2023 IHSA State Track & Field Championships – Class 1A Girls Meet Storylines

By Michael Newman

First time for this quad for Pope County’s Comer

Ahry Comer of Pope County was a first year track athlete in 2022. No one told her that a triple in the distance races at the IHSA State Meet was tough to accomplish. Nevertheless, she went out and finished second in the 3200 Meter Run, came back to win the 800 Meter Run, and then gutted out the 1600 Meter Run where she finished ninth overall. Not a bad triple under stormy conditions.

Comer took it one stage higher heading into this weekend’s state meet. The junior again qualified for state in the three distance events at the DuQuoin Sectional not having to push in those events. The surprise is that she ran the third fastest time in Class 1A winning the 400 Meter Dash with a 58.01 time.

I do not remember seeing anyone trying to compete at state in those four events. It is something that she could accomplish to get out of the Thursday prelims. She will have Friday to recover to get to Championship Saturday. Comer also has the fastest time this year in the field in the 800 Meter Run with a 2:12.97 time at the Keith Hall Invitational in April. She went under five-minutes two weeks ago in her conference meet with a Class 1A leading time of 4:59.69. She has raced in the 3200 Meter Run twice this season. Once in April (11:12.20) and then in sectionals where she did not run all-out. She has the seventh seeded time coming out of sectionals.

Not one runner has been all-state in those four events at the same state meet. Comer has a good chance to become the first athlete to accomplish that feat.

Triple distance qualifiers welcome a freshman to the group

I wrote at the beginning of the season about the athletes that qualified in all three distance events in the state meet. We have already discussed what lies ahead for Ahry Comer in this weekend’s state meet. Kennady Anderson of Kewanee Wethersfield again accomplished the feat at the Farmington Sectional last Wednesday finishing second in the 320 Meter Run, 800 Meter Run, and placing third in the 1600 Meter Run. In last year’s state meet , she finished third, sixth, and fourth in those three events.

Emily Downing of Cambridge is the newest into the “three distance events at state” club. This freshman stepped into the spotlight in a big way this season. Downing has a chance to earn all-state status in all three. She currently has the tenth fastest time this spring in the 3200 Meter Run (11:37.00). She won the 800 Meter Run at the Farmington Sectional (2:21.99) just ahead of Anderson and then came back to win the 1600 Meter Run. What will make her first state meet experience even busier is that she will most likely anchor the Spartans in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Cambridge finished second behind Eureka in the sectional race and currently has the sixth fastest time in Class 1A.

The possibility is there that she could scratch out of one the four events. She only races in three events during Thursday’s preliminary session. She will be back on the track at 11:00 AM Saturday morning if her teams qualifies for the 4x800m Relay finals.

Patterson takes over for Tuscola

Tuscola will look to defend their Class 1A Team State Championship this weekend on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. A lot of that had to do with the 37 points that Alyssa Williams accounted for in their state championship. Williams has graduated and is now in college. The one athlete that has stepped up into Williams’ leadership role has been Lia Patterson.

The sophomore had an outstanding state meet as a freshman finishing fifth in the 100 Meter Hurdles, third in the 300 Meter Hurdles, and second in the 200 Meter Dash as well as being a part of the quartet that won the 4x200 Meter Relay. Patterson will again be busy in Charleston qualifying in four individual events that could lead to four state championships and possibly hardware for her team. Patterson will be one of the three top seeds in the 100 Meter Hurdles. She will then come right back in the 100 Meter Dash where she is one of five runners last week that ran 12.50 or faster. She will be one of the favorites in the 300 Meter Hurdles. Her final event of the meet is the 200 Meter Dash where seeded second she will look to improve on last year’s state performance at this distance.

