IHSA Illinois Girls State Championship
Friday-Saturday, May 19-20, 2006 - O'Brien Stadium, Charleston IL
Results from ihsa.org - FAT, with wind readings
Summary for DyeStat from Tony Jones, IllinoisPrepTopTimes.com
Class A Day One - Class A Day Two - Class AA Day One - Class AA Day Two
Evanston Twp. sr Shalina Clarke's Quadruple Leads Her School to Class AA Crown!
Other Highlights
Class AA Girls
Class A Girls
2006 State Final Highlights
Evanston made history with their fourth consecutive state championship Saturday on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, taking the AA crown. There have only been two other teams with such distinction: E. St. Louis Lincoln (9 titles) and Chicago Morgan Park (4). Evanston is often thought of as the Shalina Clarke and Demeca Hill show. In actuality, they are a true team. Clarke and Hill understand they have to forgo individual glory at times for the team. These are the things that define dynasty teams. The Wildkits put on a clinic by scoring in the field and track repeatedly.
Selected Summaries
800m medley relay: 1) Thornwood 1:44.61; 2) Hononegah 1:45.61; 3) Conant 1:46.46.
summary: Thornwood anchor Sequoia McKinney blazed a 55.5 leg to hold off a strong effort by Hononegah’s Sophia Ponce’s 54.3 leg. Ponce went from 5th to 2nd in the exciting race.
4x800 relay: 1) Wheaton North 9:07.89SR; 2) Palatine 9:09.72; 3) Edwardsville 9:19.38.
summary: there was talk of Palatine going after the state meet record- and they did- but no one thought about Wheaton North despite having a talented line up. The Huskies were down five seconds at the end of the first exchange but chipped away at the lead. The Huskie contingent finally got the lead on the third lap with Amanda Laesch running. Palatine made one last effort by Michelle Brunk on the anchor but she fell just short. Edwardsville ran well with solid early legs of 2:16.8 and 2:16.0 from Lia Saunders and Leah Bateman. Barrington initially finished 4th before being disqualified.
WN splits: 2:18.6, 2:17.4, 2:16.7, 2:15.2.
Palatine splits: 2:13.4, 2:18.9, 2:23.0, 2:14.2.
4x100 relay: 1) Evanston 47.69; 2) Thornton 47.85; 3) E. St. Louis 48.38.
summary: Evanston lead off leg Demeca Hill broke stagger at the end of her exchange and it was a wrap.
3200m: 1) Amy Laskowske (Palatine) 10:36.24[5:15.3]; 2) Lauren Haberkorn (Marist) 10:47.18; 3) Liz Phillips (Lockport) 1) 10:50.14.
summary: Laskowske won her third title in four years. This one may have been the toughest one to earn as several competitors attempted to dethrone the long distance track ace. First, it was Streamwood’s Nancy Nieto who attempted to run with Laskowske early on. Once coach Steve Currins yelled out to Laskowske to surge, she opened up a tremendous gap that Nieto couldn’t cover. Haberkorn would go on to put up a fight with three laps to go, but it was too little, too late when Laskowske ran the last 600m extremely hard.
100HH -0.5: 1) Shalina Clarke (Evanston) 13.75; 2) Egle Staisiunaite (Downers Grove South) 14.40; 3) Clarissa Rice (Thornton) 14.51.
summary: Clarke got out well and by the second hurdle it was over. Clarke yelled out loudly as she crossed the finish line. Her eyes were fixated on the scoreboard. The unofficial time read 13.38. It was for not for a disappointed Clarke who wanted a state record.
100m -1.6: 1) Clarke 11.99; 2) Demeca Hill (Evanston) 12.28; 3) Kiara Clark-Lewis (Rantoul) 12.32.
In less than ten minutes Clarke was back in the blocks. The venerable senior got out well with teammate Hill as the duo went 1-2.
800m: 1) Casey Short (Naperville Central) 2:10.87; 2) Ashley Verplank (Bloomington) 2:11.97; 3) Amanda Glow (Lake Zurich) 2:14.06.
summary: E. St. Louis’ Brittany Allen led the through the first 400m (30.0, 1:04.2) before falling behind a rush of girls. Short unexpectedly surged with just under 250m to go and caught Bloomington’s Ashley Verplank off guard. Verplank is a tremendous athlete with excellent leg speed. Short indicated that she was aware of how talented the field was and felt her move was perfect for her - and the win.
4x200 relay: 1) Evanston 1:38.67; 2) Barrington 1:40.46; 3) Thornton 1:40.66.
summary: the Wildkits once again used a super leadoff leg from Hill to overpower a great field. Barrington led a trio of teams that ran under 1:41. This was the deepest overall field in the history of the IHSA.
400m: 1) Sophia Ponce (Hononegah) 55.31; 2) Juliet Alrich (Dundee-Crown) 55.89; 3) Coryn Marzejon (Huntley) 56.13.
summary: “I have been dreaming of accepting [first place] since the beginning of the school year,” said the winner. Ponce, who is a great all-around athlete, trusted her abilities by going out very fast in the first half of the race. She raced out to a 25.7 the first 200 to win the race.
300LH: 1) Shalina Clarke (Evanston) 40.68; 2) Shakeia Pinnick (Waubonsie Valley) 43.61; 3) Nefeteri Williams (Proviso West) 43.84.
summary: Clarke was going for the national record one last time. It appeared close, but with a solid headwind, coupled with a misstep pattern, halted obtaining the record. Still, Clarke ran the No. 2 time in the country.
1600m: 1) Haley Staples (Crystal Lake Central) 4:56.96; 2) Lizzy Hynes (St. Charles East) 4:57.60; 3) Shannon Phelan (Naperville North) 4:58.84.
summary: the freshman Staples dogged the early leaders before taking over a relaxed field. The first 800m was almost pedestrian - just over 2:30 before Staples and another freshman Hynes were mired in battle that encompassed 700m. Staples finally sealed the victory on the homestretch.
200m: 1) Clarke 24.06; 2) Hill 24.64; 3) Clark-Lewis 24.81.
summary: Clarke and Hill capped off their IHSA careers going 1-2.
4x400m relay: 1) Edwardsville 3:51.72; 2) Evanston 3:53.01; 3) East St. Louis 3:54.46.
summary: Edwardsville took over the race on the 3rd leg and extended a soft lead to anchor Leah Bateman, who ran 57.3. It was an exciting time for the quartet from the deep south and some measure that there are fast girls other than ESL in the south.