Historic double win by Gilling in 100 and 200; Mitchell with back to back wins in the weight events; Bieber wins 300 Hurdles for third straight year.

Photo: Ashanti Denton after her win in the 400 Meter Dash (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Charleston, Ill – Good things happen to those who wait and work through a process to get to the point of where they want to go through.  Perseverance and the lessons learned on that journey lead you to big things.

Such was the case for the Homewood-Flossmoor Girls Track & Field Team. After second-place finishes in the last two state meets and a slow start on Saturday, the Lady Vikings came alive to capture their first 3A state team championship with 59.5 points. Thornwood scored 42 points to finish second. Glenbard West, behind Katelynne Hart’s historic three distance wins (see article) scored 39 points to finish third.

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“It was disappointing to get second (the last two years),” Kaylah McCall told Bob Narang of the Daily Southtown. Alicia Adams also told Narang “We had to let go and focus on this year.”

Homewood-Flossmoor had 15 qualifiers for the finals Saturday at O’Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois University.

It looked like the same old story when they stepped onto the track for the 400 Meter Relay. A fumbled first exchange between McCall and Adams ended their hopes for an event win. They were disqualified for being out of the exchange zone. Belleville East won the state title (47.65) ahead of Bloom Township (47.86) and Whitney Young (48.04).

The team just shrugged it off and moved on.

They started with McCall in the 100 Meter Hurdles. The junior ran a personal best 13.92 to finish second behind the win from Bolingbrook’s Kayla Walters who achieved a personal best of 13.75. All times in that race were wind-aided (3.6 m/s), Hunter finished eighth (14.88) to get the Lady Vikings two points. McCall came back on tough double to finish eighth in the 100 Meter Dash (12.16).

Homewood-Flossmoor came on strong in the 800 Meter Relay. The quartet of McCall, Adams, Trelyn Newkirk, and Aleka White to run 1:40.17 to win the state title. They held off Belleville East (1:40.91) and Bloom Township (1:41.01).

Their team titled was figuratively locked in at the conclusion of the 400 Meter Dash. Ashanti Denton came from behind to catch two-time state champion in the event Dajour Miles of West Aurora in the final 20-meters to claim the state title as her own. Denton ran a personal best of 54.45 to win the title ahead of Miles (55.27), Janii Jenkins of Warren Township (55.36), and Mikenna Robinson of Neuqua Valley (55.38). Amaiya Barnes earned a point for her team by finishing ninth (58.93).

White (25.05) and Newkirk (25.08) finished seventh and eighth in the 200 Meter Dash. The Lady Vikings finished the day on the track with a convincing win in the 1600 Meter Relay. The quartet of Alexandria Edison, Ayah Mustafa, Denton, and Barnes took the lead on the second leg and never looked back in running 3:49.92 for the win. Lincoln-Way East (3:55.53) and New Trier (3:55.90) finished second and third.

Most of the points by the Lady Vikings were on the track. They did score 11.5 points in two field events. Trinity Daniels took the lead in the Triple Jump on her final attempt (40-7.25). Defending champion Riley Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley followed by achieving a personal best (40-11.50) to win her second straight state championship. Madison Myrick tied for sixth in the High Jump clearing 5-7.

Thornwood’s second-place total had 29 of their 42 points scored in two weight events. Jasmine Mitchell had a great weekend winning her third and fourth state championships in back to back fashion. Mitchell defended her title in the Shot Put with a 47-2.50 put to win the event ahead of Plainfield South’s Miranda Cadwell (44-01.50). Mitchell’s teammate Morgan Reed finished third (43-10.25) in the event. Mitchell also defended her crown in the Discus (145-11) ahead of Machesney Park Harlem’s Catie Daily (133-9). Reed earned all-state honors by finishing eighth (125-11).

If the three wins by Hart in the distances weren’t the highlights of the 3A meet, then it would have been the fast sprint double achieved by Highland Park’s Taylor Gilling. The University of Wisconsin-Madison signee moved away from the pack at 60-meters to run the third fastest time ever in Illinois for the 100 Meter Dash under any conditions. Her state title win of 11.32 also surpassed the state meet record but the race was over the allowable limit of 2.0 meters per second. (Race wind was +4.5 m/s). Ameia Wilson of Danville ran 11.55 to finish second ahead of Crete-Monee’s Lyn’Nikka Vance (11.65).

Gilling’s title race in the 200 Meter Dash was just as impressive. Again, Gilling pulled away from the field in running 23.10 (+5.6 m/s) again ahead of Wilson (23.57) and Vance (24.00).

Vance did win a state championship in the Long Jump. The senior jumped a personal best 20-5.75 to win the title ahead of Wilson (20-2.75) and Belleville West’s La’Qwasia Stepney (20-2.25).

Halle Bieber of Naperville North did not have the race she wanted when she finished ninth in the 100 Meter Hurdles. She changed that in the 300 Meter Hurdles. Bieber made up the stagger on the field by 120-meters on her way to a third straight state title (43.78) more than a second ahead of Thornwood’s Arryona Simmons (44.81).

Marne Sullivan took the lead in the final 100-meters to give New Trier the win in the 3200 Meter Relay (9:11.70) finishing ahead of Hoffman Estates (9:12.26) and Lyons Township (9:14.14).

Grace Dunn of Wauconda cleared 5-7 to win her second straight title in the High Jump. Jennelle Rogers of Oswego and Annika Bynum of Warren Township both cleared 5-6 in finishing second and third. Maddy Smith of Ottawa cleared a personal best of 11-9 to claim the state title in the Pole Vault. Abigail Kuhn of West Aurora and Kelsey Rothas of Lake Zurich both cleared 11-6 and tied for second.