Johnston steps up for search in four wins

If it is not Lia Patterson that steps into the sprints spotlight in Saturday’s state finals, it could be Lindley Johnston’s time to shine. The Stark County senior served notice at Illinois Top Times in March she would be someone to contend with after winning both the 200 Meter Dash and the 400 Meter Dash as well as finishing fifth in the High Jump. Injuries slowed her down at the end of last season. Johnston has put that aside focusing on what she could accomplish this weekend. She left the Farmington Sectional with wins in the 100 Meter Dash, 200 Meter Dash, and High Jump last Wednesday. She did finish second in the 400 Meter Dash in that sectional meet but ran the second fastest 1A time in the state (57.81). Johnston has cleared 5-5 this season and will also contend for the High Jump.

This is the final high school race for Johnston. She should leave  Charleston with a ton of memories and perhaps some state championship medals also.

Sprint triple quest could come for Vahling

Kaitlyn Vahling of Teutopolis was one of the up and comping Class 1A sprinters in the state in 2022. The then sophomore earned three all-state medals finishing fourth in the 100 Meter Dash and the 400 Meter Dash as well as finishing fifth in the 200 Meter Dash. Vahling is back and will again challenge for three all-state medals with her sights set higher up on the podium. Vahling has the top seed time in the 100 Meter Dash. She has the fastest 1A time in the state in that event (12.12). Vahling also has the fastest time in the state in Class 1A (25.27) in the 200 Meter Dash. She currently is ranked #6 this season in the 400 Meter Dash.

There are two athletes that could also leave Charleston with three all-state medals. Kaylin Moreland of Macon Meridian is a good bet to achieve that as she is ranked #3 in Class 1A in the 100, fourth in the 200, and ninth in the 400 Meter Dash. The biggest surprise in the 1A sprints is Daniella Bumber of Henry-Senachwine who had a great sectional meet last week at Farmington. The freshman ran the fastest 1A time (57.50) in the state and will be favorite in the 400 Meter Dash. She also could finish in the top five in both the 100 Meter Dash and 200 Meter Dash.

Father McGivney looks to stop Winnebago’s three-peat in the 4x8

Two teams stand out ahead of the rest of the field in the 4x800m Relay in Class 1A. Winnebago enters this meet looking for their third straight Class 1A state championship in this event. Father McGivney finished second in this event behind Bago by almost 15 seconds. Father McGivney is hungry for a title. When asked if she would double in two individual events at state after Illinois Top Times, sophomore Elana Rybak responded that she would defend her title in the 1600 Meter Run but was hungry for the crown in the 4x8.

The two schools have raced against each other once during the season. Winnebago pulled away from the field early in the race with Grace Erb anchoring the team to the win (9:36.29) with Father McGivney closing the gap in the anchor leg by Rybak to finish second (9:43.89). No teams were within 20 seconds of these two powerhouses in that meet. I doubt there will be anyone close to these two quartets this Saturday.

Both teams are talented. This is the last time around the track together for seniors Erb, Marissa Roggensack, and Kaylee Woolery and they would like to go out with a third win. Morgan Capriola has given Bago a boost. She ran a 2:32 split at Top Times. Last week in their home sectional, she finished second behind Erb running 2:23 to qualify individually. Winnebago needs to gap themselves from the rest of the field to get the third win.

Father McGivney has a state leading time of 9:33.61 and is just two seconds ahead of Winnebago (9:35.25). The trio of Kaitlyn Hatley, Jane Cummins, and Lily Gilbertson need to stay close to the lead when they hand off the baton to Rybak. Her split in last year’s finals was 2:11.8 and will need that kind of anchor to give the Griffins the win.

Distance Notes

While we have talked about the athletes earlier in this article that will be tripling in the distances, the favorites in the three races could make it difficult for those multi events athletes to triple to win. Molly Farrell of Marshall is just a freshman. She has proved this spring that she is one of the elite runners in this state. Farrell easily won at Illinois Top Times in March. It was her race at Distance Night in Palatine where she ran against the top runners in all three classes finish in third (10:37.51) in the 2-Mile Run. She enters the meet with the fastest time in Class 1A by almost 20 seconds. Kate Foltz of Tuscola was the runner that stayed the closest to Farrell at Illinois Top Times. She is the only runner in the state field that has run under 11-minutes. Ahry Comer of Pope County and Kennady Anderson of Wethersfield finished 2-3 in last year’s finals. You can expect both to challenge for a top three finish. Eden Mueller of Mercer County ran the fastest time in sectionals (11:05.06). She will be challenging up front Saturday in Charleston. Arianna Nielsen of Liberty has run 11:03 this season and will be a factor in this race.

