The countdown to State in Charleston stands at one month. Where has the time gone? This is the time of year that the times start dropping due to the warmer weather. The problem is that winter still has us in its cold, breezy grasp. New Trier girls ran in Barrington on Friday night and there were multiple trips to the car so the wimpy parents could sit with the heater on full-blast. Even though we had non-ideal running conditions, there were still some great performances happening around the area. Courtney Ackerman and Mimi Smith put up 10:45 and 11:00 in the 3,200 to take 1st and 2nd. Courtney came back to take 2nd in the open 400 with a time of 1:02 behind 2012 State Champ, Brittny Ellis (Warren). Mimi, doing the distance double for the first time in her young career, added a 2nd place in the 1,600 with a time of 5:16 behind freshman Meagan Biddle from Hoffman Estates. Jessica Ackerman was out of town visiting her future college for admitted student’s weekend.
I’m not sure what was going on in Downers Grove on Friday night, but after seeing the results in the 3,200, I’m pretty sure Madeline Perez must have been running downhill with the wind at her back to go sub 10:30 in this weather. Wow! Then, to follow that up with a sprint-out with Emma Fisher for a couple of 5:02’s in the 1,600. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Madeline has Alberto Salazar on her speed-dial for additional training pointers after meeting the legend at Nike Nationals last December in Portland.
Back to our meet, with Jess out of town, Coach John Burnside didn’t need to worry about which events to run the trio of Court, Jess and Mimi since only two can be in the same event. New Trier has three All-State distance girls which is pretty rare. This presents a dilemma when all three want to run the 1,600. We faced this (good) problem last spring at about this time in the season.
Jessica, always the go-with-the-flow type came home one day after practice saying she may give the 800 a shot so Mimi could do the 1,600 with Courtney. Jess had never run the 800 meter dash. The look on my face must have been pure disbelief because Debbie looked at me and asked what was wrong. After about 30 seconds of collecting myself, I said in a confused voice, “That is the time during the state meet that my dad, sisters and I all take a break from the heat and go drink a beer out of the cooler in trunk of his car.” Debbie, disgusted as usual with me says, “Well, I guess you will just have to prioritize this year!” After 30 more seconds of pondering, I look to Jess and say, “Jessie, run fast and text me the results, I’ll be in the parking lot.”Fine, I didn’t blow off my daughter last May for family bonding break…but I did miss some sprints and hurdles. Jess went on to medal in both the 800 and 3,200, which based on how close the events are run to each other, may be the hardest double to attempt in track. If the weather stays anything like what it has been this spring, that break at state next month will be for Baileys and hot chocolate.
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