Lake Zurich’s Polhemus learns to excel

Some learn on the job.

But Lake Zurich senior Amy Polhemus soaks up valuable knowledge on track ovals — during races.

The Bears’ swift hurdler had an aha (!) moment last month at the Wheaton Warrenville South Invite, moments after the start of the 300-meter hurdles.

Slotted to Polhemus’ right was Downers Grove South senior Melissa Radek, sixth in the event at last year’s Class 3A state meet.

“I looked at what she was doing with her trail leg at the second and third hurdles of the race,” Polhemus recalled. “She was snapping it down, quickly. And I immediately thought, ‘So that’s what my coach (Lance Pacernick) was talking about! That’s what he wants me do!’

“(Radek’s) technique,” she added, “was really good.”

The free — and on-the-fly — lesson didn’t last very long on April 16. Polhemus passed Radek and won the race in 46.4; Radek silvered, with a 46.7.

Polhemus mentioned her observations to Pacernick at an LZ practice a couple of days later.

He was amazed.

And hurting — after laughing so hard.

“I couldn’t believe it,” a chuckling Pacernick said last week. “Here’s Amy, going up against one of the state’s best hurdlers, and she’s ... spectating.”

Spectators — the traditional kind, sitting in bleachers — watched Polhemus top the 300 hurdles (45.7) field and anchor the Bears’ victorious 800 relay (1:47.53) at the North Suburban Conference Meet at Vernon Hills last Thursday. She also landed a fifth-place long jump (16 feet), as LZ scored 100 points to beat reigning champ and runner-up Lake Forest (77) for the program’s first NSC title. Bears sophomore Lindsey Moritz racked up 20 team points by winning the 200 (26.59) and 400 (59.52).

The Lewis University-bound Polhemus is ranked fourth among Class 3A 300 hurdlers, behind Glenbard West’s Kathryn Pickett (45.02), Evanston’s Margaret Bamgbose (44.27) and Hoffman Estates’ Sarah Gorden (43.8). Polhemus zipped to her personal best of 45.51 in a thrilling runner-up finish to Bamgbose (45.43) at New Trier’s Trevian Relays on April 30.

The previous weekend, at the Sue Pariseau Invite at Glenbard West, she beat Radek and Pickett, who placed eighth in the event at state last spring.

“Amy does not back down, from anybody,” Pacernick said. “But you’d never know that she’s a top-level competitor and a big-time hurdler if you just saw her get off the bus with her teammates. She’s 5-foot-4, maybe, on her tippy toes. You’d think, ‘Oh, look, there’s the team’s assistant manager.’

“But as soon as a gun goes off in one of her races,” he added, “that kind of thinking changes.”

One of Polhemus’ thoughts, before the start of her junior track season in 2010: “That I’d go out for soccer (her spring sport as a freshman), instead of track,” she recollected at last week’s NSC Meet.

“I called (Pacernick) and told him I was thinking about doing that. But then, after thinking about it some more, I was worried I wouldn’t compete as intensely in soccer as I do in track and field.

“I’m competitive. I love to compete.”

Polhemus’ soccer shin guards continued their hibernation, much to the delight of Pacernick and his running and jumping Bears. She returned as a trackster last spring and qualified for state in three events (300 hurdles, 400 relay, 800 relay).

Last fall, as LZ’s top cross country runner, Polhemus trampled twigs and most of the Libertyville regional field to finish runner-up in a personal-best 18:57.8 at Adler Park. Her previous PR: 19:33.

“People were wondering, right after that race, ‘Where had you been hiding her?’ ” said LZ track/cross country assistant coach Nicole Collins.

She failed miserably as a secret weapon in track this spring.

Polhemus had, after all, achieved a No. 2 state ranking among 300-meter hurdlers in April.

“Amy? She’s a beast,” said junior track teammate Marisa Vitullo, referring to Polhemus’ gun-to-finish speed and tenacity.

But off the track, Polhemus is pleasant, glittery, a huge fan of Ke$ha songs, a fun-loving teammate.

The antibeast.

“Amy is lighthearted, easy to talk to, friendly,” Collins said. “And positive, always positive.”

Polhemus gets to “Get ready, get set, go” Friday, as she vies for more state berths at the Buffalo Grove sectional.

Get the feeling it’ll be her turn to conduct a lesson or two?