It took five years before the reign of Lane Tech came to an end.  The Lady Indians did not go quietly though.  It wasn’t until the last event of the meet that coach Bob Geiger and his team knew for certain that they were the victors.  The Dolphins became just the fourth team in CPS history to win a title.  Only South Shore, Morgan Park, and Lane Tech had done so in nearly 30 years of meet history.  This time the Dolphins 129 points were good enough to hold off a resurgent Morgan Park squad who scored 127.5 pts and former champion Lane with a respectable 125 pts.  The talented Dolphins used star power as well as role players in securing the historic victory.  Ace Raena Rhone won her trademark 400m, placed second in the 4x1 relay, 200m, and anchored the 4x4 relay to victory.  Devyn Thompson and Lavinia Jurkiewicz also added to the victory totals for the Dolphins.


800m medley-
Morgan Park 1:52.18 [59.2- anchor]
Whitney Young 1:53.46
Hyde Park 1:54.80
Summary: the CPS is the only league in the state that runs this outdated event.  It should not come as a surprise that coach Calhoun likes it.  Morgan Park has dominated this event for ages and once again the Mustangs put together a solid foursome.  Breonna Green pulled away on the anchor leg and held off Whitney Young.

4x800m relay-
Whitney Young 10:06.26 [2:43.3, 2:25.1, 2:26.9, 2:30.7]
Lane Tech 10:35.28
Northside Prep 10:37.76
Summary: Whitney Young actually trailed after the first leg.  The deficit was quickly made up by second leg runner Maisie Vaschuska who caught Northside Prep before the end of the first lap, and it was smooth sailing afterwards.  Anchor Devyn Thompson totally cruised to nearly a half lap ahead of Lane Tech, who just got by Northside in the final stages for second.




4x100m relay-
Morgan Park 49.06
Whitney Young 50.92
Harper 52.34
Summary: the Mustangs proved all year they have the four best short sprinters and that fact was pretty event from the gun.  Whitney Young made it appear closer than it was with Raena Rhone on anchor.


3200m-
Lavinia Jurkiewicz (Whitney Young) 11:20.37 [2:47.0, 4:11.7, 5:40.2, 7:11.8, 8:41.9. 10:07.0, 11:20.37]
Aden Alemu (Mather) 11:23.94 PB [2:47.0, 4:11.5, 5:40.1, 7:11.9, 8:42.0, 10:07.0, 11:23.94]
Rachel Joravsky (Whitney Young) 11:52.02
Summary: the Public League has come around to be very respectable from its top end long distance runners.  Jurkiewicz and Alemu are the biggest contributors of this fact.  They have hit the state standard several times and on this occasion locked horns on a great duel.  The opening pace was modest as neither one wanted to take it out hard in blustery and unseasonably cool temperatures.  It wasn’t until after the first mile that the pace began to increase and liven.  Jurkiewicz and Alemu took multiple turns in pacing and occasionally trying to surge.  Finally, on the last lap Jurkiewicz pulled away in full sprint mode for the victory.



100H-
Kawanna Brooks (Kenwood) 15.10
Ciana Tabb (Morgan Park) 15.37
Desiree Murray (Lane Tech) 16.42
Summary: Brooks won as expected in one of her better events.   Tabb improved nicely from 2008 as did Murray.

100m-
Kellion Gordon (Mather) 12.22
Tiffany Edwards (Morgan Park) 12.53
Shanek Telphia (Gage Park) 12.77
Summary: Gordon became the new sprint queen of the CPS with a blowout victory over a solid field.  Gordon wasted absolutely no time as she exploded out of the blocks for the victory.

800m-
Devyn Thompson (Whitney Young) 2:19.89 [69.0]
Nyala Eddings (Morgan Park) 2:20.98
Kat Molloy (Peyton Prep) 2:21.64 [69.0]
Summary: Thompson and Molloy went out strong and left the field in its wake.  Thompson was the front runner though until Molloy moved swiftly and passed her with about 200m to go.  This attack would prove catastrophic as Molloy ran out of gas and Thompson reasserted herself with 100m to go.  Eddings dashed on the outside of the faded Molloy and into second place.  Thompson held off Eddings for the strategic victory and defended her title.

