Shakeia Pinnick claims 100-meter prize at state finals

CHARLESTON - Shakeia Pinnick reached the summit, and McKinzie Schulz was not far behind.

Pinnick, the Waubonsie Valley superstar, was not going to be denied a state championship in her final weekend of her glorious four-year career.

Schulz, meanwhile, fell only a few meters short from duplicating the twin state titles Pinnick secured Saturday at the Class 3A girls state track and field championships at Eastern Illinois' O'Brien Stadium.

Exorcising three years of frustration in the finals of both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, Pinnick took dramatically different directions to her state championships.

Defeating Niles North senior Flo Mafany both times, Pinnick was as flawless as she was determined in claiming the shorter title in 14.27 seconds.

"It was not a normal season," said Pinnnick, describing her departure from the team early in the outdoor season. "My emotions came out. Never give up. My stride pattern (in the 300 hurdles) got to where it was supposed to be."

After winning the 100 title and running a blistering 23.7-second split on the anchor leg of the 800-meter relay to propel the Warriors into second place, Pinnick nearly had yet another disappointing runner-up finish in the longer hurdles.

Pinnick overcame two errors and outlasted Mafany over the final 100 meters to secure her second title.

"I have always been behind (down the stretch in past 300 finals)," Pinnick said, referring to her three consecutive second-place finishes in the event.

"(Pinnick) showed so much heart and determination," Waubonsie Valley coach Jim Braun said.

With Michelle Higgins leapfrogging nine competitors in the long jump to secure another runner-up finish for Waubonsie Valley, the Warriors tied Palatine for second place overall with 41 points.

Yolanda Suggs' sweep of the 100 through 400 titles enabled Belleview West to capture its first state title with 53 points.

Higgins, with teammate Da'sha Huggins augmenting her long-jump feat with a ninth-place finish, was also looking for a measure of redemption.

"I had to make up for false starting in the (100) hurdles (on Friday)," Higgins said. "We're trying to get a trophy. It's the last year before our school splits up."

"(Higgins' progression) got us started," Braun said.

The Warriors' 400 relay was seventh, and Pinnick fittingly anchored the last race of her career for their final point.

Hinsdale Central was looking to better its finest showing in school history - a fourth-place result in 1997 - but the Red Devils had to settle for fifth (30 points) behind their runner-up 400 relay.

Schulz made school history for Benet, and the junior nearly had the most remarkable double victory of the weekend.

Schulz took command of the 800-meter run with 300 meters to go and never looked back in vanquishing the quality field in a time of 2:12.12.

It was the first track and field state championship in Benet history.

Schulz was later engaged in a showdown that proved to fulfill the widespread expectations as the premier race of the finals.

St. Charles East senior Lizzy Hynes turned back conference rival Lindsay Flanagan of Lake Park to capture the 3,200 run, and Barrington senior Rebecca Tracy was an equally determined Division I recruit Schulz needed to better.

The three were within meters of each other the final two laps, and Schulz passed Hynes with 250 meters to go.

Schulz kicked in the afterburners down the stretch, only to see Tracy respond with a dazzling kick of her own.

The Notre Dame-bound Tracy missed the state record by one-hundredth of a second in prevailing in 4:49.35.

Schulz came in at 4:49.77.

"I just wanted to win some events," Schulz said. "I knew it was going to be tough. (Tracy) passed me with a couple of meters to go, and I didn't have anything left."

The Redwings finished ninth overall courtesy of the Schulz twin masterpieces.

Libby O'Brien had the type of conclusion to her decorated four-year career to last a lifetime.

The Glenbard South senior had nothing but blue track ahead of her to conclude the Raiders' Class 2A 1,600-meter relay.

"The mile relay is my favorite event," Glenbard South coach Mark Tacchi said. "Our goal was to give Libby the baton in the lead."

With junior Kim Iacobazzi running a decisive second leg to sandwich gritty performances by Emily Gniatczyk and Val Wass, there was no denying O'Brien.

Coming off her fourth state medal in the open 400 meters after earlier anchoring the Raiders' 400 quartet to silver, O'Brien denied Metamora 800-meter state champion Amanda Duvendack to win in 3:54.53.

"That was the best thing I've ever experienced," O'Brien cried out. "I am so excited right now. I couldn't have done it without (my teammates).

"All I could think was, 'We need to get that state title,'" Iacobazzi said.

It was the first title for Glenbard South since Ashley Raymond captured the Class AA 3,200 run for years ago.

"Our fourth overall," Tacchi said.

In Class A Lisle returned to the podium for the first time since former great Andrea Norris set records in the sprints for the Lions.

The foursome of Allyson Corona, Kelsey Wilhelm, Audrey Danner and Danyale Worsham fell meters short of Walther Lutheran in the 800 relay.

"I didn't want to get anything less than second," Worsham said of her anchor leg.