Girls track and field: Glenn wins three state titles, leads St. Charles North to fourth place at state meet

Kara Glenn knew that she had just enough left in the tank, somehow.

With just 400 meters to go in the Class 3A 1,600-meter run, the St. Charles North sophomore found herself in the midst of the lead pack of four runners, which included Barrington’s Mia Sirois, who beat Glenn in the 3,200 earlier in the day.

But even though she had ran a mile more than the fastest 3,200 runner in state history, Glenn showed how eager she was to bring an end to an all-time performance at the IHSA girls track and field state meet.

“It was just a matter of conserving the little of what I had left for the end,” Glenn said. “It was my last event, I heard the bell and just told myself to go for it. It wasn’t even a matter of time, I just wanted to be done and get back home.”

Glenn crossed the line in 4:41.28 for the title, putting an end to a historic performance where she won three state titles, the first ones in St. Charles North history, while adding a second-place finish to carry the team to a fourth-place finish at the state meet in Charleston.

“I just did what I’ve wanted to do for such a long time,” Glenn said. “Since January, this has been the No. 1 goal, this is what I’ve wanted to do. My coach told me it’s been done before and if anyone could do it again it could be me.

“It was very hard, but I’m glad I did it. It was definitely a challenge, but I’m really proud of my performance.”

Glenn was the only athlete at the state meet to secure wins across three different events on the day. Her 38 points scored was also the most among any athlete.

Besides her win in the 1,600, she also secured an individual title in the 800 in 2:05.66 and a second-place finish in the 3,200, running a 10:11.59 in a solo effort in the first heat.

“I’m definitely very tired,” Glenn said. “But I’m looking forward to cross country and having great competition there. And I definitely think from the team side, we’ll get some more relay teams down here next year, and you can expect more from this St. Charles North team in the future because we are definitely up and coming.”

The North Stars put forth a big team effort to lead off the track events, with Glenn joining Gwen Hobson, Julia Rodney and Alana Gupta in the 4x800 to run a 8:54.5, securing the first state title in program history while also shattering the state meet record by five seconds.

“It’s so amazing to finally be on top of that podium,” said Rodney, who also added a ninth-place finish in the 800 in 2:12.59 for All-State honors. “Last year we were the top seed in the preliminary round and then took seventh, and I think that really motivated us to keep on winning, and this is just super fun.”

In the race before the North Stars’ historic feat, St. Francis secured a spot back atop the podium in the Class 2A 4x800, with the team of Alicen Sheldon, Elena Mamminga, Margaret Andrzejewski and Erin Hinsdale running a 9:18.81, reclaiming the title the quartet won back in 2024.

“I was just so happy that we all got to run together one last time before Margaret graduates,” Mamminga said. “And to make it even better we won it again, which was really exciting.”

Mamminga, Andrzjewski and Hinsdale all finished doubling up on All-State honors on the day. Andrzjewski, a Georgetown commit, took third in the 800 in 2:12.48, Hinsdale took fourth in the 1,600 in 5:04.92 and Mamminga, on very short rest from the state title run, took fifth in the 3,200 in 11:00.68 to help the Spartans to a seventh-place finish in Class 2A.

“Part of me wishes I PR’d in the 3,200, but it was a lot and I still moved up a place from last year,” Mamminga said. “As a freshman, there was no expectations in the 4x800 since I had no other events on finals day. But I was just having fun this year, and it felt amazing to win that race and still be OK for another event right after.”

Aurora Central Catholic senior Cecilia Hilby was also a state champion, with the DePaul commit winning the Class 2A 800 with a personal-best time of 2:11.53, securing the title after getting sixth and fifth in the event over the past two years.

“It’s just relief knowing that all my hard work has paid off,” Hilby said. “I took a risk and didn’t play basketball this year so I could train during the winter more. I was nervous because I really like playing, but it paid off and I would take this feeling over and over again.”

The senior made the decisive move with 250 meters to go, jumping into the lead and holding off a surge from Prairie Ridge’s Anneke Dam, only taking a peak back with 50 meters to go before crossing the line with pure joy.

“I knew when I made the move that if I didn’t move, someone else was going to,” Hilby said. “My coach told me to take it no matter what with 150 to go, and I was just kind of nervous that someone would pass me in that final stretch, but it’s just an unreal feeling.”

Junior Molly Russelburg had the other All-State finish for the Chargers, improving on her fifth-place finish a season ago by taking third in the pole vault with a vault of 3.55 meters.

“I came in hoping for a higher place and higher bar, but I can only do so much,” Russelburg said. “I just came in trying to stay calm and stay cool, and I feel like I did the best I could, and I got a pretty good outcome out of it.”

Batavia finished with four All-State performances on the day.

Junior Abby Wirth finished with All-State in both horizontal jumps, taking seventh in the long jump with a leap of 5.51 meters and a third-place finish in the triple, jumping 11.8 meters. It was the first time she made it to the finals in the triple jump after finishing 13th in each of the past two seasons.

“It’s really a full-circle moment that feels amazing,” Wirth said. “My first jump in the triple jump was rough, but I had my coaches and support team all around me telling me that I could do it and I should believe in myself, and honestly that helped me get there.”

Sophomore Ingrid Wit took sixth place in the Class 3A shot put with a personal-best throw of 12.59 meters, junior Avery Hacker took seventh-place in the 3,200 with a personal-best of 10:28.4.

Burlington Central sophomore LaRaiya Cunningham-Duncan earned two Class 3A state medals, finishing third in the long jump (personal-best 5.67 meters), before placing fourth in the triple jump (11.78 meters).

She finished sixth in the triple jump at state last year.

