There were many close and competitive events at the HF ABC Girls Invitational
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RESULTS I VIDEOS I PHOTOS
Homewood, IL - This invite has become synonymous with power weekend over the past few years as it has been one of the leading "Power Weekend" meets. This year's version of the event provided the same amount of hype, if not more than previous installments.
The action got off with a bang with the girls 4x800m which saw some emerging relays compete. The Indians of Minooka found themselves the champions as they crossed the line in 10:12.43 for the win over conference rival Oswego East.
The highly anticipated 60H race was the next event on the track. Homewood-Flossmoor senior Ana-Liese Torian got the expected win in 9.28, according to her coaches she had to switch her leadoff leg mid-race. One of the causes for her time not being as fast as previous races this season. She seemed to let off the gas as she came off the last hurdle as well. Torian attempted to get a double victory in the back-to-back events but was unable to dethrone the sprinter from Kenwood, Jaliyah Shepherd who ran a season-best 7.73.
One of the more underrated races of the day was the 3200m which saw a close and exciting matchup between a few athletes that were really looking to break out and make a name for themselves. This ended up being an excellent bout with Shania Tandon of Naperville North vs Brittney Burak of Huntley making it interesting till the end with Tandon running a huge 11:11.73 for the win.
The 800m was much more intriguing with Kori Henderson of Whitney Young blazing her first 200m going through at 32 seconds and dragging the field through to a fast start. Around 69 seconds at the halfway point spelled an excellent race as the field caught up to Henderson. Katie Roche of Sandburg was the one to really take the race from this point and it led to a fabulous 2:23.46.
The 4x200m was the next on the track with it consisting of a few teams looking to shake up the early season 4x200m leaderboards. The current state leader Kenwood ran a "B team" here and is still impressed taking a 2nd place finish in 1:47.14. They were unable to dethrone the Huntley Red Raiders in this bout who recovered well after a sloppy first exchange.
The marquee event of the day was the next event to grace the track as the talk all meet had been who will win the matchup between Asia Thomas of Kenwood, Angela Alozie of Homewood-Flossmoor, and Naomi Bey-Osborne of Kankakee. The three got out hot in 26.6. Thomas was in the lead and held it all the way up until the final turn where Alozie took a slight lead over the state leader. Unfortunately being on the outside going into the curve caused Alozie to expend more energy than needed and allowed Thomas to hold off for the win.
The 1600m took center stage with names such as Nikki Chopra of Whitney Young, Caroline Schoen of Homewood-Flossmoor, and Natalie Quinn of OPRF leading a talented field. Much like the 800m this race was strung out early due to the fast-paced first lap as the group came through in 34 seconds. The group was led by Schoen and Quinn with Chopra hanging in the background. Chopra took the lead around the 4th lap and didn't look back. Winning the race in 5:12.09.
The 200m followed with Torian winning her second event of the day in 25.84. Nobody challenged the star sprinter as she cruised in preparation for her 4x4 double. The track events were capped off by an excellent race in the 4x400m relay. Kenwood commanded an early lead loading up with Thomas running the second leg to open a huge lead for the Broncos. On the second exchange, Kenwood had an easy 50m lead over the Vikings of HF. Torian looked possessed as she willed her way into a neck-on-neck exchange on the anchor. Where her teammate Alozie brought home a huge win for the home team in 4:04.87.
In the field marks such as Elissa Perkins of Plainfield East who jumped 18-8 in the Long Jump, Alexandria Johnson of Huntley who jumped 39-1.25 in the Triple Jump, Joscelyn Dieckman of DeKalb who jumped 12-3.25 in the Pole Vault, and Reese Garland of OPRF who threw 39-6.75 in the Shot Put all ranked with the top five performances for the respective events indoors. Overall the meet had a little bit of something for every fan and we are excited to see a lot of the same teams match up next week at Lakes.