Girls track and field: Hersey's Babinski, Prospect nab titles at Loyola sectional
Hersey's Victoria Babinski said that she had been working toward this moment "for four years."
Thursday at the Class 3A Loyola girls track and field sectional, Babinski showed how much all of that hard work had paid off.
The senior entered the 100-meter hurdles as the top seed, and proved that was no fluke as she controlled the race from start to finish to win in the time of 16.26, and advance to next week's state championship meet at Eastern Illinois.
"I was ready to run; my mindset was there," said Babinski, who will be attending Florida Atlantic University in the fall. "When I was getting ready I was really preparing more mentally than physically during the warmup."
"This will be my first trip (to state)," added Babinski, "and to qualify in my senior year, it's really exciting."
Prospect came up big as a team Thursday. The Knights trailed New Trier with just two events remaining, but a win in the 200 dash by junior Daria Tersina put her squad on top to stay.
The Knights won the meet with 117 points, New Trier was second at 109, Loyola third with 98 points, and Glenbrook South fourth at a total of 80.
It was a remarkable day for GBS senior Sydney Willits, who set track records in winning the long jump (5.89m) and the triple jump (12.13m), and also was part of the Glenbrook South 4 x 100 relay team which triumphed.
"She's always been good," said Titans coach Dan Zapler of Willits, "but because of hard work, dedication, and commitment, she's the perfect person who turned good into great. Anytime you jump over 20 feet in the long jump and 40 feet in the triple jump, you're great."
Other winners advancing to the state meet were Abby Milott of Glenbrook South in the high jump (1.55m), Lillian Lucansky of the Knights (discus, 35.28m), Giselle Salom Hamwi of Prospect in the pole vault (3.12), and Audrey Ginsberg of the Knights, who was victorious in the 800 at 2:18.92.
Tersina also won the 100, while runners-up who will also move on to Eastern Illinois included Natalia Jackowski of Hersey, second in the high jump; the Glenbrook South 4 x 200 relay team; Anna Harden of Hersey in the 3,200; Hailey Erickson of Prospect in the 1,600; Tersina, again, second in the triple jump; and Lauren Isaac of Glenbrook South in the 100 hurdles.
The Knights' 4 x 800 relay team of Cameron Kalaway, Erickson, Lily Ginsberg and Audrey Ginsberg got Prospect started on the right foot in Wilmette, winning the first track event of the day, the 4 x 800, in the time of 9:23.54.
"They were ready to bring it today," said Prospect coach Pete Wintermute of his team. "My hat is off to these girls. Rain, shine, hot, cold, they're out there every day to make themselves better and make their teammates better."