“I’m happy with [the long jump],” Cunningham-Duncan said. “I’m happy to keep improving too, because I just love long jump. I love long and triple jump so much, like it makes me happy to just even place in it.”

Geneva senior Sofia Borter took All-State honors across both distance events on the day, taking fifth in the 1,600 with a time of 4:55.76 and sixth in the 3,200 in a school-record 10:28.15.

“This is just sort of surreal, especially since these were my last high school races,” Borter said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. This has been a goal since last year since I qualified but didn’t place in both events. It’s just real exciting.”

St. Charles East had two relay teams secure All-State honors. The team of Luca Ketter, Siri Forsell, Nicole Mayer and Madeline Piekarz took sixth in the 4x400 with a school-record 3:53.16. Ketter, Forsell and Piekarz also joined Fiona Post to place seventh in the 4x200, running a 1:40.04 for the school’s first All-State honor in the event.

“We all ran a lot of events, and it was tiring, but we all worked really hard for this,” Ketter said. “When I was getting to the blocks, I knew we wanted this so badly to get on the podium with the girls in both those events.”

Kaneland senior Delainey Baran earned All-State honors in the Class 2A pole vault with a sixth-place finish, clearing 3.45 meters for a season best.

The pageantry-like glitter, intentionally, was everywhere on Anneke Dam’s sparkly face and hair, including her long braids.

One speckle of glitter landed, unintentionally, on her lip during a post-race interview.

When you run as fast as the Prairie Ridge sophomore, sometimes glitter will fly and have a mind of its own. Dam flicked away the speckle without pausing. When you shine, you shine.

Dam finished second in the Class 2A 800-meter run Saturday during the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. She found herself in sixth place after one lap, after getting bunched up almost from the start.

“I thought that was a pretty rough start,“ Dam said. ”I just got boxed in, and it was hard to work from that, but I tried my best.”

She finished in 2:12.04, behind only Aurora Central Catholic senior Cecilia Hilby (2:11.53).

“I kept seeing people pass me, and I was just like, ‘I need to wait my turn,’ ” said Dam, who was 12th in the Class 2A state cross country meet in the fall. “The 800 is really hard, probably the worst race for getting boxed in. ... With around 200 meters to go, I slowly started to kick more and just got my way out of there. I had to run a little extra, but it was worth it.”

Jacobs freshman Lennox Szymonik finished fourth in the Class 3A 1,600, clocking a time of 4:52.1. She was seeded third after Friday’s preliminaries.

“I’m happy,” said Szymonik, who finished 10th in the Class 3A cross country state meet in the fall. “I just am a little disappointed with my kick because I feel like I could have placed higher and gotten a better time.”

Szymonik was one second off her personal-best time. The 5-foot distance specialist qualified for state in the 3,200 as well but chose not to run it Saturday, the only day the race is run.

“I just wanted to run off one fresh mile this year because I haven’t ran one since Palatine Distance Night [on April 25],” Szymonik said. “I wanted to see what I could do. I know as I get older I will be able to do the double without any issues, but this year, I don’t think I was ready for that.”

Jacobs senior Carly Uehlein also earned her second state medal in as many years as she finished eighth in the Class 3A discus. She was the state runner-up last year.

“I just didn’t hit the technical points that I wanted to and have been practicing,” Uehlein said after throwing 42.56 meters (139 feet, 7 inches). “Practice was looking really good, and then I just didn’t hit it in competition, and that happens.”

Uehlein, who will continue her throwing career at the University of Cincinnati, finished 18th in the shot put. She wasn’t lamenting her places, particularly in the discus after last year’s runner-up finish.

“Definitely not what I wanted to do, but it’s hard to follow up a second place,” Uehlein said. “I threw around my mark from last year, and this year the places are completely different. All the girls are really amazing and really competitive, and at this stage where all of us are it’s just a matter of who’s having a good day and who’s having an ‘off’ day.”

Also in Class 3A, Hampshire’s 4x800 relay team of sophomore Reese Long, senior Annabelle Haskins, sophomore Miya Moraga and senior Alyssa Garcia medaled thanks to an eighth-place finish (9:15.02). Garcia led off, followed by Moraga, Haskins and Long.

“I was pretty tired from my three events yesterday, but I knew just having all of the really fast girls around us was going to push us,” said Garcia, who ran the 4x800, 4x400 and 400 in Friday’s preliminaries. “I just wanted to get in the best position I could, and that’s what I did.”

That’s what Moraga aimed to do too.

“You do it for your team,” Moraga said. “The two seniors [Garcia and Haskins], this is my last time racing with them so it really meant a lot to me. I just wanted to hold strong for my team and do the best that we could today. I feel like that’s what we did, and I’m really proud of us.”

Like Garcia, who will run for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee next year, Haskins isn’t done competing. She will head to Pima Community College in Arizona after making the most of her final day racing as a Whip-Pur.

“I was very excited going into [the 4x800],” Haskins said. “At indoor state, we were seeded at the bottom, and we ended up getting second, so I knew that even if we were seeded low [at outdoor state] that doesn’t mean anything and that we could still push each other. I believe in each and every one of us, and we’ve worked very hard for this, so I knew it was possible.”

Long passed a runner during her leg.

“I was just trying to keep my spot and get us to be able to place,” Long said. “I definitely wanted to either stay at my split that I got yesterday, which was 2:17, or get faster, so I was really happy with it.”

Cary-Grove senior Olivia Parker medaled in the Class 3A 300 hurdles for the second year in a row as she placed eighth (49.43). She placed seventh last spring.

Huntley pole vaulter Emma Garofalo earned the seventh-place medal in Class 3A, clearing (3.5 meters, 11 feet, 7.5 inches).