4x200m relay-
Whitney Young 1:47.32
Morgan Park 1:47.33
Harper 1:49.78
Summary: Young came back on the last leg to sting Morgan Park, the pre-race favorite.  In fact, the Mustangs still have one of the top 10 fastest marks in the state (1:44.95).  One can only wonder if they took a gamble they could win without their top guns.


400m-
Raena Rhone (Whitney Young) 56.81
Porsha Irvin (Whitney Young) 58.38
Tiffany Edwards (Morgan Park) 59.04
Summary: it was Whitney Young and Morgan Park that swept the first four slots.  Rhone broke stagger early, but a surprising Irvin wasn’t terribly far behind.  It was Rhone and Irvin coming off the final curve- Rhone in complete command and her teammate solidly in second through to the finish line.  Edwards hit the line in a swift third.  Her teammate Kirsten Bryant placed 4th in 1:00.30.  In fact, the top five finishers surprised the Dyestat Illinois leaderboard qualifying mark of 1:01.34.

300H-
Ciana Tabb (Morgan Park) 44.29- meet record/personal best
Kawanna Brooks (Kenwood) 45.96 PB
Chequia Wesley (Mather) 47.84
Summary: how ironic was it to have the record holder and the person that beat you pretty handily in attendance?  Former Lane Tech star Morgan Monroe, now at Purdue University, was in fact watching the race rather closely.  Tabb went out and did her best Monroe dominance and the result was a smashing of her once thought invincible record of 45.17.  Brooks got the runner-up spot and Lane’s heir apparent Desi Murray was 4th.

1600m-
Lavinia Jurkiewicz (Whitney Young) 5:14.26 PB [72.4, 2:38.5, 3:58.6]
Aden Alemu (Mather) 5:15.37 PB [72.0, 2:38.3, 3:58.6]
Rachel Joravsky (Whitney Young) 5:25.13
Summary: this was one of the fastest races in CPS history and once again it was a duel between Jurkiewicz and Alemu.  Once again they separated from the packed and settled who was the best amongst themselves each step of the way.  Alemu must have had it in the back of her head because she clearly tried to push matters, and for awhile it appeared as if she would prevail, as judged by the look of painful facial expressions by Jurkiewicz.  But Jurkiewicz has the heart of a champion and when it was time to win she kick hard the last 200m and it was over.

200m-
Kellion Gordon (Mather) 25.48 PB
Raena Rhone (Whitney Young) 25.58
Tiffany Edwards (Morgan Park) 25.78
Summary: the Public ran perhaps its best sprint race of the year here.  Gordon needed her best gear in winning against Rhone and Edwards.  It was the coming of the age of a new champion.

4x400m relay-
Whitney Young 4:03.07- meet record/season best [1:00.6, 1:02.5, 1:00.8, 57.3]
Morgan Park 4:03.11
Payton 4:18.94
Summary: the final event of the day goes down as the best 4x4 in meet history.  Morgan Park led first and then Whitney Young.  Everyone in attendance was there to watch Raena Rhone gazelle on the anchor- and that is exactly what the swift sophomore did with the stick.  However, her carry was not smooth sailing.  It was evident that she was a little gassed from running the 200m.  The Mustang anchor Breonna Green got even with Rhone late on the home stretch, but somehow with determination Rhone held her off by the slimmest of margins.

Shot Put/Discus-
Jazzmyne Durrah (Lane Tech) 34-3/105-3
Recap: Durrah is in her second year but she is a newcomer in the sense that this is her first year competing on the varsity level.  She now has two more years to improve.

High Jump-
Bridgette Jones (Lane Tech) 5-0
Recap: Bridgette and her twin sister Brittany cleared 5-0 and finished out there senior years 1-2.

LJ/Triple jump-
Kawanna Brooks (Kenwood) 18-6.25/38-4
Recap: Brooks goes down as the best combo jumper in CPS history.  Both of her marks are #1 in Class AA