Few remain alive at state finals

CHARLESTON - The Class AA Fox Valley contingent was thinned considerably in preliminaries of the 2008 girls track and field state meet at Eastern Illinois University on Friday.

On the positive side of the ledger, Jacobs senior Sarah Ross qualified for the finals of the pole vault, her specialty, Huntley's Krissy Bergquist reached the championship flight of the triple jump, Bartlett freshman Alyssa Schneider qualified for today's 1,600-meter race and Crystal Lake South's 3,200 relay team will run together one more time today.

Ross, who abdicated her spot in the 400-meter relay in order to concentrate on the pole vault, reached 10 feet, 9 inches on her first attempt to qualify for today's final flight. Ross has been clearing 12 feet in practice consistently.

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"I was a lot more motivated for pole vaulting than running," Ross said. "Hopefully, I'll get first or second. I'm seeded second."

Ross ran but did not qualify in the 100 dash (12.63) or the 200 (25.80). Without their anchor, the Jacobs 400-meter relay team of Katt Forssander, Krystal Grady, Aly Durkin and Lauren Lorusso, finished in a time of 52.78.

Bartlett's Schneider, a freshman, blew away her previous personal best time in the mile of 5:14 by finishing in 5:03.82.

"Oh my gosh, I am so happy," Schneider said between deep breaths after the race. "I was going for a sub 5:10. I went way past what I thought I could do."

Crystal Lake South's 3.200-meter relay team of freshmen Marianne Collard and Emily Lenzini, junior Stephanie Woods and senior Chelsey Tyllia, qualified for today's finals after turning in a time of 9:26.78.

Huntley's Bergquist was a bright spot for the Red Raiders. She reached today's state finals with a triple jump of 36-07#188; .

However, Huntley sprinter Coryn Marzejon's successful career came to a close Friday after she failed to qualify in the 400-meter race, an event in which she took second last year, or the 1,600 relay with teammates Amy Fanella, Denita Brown and Emily Konior.

Marzejon said she did not compete in the 100-meter dash due to tendinitis in her left knee.

"I'm not gonna lie. I'm pretty disappointed this year," Marzejon said. "I'm disappointed in how my times have gone really down. I tried my everything and never gave up. To me, that's all that matters."

Other than the 3,200 relay team qualifying for today's final, Crystal Lake South had a disappointing day overall.

Kellie Schuh, the No. 2 seed in the triple jump, recorded a jump of 36-03 on her first attempt, however, she scratched on her next two jumps and failed to qualify for the finals.

"That's not as good as I wanted, obviously," Schuh said.

Kellie finished second to Batavia's Natalie Tarter in a heat of the 300 hurdles, but her time of 45.57 wasn't low enough to reach the final day of competition. She cleared 10-06 in the pole vault, but couldn't make the finals standard of 10-9.

Likewise, CL South distance runner Kristina Aubert's 1,600 time of 5:10.5 wasn't enough to advance. However, Aubert will try to defend her title in the 3,200-meter race today.

Other notables were also unable to advance. Cary-Grove sophomore Kelly McCoy failed to make height in the high jump, Aimee Schuh didn't qualify for the finals of the long jump (16-06#190;) or the 100-meter hurdles (14.97) and Madeline Auffman of Cary-Grove finished fourth in her heat of the 800 run in 2:19.10, which proved to be the final race of her career.

"I had a heck of a kick at the end," Aufmann It was fun and it was intense. It was my last race, but it was fun to run on this track. It was a great way to end my career."

Class A: No qualifiers from area small schools advanced to today's final races, though the Hampshire 1,600 relay team of Autumn Chomenko, Mai Salvador, Jeanna Ballard, Tiffany Phu enjoyed themselves regardless.

"It was awesome, especially for my senior year," Salvador said. "I just started running track last year and I got to come down last year with my relay team. It would be nice to have gone a little faster, but we run it for ourselves, for our team."