First day produces plenty of surprises

CHARLESTON -- Meeting expectations is great for any athlete. Exceeding them is special.

Kaneland's Lindsay Gierke, West High's Shanice Andrews and Geneva's 3200 relay team of Kat Yelle, Kelly Whitley, Myra Yelle and Tess Ehrhardt were all special Friday at O' Brien Stadium.

They headline a group of area athletes who advanced to today's finals in 18 events in Class AA and two in Class A at the IHSA girls state track meet.

Gierke, who advanced to the finals in three of her four events, was ranked 26th coming into the 100-meter preliminaries but won her heat running in the outside (8th) lane to automatically advance.

"I didn't know how I was doing," said Gierke, who agreed it might be like a horse running with blinders.

"I think it's good for me (to run outside) because I don't see what's going on. Maybe I should wear sunglasses, too."

Andrews improved upon her sectional-qualifying long jump by nearly two feet, improving from 16-5 to 18-5¼. It ranks her third.

"I don't know how I did it," said the Blackhawks' super soph, who failed to qualify in the 100 hurdles and two of the team's three relays.

"It felt like a good jump but I thought it was 17-something."

And the Vikings' young relay team that features three freshmen and a sophomore beat the top-seeded Barrington team that had beaten them three straight times, including by nearly 25 seconds at sectional.

Kat Yelle ran the lead 800 meters.

"My goal was to latch onto the Barrington (lead) runner and not let her get away," she said of her shadowing technique. Whitley did the same on the second leg and Myra Yelle surprised even herself by taking the lead during her two laps.

"When I passed her I was like, what am I doing? I'm probably going to regret this, but she ended up not catching Tess," she said.

Ehrhardt held the lead, but not without a fight from the Barrington and Prospect anchors. They were neck-and-neck through much of their two laps but Ehrhardt pulled away with a kick over the final 100 meters.

"I was surprised to get the baton with the lead but I felt like I had to hold onto it after what everybody else did," said Ehrhardt. "We've never beaten them before so it should help our confidence when we run tomorrow."

Ehrhardt and Whitley then scratched from the 1600 meters to save themselves for the relay final. So did Oswego's Christine Sliepka, who is saving herself for today's 3200, which has no prelim.

The biggest surprise, though, was Waubonsie Valley's Shakeia Pinnick scratching from the 800. She was third in it last year.

"I wanted to focus on the (300) hurdles so I could go into them fresh," she said, winning her heat despite "stuttering (with her steps between hurdles) badly."

Pinnick and Batavia's Natalie Tarter will go head-to-head in both hurdles finals.

The Bulldog junior leads the area contingent, qualifying in four events. She also made it in the 100 and ran a leg of Batavia's top-ranked 1600 relay that includes pole vault qualifier Kathryn Warner and 800 qualifier Alexis Sampson.

Melissa Norville also qualified for the triple jump final, giving Batavia an area-best seven finalists.