Imani Carothers put a hurting on the competition in the 100HH (Mark Capapas photo)
Girls-
There were several arenas that kept fans captivated throughout the afternoon. The sprint battles between Amira Young (So., Whitney Young) and Gabrielle DesRosiers (Sr., N. Lawndale Charter) as well as Imari Carothers (So., Brooks College Prep) in the jumps and 100HH. And then there was the distance prowess of Maggie Scholle (Jr., Lane Tech).
The 100m was a battle meant to happen between the queen of sprints in the Chicago Public League. Young and Desrosiers are both rising stars. Young placed third in the state last year and Desrosiers comes from a lively stock that her older sister Briyahna Desrosiers built several years ago. None of that mattered once the gun went off. It was a close race to the all the way to the finish line with Young edging Gabby 11.94-12.03... Desrosiers would win the 400m with ease in a personal best 56.55 and then one final battle against Young in the 200m. It was an easy win for Desrosiers in her favorite event. The race was over as soon as she hit the homestretch and powered home in a newly minted IL #2 and personal best 24.26. This would be the final battle between the sophomore and senior who will compete in different classifications for the upcoming state championship series.
Carothers was entered in four events on Saturday and she won three of them. Carothers won the long jump during Tuesday's qualifying meet that carried over. But the triple meet record occurred her team's 4x2 relay did not finish due to a mid race injury by a teammate. Carothers was clearly distraught over the apparent injury of her teammate and took the disappointment to the pit where she jumped a big personal best 39-11.50. Carothers jumped around hysterically with excitement and everything was all good. Earlier in the day she produced the state's top mark in the 100HH clocking 14.21.
Scholle won the 3200 for the second straight year. The race was pretty much over when she gaped the field with a opening lap of 72 seconds and first mile around 5:35. Scholle would eventually lapped the field and win by almost a minute in 11:32.08. The 1600 was slightly more competitive but Scholle once again controlled the pace from the gun to win the race in 5:15.68. Sara McCoy (So., Northside Prep) closed the gap slightly and ran a personal best 5:19.79.