herald)

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CHARLESTON – Cary-Grove’s Carly Loeffel and McHenry’s Ashley Conway, high-jump rivals for their entire high school careers, will have one more competition on the state’s biggest stage.

Loeffel and Conway cleared 5 feet, 3 inches to qualify Friday in the Class 3A high jump preliminaries at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet. They will be among the 14 competitors in today’s finals at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium.

Conway tied for second last year at 5-7; Loeffel tied for fifth at 5-4. They have beaten each other twice in head-to-head competitions since the Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic in March. Conway beat Loeffel for the state indoor classic title and won the McHenry County Meet. Loeffel won at the Fox Valley Conference and Huntley Sectional meets.

“I’m in it to win it,” Loeffel said. “I know there will be a lot of good competition.”

“It felt great in warmups, and the warm weather was very helpful,” Loeffel said.

After a dreary spring weather-wise, athletes were treated to dry, 70-degree weather for Friday’s preliminaries.

“It’s great being able to come here, freshman year to senior year, and get to the finals,” said Conway, who has three state high jump medals. “I’m excited. I’m feeling good.”

Crystal Lake South’s Marianne Collard is the only area Class 3A athlete to reach the finals in two events. Collard ran a leg on South’s 4x800 relay team, which qualified for the third time in four years, and also advanced in the 1,600 meters, a race in which she had medaled each of the last two years.

The Gators’ team of Collard, Heather Newberry, Gabi Garay and Emily Lenzini ran 9:29.49, knocking 14 seconds off its sectional time to nab the final qualifying spot at 12th.

“We knew we had that in us,” Newberry said. “We were in a fast heat. That and the nice weather helped.”

South junior Lexi Dahl also qualified in the pole vault at 10-6. Dahl made the opening height last year at state, but did not reach the finals.

“Just being at state is great, but making the finals is extremely overwhelming,” Dahl said. “Making it here last year was more motivation to come back and do better this year.”

Huntley’s Haley Loprieno ran 5:12.79 to get the final spot in the 12-competitor final field in the 1,600. Loprieno thought she had missed the finals by one spot.

“I was talking to my dad [Dan] and thought I was 13th,” Loprieno said. “He was pretty sure I was 12th. I ran a [personal best], and that was my goal. This is a nice little bonus.”

The fully automatic timing results are posted on the scoreboard at O’Brien Stadium, so fans quickly are able to determine what spots competitors finish by writing in times after heats.
Jacobs’ triple jumper Allie Virgilio, who consistently has been around 37 feet most of the past month, hit 37-7 and is in fourth place heading into today’s finals.

“I was really, really nervous, but I improved with each jump,” Virgilio said. “My run-throughs weren’t very good, but on my jumps, my marks were perfect.”

Virgilio’s jumps were 36-10, 37-5 and 37-7 in the preliminary flight.

“I have no idea,” the junior said of how she has been so consistent. “I’m very goal-oriented. After I get one distance, I get another in my head for the next meet.”

Prairie Ridge’s Taylor Humm threw 118-1 in the discus to make the finals.

Huntley sophomore Antonia Moore ran 58.13 and missed the 400 finals by two-hundredths of a second. McHenry senior Miranda Rorer long jumped 17-21⁄4 inches and missed the finals by 13⁄4 inches.

“I was really intimidated because the defending state champion [Whitney Young’s Raena Rhone] was in my heat,” said Moore, who previously had not broken 59 seconds. “But I also knew that would be good competition. The fact that I got that time was good, but it’s sad to be so close. Next year it will be my goal to make the finals.”