Vernon Hills sports a winning identity
Lakes’ look-alikes, looking splashy in their matching sequin headbands, posted nearly identical times in a rewarding 400-meter run for freshman twins Brittani and Danielle Griesbaum.
When the Class 2A Vernon Hills girls track and field sectional was finished Friday night, the host school’s “twins” sported matching ear-to-ear smiles.
Alli Tran and Ali Peacock helped lead Vernon Hills to a winning 105 points, with each running a leg on the victorious 1,600 relay in helping the Cougars pull away from runner-up Lakes (94) in the team standings.
“We stacked our lineup to go to state, not to win (the sectional),” Tran said. “We ended up winning. Which is amazing.”
Here’s what’s interesting, if not amazing, about Tran and Peacock:
They have the same first name.
They were both born in January of the same year.
They’re both high school juniors.
They run the same track events.
They both have three younger siblings.
“We call ourselves twins,” Tran said. “The list goes on and on.”
While Peacock qualified for state in all four of her events (300 hurdles, three relays), and Tran ran on a pair of state-qualifying relays and earned another state berth in the long jump, no one could match Megan Paul, who had no equal.
Competing for the final time in Lake County after four state-qualifying seasons, the Carmel Catholic senior went 4-for-4. Paul sped to no-contest wins in the 100 (12.51), 200 (25.14) and 400 (55.73) dashes, and also anchored the Corsairs’ state-qualifying 400 relay (50.66, third).
“I feel great, like nothing was hurting,” Paul said after a perfect-weather night, outside of a stiff breeze that — for her, anyway — was a factor on the straightaway, she noted. “It was weird. After the (400), I was like, ‘OK, I’m done. Now I get the (200).’ I wasn’t even tired.”
As she heads into her final state meet, before embarking on a running career at Arkansas, she is injury-free and psyched.
“I feel like I’m in better shape for state than I ever have been,” Paul said. “I just feel in wonderful shape. I’m excited.”
Few runners were more excited than Peacock after she surprised many, including herself, by winning the 300 hurdles. As she crossed the finish line, she raised her hands and then held her head with both hands.
“It’s my favorite event, probably,” said Peacock, who qualified for state in the hurdles as a freshman but came up short in her attempt last spring. “But I’ve been having a tough year. This came out of nowhere. I’ve been working really hard. I practice hurdles every day, and I’m just so happy to see it finally pay off.”
Peacock, who said she draws on motivation from her father, Robert, who knows her finishing ability on the backstretch gives her an edge, surged ahead on the third-to-last hurdle.
When she heard her time of 46.58, she playfully collapsed on the track.
“I was like, ‘OK, I definitely broke my PR because it was just 48,’ ” Peacock said. “Then when someone told me I ran like a 46.67, I was just blown away. I could not believe it.”
Lakes started the finals by — no surprise — winning the 3,200 relay with their usual four of Hannah Wittman, Grace Dean and the Griesbaum twins. They covered the eight laps in 9:37.21, 10 seconds faster than second-place Vernon Hills. Richmond-Burton and St. Viator also ran state-qualifying in the 3,200 relay.
It was just the start for the Griesbaums.
They both earned state berths in the 400, with Brittani (59.35) edging Danielle (59.36) for second. Danielle was second to Paul as well in the 200 (26.96) and had a runner-up finish, too, in the high jump (5-3). It was Brittani who took second to Paul in the 100 (13.37), and she won the long jump (17-4.75).
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t win (the meet), but we put our best lineup out there,” Lakes coach Matt Rife said. “We were a couple of kids short in the middle-distance events so we had to double-up Dean and Wittman in the (800) and mile. That’s where Vernon Hills has that depth.”
The night started inauspiciously for Lakes, as senior Jessica Ott dislocated her right knee during the pole vault and had to be taken to the hospital.
“Our whole team gathered around,” Rife said. “It kind of took the wind out of the sails at the beginning.”
Wauconda ended the night with a flourish, as Alex Schorr anchored the runner-up 1,600 relay in a school-record 4:11.73 to earn a state berth and edge Lakes (4:12.58). Andrea Lichterman, who earlier ran a state-qualifying 47.42 (third) in earning a second-straight berth downstate in the 300 hurdles, led off. She was followed by Karin Maki and Emily Dorolek.
When Schorr grabbed the baton, she was third.
“I was going to stay behind her,” Schorr said of the runner in front of her at the start of the final lap. “I was going to let her keep going. But when I get over there (on the backstretch), it’s my time. That’s when I go. ... And then I get all dizzy and I don’t remember what happens.”
“She has a mindset ...” Dorolek marveled of her teammate. “I wasn’t even worried, at all.”
Grayslake Central qualified for state 800 runners Kia Gomez (2:20. 52, second) and Elsie Rehberg (2:21.93, fourth). The five 800 qualifiers also included Carmel’s Sarh Myss (2:20.86) and Vernon Hills’ Abbie Letts (2:23.11).
Six girls advanced in the 1,600 run. They included Vernon Hills’ Danielle Fiarito (5:15.78), Lakes’ Dean (5:20.17) and St. Viator’s tandem of Hanna Winter (5:21.04) and Meghan Carroll (5:22.19).
Vernon Hills’ Kristen Whitney qualified for state with her runner-up effort in the 3,200 run. Carmel’s other advancers included Shannon Baucus in the 100 hurdles (state-qualifying 15.86) and high jump (first, 5-4). Antioch got through Catharine Long in the pole vault (state-qualifying 9-9).
Wauconda’s Christina Meinhardt won both the shot put (37-10) and discus (107-6). Vernon Hills also got through Maryam Abdallah in the discus.
“Vernon Hills ran great,” Rife said. “It was a good meet.”