Girls 2A State Prelim Recap

Girls 2A State Prelim Recap

The stage is set for Saturday’s championship as Springfield Southeast leads the field with 13 entries (10 individuals, 3 relays). E. St. Louis Sr. 7 (4,3), Melrose Park Walther Lutheran 7 (5,2), and Carbondale 7 (5,2).

Springfield Southeast makes opening statement-

Springfield Southeast has once again catapulted themselves into the favorite role in terms of the team championship.  The three-time defending state gold medalists used the exploits of the superstar duo Charday Crawford (Sr.) and Brion Portis (Sr.) to get the job done.  It started with Portis earning spots in the long jump and triple jump.  Portis is the top qualifier in the triple jump (39-3.75 [0.8]- only one jump taken). She also contributed to qualifying relay legs in the 4x200 and 400m.  Crawford returned from with a vengeance that at one time an injury tried to destroy her senior year.  Crawford reported that she has a detached groin that needs repaired at the end of the season.  So, she is basically sprinting in a partial body that is significantly short of 100% as opposed to young ladies that are primed to run their best efforts in O’Brien Field.  Oh, by the way, Crawford is seeded first in the 100 and 200.  She also anchored her team in the 4x100r and 4x200r that advanced to the final.

Shamier Little part deux-

Chicago Lindblom’s Shamier Little is destined for bigger and better things after she departs the high school scene in a few weeks, but in the meantime she is going to relish her second crack at achieving a feat that is truly remarkable.  Little is attempting the quad for the second year in a row.  The thing that is most impressive is the 400m/300H back to back double.  The 400 is often revered as the toughest open event in track, but add eight hurdles on the track and run all out. It opens the imagination to how great she is winning both events against stellar fields.  Little started her day producing the fastest time in the 100H in 14.37.  Next up was the 400m where she used a strong burst late in the race to easily win heat 2 in 56.40.  The 300H presented a bit more of an issue because E. St. Louis’ Markita Rush (Sr.) was in it.  Rush was the champion in 3A two seasons ago. Little needed a surge to put away the pesky Rush 44.29-44.95.  It was a repeat performance against Crawford in the 200.  The outcome the same with Little placing second but advancing to the final easily in 25.23.

 

Best of the rest-

Long jumper MaShayla Kirksy (Sr., Walther Lutheran) 19-0.25 kept her status quo with another competition over 19-feet. She would not have to take another jump and still win by a ton.

Lena Giger (Jr., Highland) is having an outstanding season in the long jump.  In a breakout season for putters, she rocked 47-9.5 on her first throw.  It may be just good enough to win the competition.

In the 4x800r, Lake Villa (Lakes) produced the fastest time of the day in the final heat of the day (3) clocking 9:33.33.  It’s the top time in 2A this season.

Kankakee’s young quartet stung the competition in the 4x100r by bursting a 47.94 in heat two.

The 800m was very competitive with ten of the twelve finalists under 2:20. Tyra Buss (Jr., Mt. Carmel) is the top entrant and classification leader 2:15.09.