PREP GIRLS TRACK: IHSA CLASS GRAYSLAKE NORTH SECTIONAL

Oops! County's fastest runner misses race

May 10, 2008By DARREN DAY dday@scn1.com

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GRAYSLAKE -- The story of Friday's IHSA Class AA Grayslake North Sectional girls track meet wasn't so much who ran in the track portion of the meet, as it was who did not.

Some of the area's top competitors did not compete in events they had dominated throughout the season for various reasons.

STATE QUALIFIERS

GRAYSLAKE NORTH SECTIONAL

Team Results -- 1) Zion-Benton 63; 2) Lakes 58; 2) Libertyville 58; 4)Warren 53; 5) Lake Zurich 48; 6) Grant 45; 7) Antioch 41; 8) Mundelein 40; 8) North Chicago 40; 10) Richmond-Burton 23; 11) Vernon Hills 22; 12) McHenry 21; 13) Carmel 20; 14) Lake Forest 14; 15) Waukegan 8; 16) Grayslake Central 2; 16) Round Lake 2.

Individual State Qualifiers

1,600 relay -- 1) Lakes (Shanna Hertz, Tatianna Forney, Melissa Lewis, Ariel Butzine) 4:06.35; 2) Carmel (Hillary Halford, MaryBeth Berg, Shannon Howell, Stephanie Richartz) 4:07.35.

3,200 relay -- 1) Libertyville (Lisa Branding, Alyssa Corrigan, Sarah Farish, Anne Strychalski) 9:42.44; 2) Lake Forest (Sophie England, Sam Schulte, Brittany Mitchell, Lily Barrie) 9:49.42.

400 relay -- 1) (Carnesha Johnson, Laquesha Booker, Dominikque Williams, Aireonna Bailey) 49.52; 2) North Chicago (Sarah Walker, Christiana Noonan, Taneka Beard, Ryan McMurtry) 49.83; 3) Warren (DeNitra Brown, Sarah Koehn, Marla Pettis, JonTaye Bonds) 50.06.

3,200 run -- 1) Lindsey Wilkins (RB) 11:12.5; 2) Rachael Dean (LKS) 11:22.48; 3) Danielle Dickman (VH) 11:25.12; 4) Erin Poss (ANT) 11:25.34; 5) Hannah

Reilly (LB) 11:25.93 .

100 -- 1) Aireonna Bailey (ZB) 12.41; 2) JonTaye Bonds (WAR) 12.63.

100 hurdles -- 1) Melissa Lewis (LKS) 15.38; 2) Chelsea Grant (MUND) 15.56.

800 run -- 1) Ariel Butzine (LKS) 2:17.23; 2) Kendra Kennedy (GRT) 2:17.76; 3) Sarahbeth Jones (WAR) 2:19.73; 4) Anne Stychalski (LB) 2:20.30.

800 relay -- 1) Zion-Benton (Carnesha Johnson, Simone Ramsey, Dominikque Williams, Aireonna Bailey) 1:45.46; 2) North Chicago (Sarah Walker, Taneka Beard, Christiana Noonan, Whitney Nickens) 1:47.26.

400 -- 1) Ryan McMurtry (NC) 59.34; 2) Marissa Wagner (LZ) 59.98.

300 hurdles -- 1) Alyssa Corrigan (LB) 46.26; 2) Erin Schoenfelder (ANT) 46.9.

1,600 run -- 1) Heather Olson (WAR) 5:03.75; 2) Lindsey Wilkins (RB) 5:19.74.

200 dash -- 1) Olivia Allen (LZ) 25.15; 2) Aireonna Bailey (ZB) 25.35.

Long jump -- 1) Ashley Conway (McH) 17-6.75; 2) Brittany Simmons (ZB) 17-6.

High jump -- 1) Ashley Conway (McH) 5-3; 2) Melissa Lewis (LKS) 4-11.

Triple jump -- 1) Crimea Baker (MUND) 35-9.75; 2) Brittany Simmons (ZB) 35-3.

Discus -- 1) Tori Ziegler (GRT) 146-1.5; 2) Bailey Wagner (GRT) 145-1.5; 3) Brianna Skeens (VH) 124-08; 4) Brittany Deem (ANT) 117-11.5.

Shot put -- 1) Bailey Wagner (GRT) 49-2; 20 Tori Ziegler (GRT) 44-3.5; 3) Jamie Rucks (VH) 38-10.5.

Pole vault -- 1) Katie Tunnicliff (LB) 9-6; 2) Jessica Long (ANT) 9-0.

The strangest occurrence came when Lake Zurich junior and top seed Olivia Allen missed the finals of the 100-meter dash when she was watching the discus competition some 300 yards away from the main track-stadium.

"It was just stupidity on my part," said Allen. "I thought had a 30-minute break before I ran, but I was wrong."

Allen bounced back to edge Zion-Benton senior and 100-dash winner Aireonna Bailey in the finals of the 200 dash, despite nursing a sore quad muscle. Both runners qualified for state, as the top two competitors in each event and others who meet qualifying standards earn a berth to next weekend's state meet in Charleston.

"Maybe it was better I didn't run the 100 because my leg is sore," said Allen after winning the 200 dash late in the meet. "Now, I can just concentrate on one race downstate."

That was Warren High junior Heather Olson's strategy when she bowed out of the 3,200 run early in the meet to concentrate on the 1,600 run later in the night. The strategy worked, as she won the race by almost 100 meters to post a season-best time of 5:03.75.

"I just want to focus on one event at state for the first time," said Olson, who finished sixth in the 1,600 run in last year's state meet. "Hopefully, I can get my time sub-five minutes and accomplish my goal of another medal in the mile."

Zion-Benton captured its first-ever sectional team title behind two sprint relay victories -- sparked by Bailey's spectacular anchor legs -- along with a pair of second-place finishes by Brittany Simmons in the long jump and triple jump.

Simmons' leap of 35-feet, 3 inches in the triple jump (the final event to wrap up on Friday night) gave the Zee-Bees the eight team points they needed for a 63-point total to edge Lakes and Libertyville, who both tied for second place with 58 points.

"This is awesome," said Zion coach Bob Strickland. Lakes had another solid meet, as sophomore Melissa Lewis and junior Ariel Butzine led the way for the Eagles. Lewis won the 100 hurdles, plus placed second in the high jump and ran a leg in Lakes' victorious 1,600 relay, while Butzine was the meet's winner in the 800 run and ran the anchor leg in the 1,600 relay.

Grant senior Tori Ziegler topped teammate Bailey Wagner to win the discus competition, as Ziegler finished with a season-best 146-1.5 throw. Wagner, who struggled in the prelims with two scratches, finished in second place at 145-1.5 -- almost 20 feet below her season-best.

Wagner bounced back to win the shot-put sectional title for the third straight year with a toss of 49-2, with Ziegler finishing in second place at 44-3.5.

Schedule & Results