Girls Meet of Champions will welcome a world-class field into Chicago for an explosive end-of-season competition.
Indiana's 200m and 400m state champion Ramiah Elliott (North Central HS, Indianapolis) will headline the sprint events this weekend. Elliot is entered in the 100m and 200m. In the 200m, middle school standout Katelyn Lehnen (Glenwood) will match up against heavyweight competition for one of the first times. Expect her 25.42 200m PR to drop as she gets acclimated to the high school status quo.
Pole vault will be the star field event on Saturday as it features last weekend's state champions in all three classifications: Windsor Roberts (Tri-Valley), Tori Thomas (Rock Island Alleman), and Lillianna Ifft (Bloomington). Thomas already owns the 13-9.25 Illinois state record and may vie to improve upon that mark while surrounded by some of the nation's best competition.
In the 800m, graduated seniors Marianne Mihas (Chicago Latin) and Bronwyn Patterson (Edgewater, MD) will lead the charge. Both have run sub-2:10 this season and will likely aim to carve lower beneath that mark before heading to college in the fall. They will be joined by last weekend's Illinois all-staters Audrey Allman (Glenbard West), Bella Domier (Grayslake Central), and Jordyn Miller (Mundelein).
The 3200m field is loaded with runners, many of whom may be dark horses. The apparent top three will be Audrey Dadamio (Birmingham, MI), Ava Parekh (Chicago Latin), and Josephine Welin (Oak Park-River Forest). However, we could see potential breakthrough races from Ali Ince (Normal Community), Elia Ton-That (Northside Prep), and Lexi Affolter (St. Ignatius), to name a few, who have mostly focused on the 800m/1600m so far this season.
The 1600m will be the event to end off the weekend, and what a finale it will be. Throw four girls with sub-4:50 PRs onto Hope Academy's blue track -- Dadamio, Ince, Welin, and Parekh -- and the results are bound to make waves across the nation. In total, 14 girls have sub-5:00 PRs, so spectators will have no trouble keeping their eyes glued to the field.