It was a spirited duel in the always tough varsity 3200m
WATCH IHSA GIRLS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Plainfield IL-
Conference girls week kicked off Wednesday evening at Plainfield North High School. Mother Nature played an equally good host by holding back on the inclement elements that had plagued much of the outdoor season.
The day started off with a very good Oswego girls team running a 9:47.27 without their lead runner, senior Isabelle Christiansen. The Panthers took off from the gun and never looked back. Speaking of Christiansen, she had a great opportunity to bring her team another 10 points with a win in the 3200m, but had to face two quality athletes in seniors Vivian Van Eck of Minooka and Juliana Stogsdill of Plainfield North. She prevailed pulling away from the two in the final 1600m to win with a 10:52.10.
Van Eck was hungry for redemption and looked to take home a huge 1600m win. The race went out the first three laps with the Panther duo of Christiansen and freshman teammate, freshman Rebecca Corbett leading the first three laps with Van Eck closely trailing from behind, but on that final lap Van Eck found a new gear to take home a huge win even holding off a strong kick from Stogsdill who entered the field almost out of nowhere.
The jumps were filled with teams going 1-2 in each event. In high jump it was the overall favorite junior Jenelle Rogers of Oswego winning with a great leap of 5-7 followed by teammate sophomore Olivia Solis jumping a state qualifying mark of 5-3... let's see what both can do the next two weeks now. Aja Bradshaw and Jeneau McClain of Plainfield North went 1-2 in the long jump with marks of 17-5.5 and 17-1.5. Finally, Jayna Dias and Abby Ftacek of Oswego East hit 37-3 and 37-2.25 to go 1-2 in the triple jump. In the throws, Miranda Cadwell of Plainfield South swept with marks going 43-6.50 and 119-8 in the shot put and discus throw.
In the sprints, Rose Ogbuli of Plainfield East won both the 100m and 200m while not even feeling her very best. Her times were slower than normal only going 12.58 to win the 100m and 26.05 to win the 200m. The real surprise in the sprints was the winner of the 400m... It was the high jumper Rogers. She dropped a 1:00.81 for a very shocking win. For a non-event specialist that is an amazing time.
Overall, the girls SPC meet seemed to exceed all expectations that anyone had for it. This should make everyone excited about the upcoming weekend of action.