Near misses for several local athletes
CHARLESTON — Abie Ehimwenman and Aaliyah Brown were not exactly kind to the local contingent at the girls Class 3A state track and field finals on Saturday afternoon at O’Brien Stadium.
The respective south suburban stars, from Homewood-Flossmoor and Lincoln-Way East, cost four separate local athletes state championships.
The latter, the defending champion at 100 meters, denied Waubonsie Valley junior Morolake Akinosun for a second title in as many years at the distance and later came back to give Willowbrook junior Cherise Porter another heartbreaking loss in the 200 final.
Ehimwenman, the Vikings’ Ohio State-bound senior, overcame the first-day lead of Glenbard West senior Kathryn Pickett to claim the long jump.
Downers Grove South three-event finalist Tori Franklin then had Ehimwenman snap her bid for a successful defense of the triple-jump crown.
Franklin, who lead the area-best Mustangs’ fifth-place team showing, later had a second runner-up performance at 400 meters to two-time champion Whitney Young’s Raena Rhone.
Akinosun dropped out of the open 400 to take a run at the Griffins’ sophomore star.
“I still have next year,” Akinosun said after running a career-best 11.61-second race, only to fall short to the 11.46 — .05 from the all-time state mark — Brown recorded. “I knew that Aaliyah had been working hard. (The left-hamstring injury that forced withdrawing from the 400) impacted my training, not so much my performance.”
“(Akinosun) is a good competitor,” Brown said.
Brown, who led the Griffins to second as a team, forced Porter to accept a second straight state finals result at 200 meters.
“(The race) was really good,” Porter said after running three-tenths behind Brown in 24.3 seconds. “If I had a little more (time), I could have beat her. My senior year, it’s all going to come out.”
Pickett, who led the Hilltoppers’ sixth-place team finish — the finest in program history — with four medals, settled for second in the long jump when Ehimwenman exceeded 19 feet in the finals.
“On a (disappointment) scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 7,” said Pickett, who also placed in both hurdles races for a second straight year. “(My day) started off slow; it got better at the end.”
East St. Louis (46 points) won the team title; seven points separated the following six teams, with Downers South (32) edging the Hilltoppers by a point for fifth.
“The talent is so spread out,” Glenbard West coach Kelly Hass said.
The Hilltoppers’ hopes for a trophy floundered on poor exchanges in the three sprint relays.
“I just don’t think we got the times we were looking for,” said Glenbard West 800 anchor Bridget Flanagan. “At least not the times we were looking for.”
Franklin, the Mustangs’ Michigan State-bound standout who had a third runner-up performance with the 1,600 relay, had to settle for second in the triple when Ehimwenman eclipsed 40 feet for the first time in her prep career.