Ahry Comer is the defending champion in the 800 Meter Run. She has the second fastest time in the state behind Elana Rybak who did not run in this race at sectionals. Comer does have a four second gap ahead of Kaitlyn Hatley of Father McGivney. Trixie Johnson of Paxton-Buckley-Loda and Grace Erb of Winnebago are the only other runners in this field that have run under 2:21. Evelyn O’Connor of Seneca will also be a threat up front.

Elana Rybak of Father McGivney pulled away in the third lap and destroyed the field in winning the state title last year in the 1600 Meter Run. Comer ran 4:59.69 with the Class 1A fastest time in the event. How much will Comer have in the tank when she steps to the line after running three races? Grace Mullin of Chicago Christian and Kaylee Woolery of Winnebago will both be coming back from the 4x800. Both runners could make some noise in this race. Molly Farrell will be doubling back from the 1600 Meter Run. She too could be a factor up front in this race.

Relay Notes

The 4x400m Relay is the race to watch at the end of a meet especially in teams in that final’ race are challenging for a state title. That should be the same situation when we conclude the 1A meet. Winnebago will get big points challenging for their third straight win in the 4x800m Relay. They enter as one of the favorites in the 4x400 Meter Relay along with Seneca. Both teams are chasing for a state team title. Both have 4:02 times in this event this spring. Teams like Eureka, Monmouth United, and Father McGivney all have times five seconds behind the front two squads and could also challenge for the win.

Rockford Christian should score in all three of the sprint relays. The Royal Lions and Monmouth United are the only teams under 50 seconds this season in the 4x100m Relay. Seneca and Eureka had good sectional races and will be un the hunt for the win in that event. Seneca, Monmouth Christian, and Rockford Christian are the only teams under 1:46 in the 4x200m Relay. It should be those three schools that challenge for the win.

Field Events Notes

Anna Bruno of Seneca is one of the reasons why the Irish will contend for a state team title. Bruno has been the hot athlete in the Class 1A Long Jump all season. Bruno jumped 5.65m early in the season. She has a state leading sectional mark of 5.48m leading the field in the event. Cassidy Short of Sullivan jumped 5.32m at Okaw Valley. She has been behind Bruno all season. This could be the meet that she moves in the front. Laurel Munson of Eureka, Josie Bryan of Illini West, and Madison Kacevicius of Greenview should also be watched for.

The Triple Jump should come down to Kelsey Hutchins of Sherrard as the favorite. She jumped 11.55m at the Erie Sectional. That was the leading mark in Class 1A this spring.

The Pole Vault should be a wild event especially after Reagan Gibson of Indian Creek cleared a 1A leading 3.81m to win at the Erie Sectional last week. Payton Carter if St. Joseph-Ogden cleared 3.66m and will challenge for the title. Livia Binder of Maroa-Forsyth cleared the same height almost three weeks ago. She is the defending champion in this event looking for another state title. Audrey Phillips of El-Paso Gridley and Kiara Wesseh of Newark had the top two sectional performances last week. Phillips at 1.66m and Wesseh at 1.65m lead the way in the event. Wesseh finished second at state last year and will look to go step further. She leads Class 1A this season with a 1.70m best.

Laney Lester of Henry-Senachwine had a state and sectional leading performance last week at Farmington with a 12.33m best. Amanda Gustafson of Winnebago could get her team big points in this event. Jazzi Hicks of Cerro Gordo-Bement is within 2 centimeters of Lester this season and could challenge for the state title. Lester leads all competitors after sectionals with a 40.47m throw. She has the best overall season throw of 42.43m in a meet in April.