Gannon, Rockets in position for titles
CHARLESTON-Burlington Central junior Maggie Gannon made the most of her debut appearance at the state girls track and field championship Friday morning at Eastern Illinois' O'Brien Stadium.
Gannon began her day with a blistering anchor leg on the Rockets' 3,200-meter relay, and the distance ace is in prime position in the Class 2A 1,600-meter run after posting the second-lowest time in the three heats with a new personal record of 5 minutes, 11.21 seconds.
"I wanted to make sure I won my heat and put myself in position for (today)," Gannon said.
In the 3,200 relay, Central lowered its season best by 13 seconds to cruise into the finals.
"We're very excited about that race," Gannon said. "The girls (Katie Puccio, Hannah Williams and Markelle Turk) put me position (to win). It was all due to them."
Central won the second heat of the event, which also featured Hampshire qualifying its quartet in the third heat, in a time of 9: 41.11.
The Rockets had the fastest preliminary time in the event by almost two seconds.
Vanessa Perez also made good on an early-season vow for a top finish at state in the 300 hurdles.
The senior, making her second career appearance in the event, won the second heat in 45.99 seconds to snare the second slot in finals.
The Class 3A 1,600-meter run features one of the deepest fields in recent memory, and Bartlett sophomore Alyssa Schneider is poised for a breakout performance today.
Schneider emerged from a congested pack at the gun lap and run a strong last 300 meters to finish second in her heat to Barrington senior Rebecca Tracy, a top candidate in the race, with a time of 5:08.99. "I try to step it up in whatever conditions are out there," said Schneider, who narrowly missed placing last year in Class AA. "I knew I wanted to get out of that pack, and my legs felt pretty good."
Crystal Lake South sophomore Marianne Collard anchored the Gators' 3,200 relay to a finals berth to start her day.
Collard was in the Schneider heat of the 1,600 meters, but she did not feel particularly confident in its immediate aftermath.
"The pace was so slow," Collard said. "I don't know if I made (finals)."
But when the three heats were measured, Collard did in fact make the finals cut.
First-year Bartlett performer Becca Cronin was looking for a measure of redemption after failing to qualify in the 300-meter hurdles.
The Hawks' senior did just that, overcoming the disappointment in the longer hurdles event with a solid showing in the triple jump.
Cronin and Elgin's Fatima Diabate are alive and kicking in the triple with three more attempts to better their Friday efforts today.
But Cronin had grander expectations in the 300 hurdles.
"I was just trying to get over the hurdles as fast as I could but it didn't happen," Cronin said.
Britney Whitehead also failed to advance in the 800 run.
"I tried to stick with the pack," the Larkin senior said. "It was so hard. Those girls are so fast. The first 400 (meters) took so much out of me."
Cary-Grove's Kelly McCoy was all smiles after a pair of late qualifications.
The junior cleared 5-3 on her final attempt in the high jump to move on to Saturday's finals and was the last qualifier in the 100 high hurdles (15.55).
McCoy failed to clear 5-3 on her first two attempts in the high jump, but despite nicking the bar on her final attempt the junior moved on.
McCoy entered the 100 high hurdles with nothing to lose and ran a relaxed race to advance to the finals.
"A lot better than last year," said McCoy who did not clear the starting height in the high jump last year. "The 100 high hurdles was unexpected, but I was pretty loose."
Jacob's Ali Durkin just missed qualifying in the 100 high hurdles (15.59) and Huntley's Amy Fanella ran an inspired race but came up a bit short in the 300 high hurdles (45.46).