Illini West relay strength and depth difference in first state championship; Zacharias bests own 1A Pole Vault Record; Young sweeps weight events again

By Michael Newman

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Charleston, Ill – In the IHSA’s smallest classification, it was two athletes that stole some of the spotlight at the Girls State meet Saturday afternoon at O’Brien Stadium. Jenny Kimbro (Sidell Jamaica HS) and Amanda McClain (Sullivan HS) won multiple state individual championships leading their schools to top three finishes in the team competition.

McClain’s Saturday was outstanding in her last high school meet before she heads to Illinois State University this fall. She actually laid the groundwork for a great meet on Friday when she jumped a leading 18-8 ½ in the Long Jump. The personal best held up on Friday gave her a state championship. She first ventured to the track Saturday for her team in the 800 Meter Relay. She anchored her team to a sixth place finish. She was back on the track 30 minutes later to compete in the 400 Meter Dash.

McClain started in Lane 8 for this race. That starting position was beneficial as she could not see what was happening behind her. She stormed out to a huge lead. Coming around the final turn, the race was hers. She won her second straight state championship establishing a new 1A record (55.18).

The story was almost the same for the Sullivan star as she took the blocks from Lane 7. In this shorter race, this could have been disastrous especially with defending champion Natasha Brown (Aurora Christian HS) and Jenny Kimbro on her inside. Brown made up the stagger coming out of the turn. McClain sensed that and made a final surge with 50 meters to go. That was the difference for her third state championship of the day. Her time of 25.32 was fifteen hundredths ahead of Brown. Kimbro and McClain’s teammate Emily Neuhauser finished 3-4. The sixteen points that Sullivan scored on that event was enough to catapult them into third place.

In last year’s state meet, Kimbro only competed in the two hurdle races winning them both. During the indoor season, she started racing more in the 200 Meter Dash and competing in the Long Jump. There was a chance that Sidell Jamaica perhaps could win a trophy. In Charleston, Kimbro did get points finish third in that 200 and fifth in the Long Jump. She defended her both hurdle championships in resounding fashion. She showed that she is the top 1A athlete in the two events and one of the best in the state as well.

Kimbro got off to a great start in the 100 Hurdles and did not look back. She crossed the line with a new 1A record 14.23. She was just as dominant in the 300 Hurdles. She pulled away at 150 meters and rolled to her second straight championship. He ran the fastest time in the state (42.75) and a new 1A meet record (42.75). What was lost in the two Kimbro wins were the strong races by Annie Carlson (Westmont HS) in the hurdles. She finished second in both races running a personal best 15.01 in the 100 Hurdles and 44.59 in the 300 Hurdles. She also earned all-state honors by finishing third in the Triple Jump and seventh in the 200 Meter Dash.

Sidell Jamaica’s Kattie Witte and Abby Nicholson finished second and third in the Discus. That gave Jamaica the team lead with 47 points heading into the final event.

Illini West had the fastest prelim time in the 1600 Relay by two seconds ahead of Eureka. All that Illini West would have to do is finish fourth or better in the race to capture their first state championship. A fifth place finish would put them into a tie. A strong anchor leg by Mariah Brodie gave the team the win (3:59.92) by two seconds ahead of Newton. Eureka was another two seconds back in third place.

Brodie was the workhorse for her team Saturday afternoon as she was part of 32 of the team’s 52 points.  She ran 2:20.27 to place third in the 800 Meter Run. She ran anchor leg on the 400 Meter Relay that finished second and anchor on the 800 relay that finished third. Carly Garnett also was a double point scorer for the team finishing fifth in the 3200 Meter Run and eight in the 1600 Meter Run. Michaela Gronewold was part of the relays and also finished eighth in the 100 Meter Dash. Megan McElroy also scored six points for Illini West in the Discus.

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Anna Sophia Keller (St. Anthony HS, Effingham) completed the seasonal distance triple crown winning the 3200 Meter Run and the 1600 Meter Run. The 3200 eluded her last year. She was not going to let that happen again. She was pushed the first five laps by Daly Galloway (Dwight HS). The two went through the first 1600 in 5:24. With 1100 meters to go, Galloway’s arm swing started to rise signifying she was getting tired. Keller continued to push the pace. Galloway stayed close but could not make up that gap. Keller crossed the line (10:42.93) four seconds ahead of Galloway (10:46.97).

Adrienne and Maria Baruer (PORTA HS, Petersburg) were both waiting for Keller in the 1600 Meter Run. They both helped their team finish third in the 3200 Relay. They pushed the pace from the gun. With a little more than a lap to go, Keller took the lead trying to pull away from Maria and Adrienne. Coming around the final curve, Maria Brauer made a final move on Keller. She sensed that barely held off the PORTA junior. Keller just edged Maria by twenty six hundredths of a second (5:03.19 – 5:03.45). Adrienne Brauer ran 5:05.96 to finished third. Daly Galloway completed a great double by running 5:09.28 to finish fourth.

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Cassie Mundekis (Midwest Central HS, Manito) was boxed in a pack less than 200 meters into the finals of the 800 Meter Run. She broke out of it going through the curve and took off from there. She pulled away to a four second win (2:15.32) ahead of Audrey Harrod (Hinckley-Big Rock). It was the third straight state championship for Mundekis in this event. She came back 45 minutes later to finish second in the 400.

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The rest of the competition ran out of attempts when Morgan Zacharias (Reed Custer HS, Braidwood) started competing at 12-0 in the Pole Vault. The defending state champion cleared 12-0 on her first attempt to win the state championship. The same thing happened when she cleared 12-6 on the first attempt. She had the bar raised to 13-0 and cleared that to break her own 1A meet record. She then set her sights on the IHSA state record of 13-5 that was set last year by Harrisburg’s Lindsey Murray. Her first two attempts were good ones just knocking off the cross bar. The third attempt was not that good. She still had the second state championship.

She had qualified also for the 300 Meter Hurdles finals. What was incredible was that she ran this highly technical race for the first time in the sectional meet qualifying for state. The second race qualified her for the finals. She earned all-state honors in that event finishing ninth.

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KD Young (Warrensburg Latham HS) once again swept both 1A weigh events. She improved her prelim mark in the finals establishing a new 1A meet record with a 48-10 ¼ put. There was no improvement in the Discus, but she still won the event by twelve feet with a 143-11 throw. 

Karissa Roman (Wethersfield HS, Kewanee) cleared 5-6 as well as Tessa Holland (Fieldcrest HS, Minonk). Roman won her second straight state championship winning on fewer misses.  Nichryia Byrd (Ogden International, Chicago) defended her championship in the Triple Jump with a 38-11 ¾ jump. She won by more than two feet ahead of Lexi Wilkinson (Seneca HS). Mariah Woods (Seton Academy, South Holland) surged past Natasha Brown in the final 20 meters to win the 100 Meter Dash by seven hundredths of a second (12.36 -43). Kaitlyn Pearson (Elgin Academy) was only two hundredths back in third place.

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Hannah Stone (Tolono Unity HS) came from behind in the final 800 meters to edge past Deer Creek Mackinaw in the final 200 meters to help Unity win the 3200 Relay (9:40.68 – 9:41.48). Luther North showed their dominance in the sprint relays winning the 400 Meter Relay (49.27) more than a half a second ahead of Illini West. The margin was bigger in the 800 Meter Relay as they ran a season’s best 1:42.84 to defeat St. Joseph-Ogden by more than two seconds.