By Michael Belmont & Gargoyle sports staff

Posted Friday, May 18, 2007, The OG, girls track & sports

Senior Paige Martin attempts to clear 9 feet

during Friday's state prelims at O'Brien Stadium.

(Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

[Note: A separate photo essay on the girls state track meet is available here. For Lizzy Warner's first-person account of the state meet, click here.]

CHARLESTON — None of the Illineks competing in today's Class A girls state track prelims qualified for Saturday's final round of competition.

The 3,200-meter relay squad of sophomore Lizzy Warner, senior Aria Collopy, and juniors Shivani Khanna and Ruthie Welch finished with a time of 10 minutes, 12.77 seconds to place sixth in its 14-team heat and 17th out of 41 teams overall.

Only the 12 top teams from prelims will race on Saturday. Central A&M ran the fastest time today — 9:47.80.

The slowest of the teams that advanced — Stockton — ran 10:10.01.

The Illineks recorded their season-best time of 10:09.8 Monday night at the News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet.

Last Friday, the Illineks won their sectional with a time of 10:12.34 — almost identical to today's. But according to assistant coach Karl Knox, that was far short of what the team was aiming for.

“We thought we would have to run under 10 minutes to qualify, which is what we did last year,” he said.

In 2006, the team of Khanna, Welch, then-freshman Laura Hazlett and then-senior Josie Chambers cut almost 20 seconds from their sectional-winning time of 10:16.00 to finish ninth overall in prelims (9:56.38). The next day they ran 10:00.01 to place 12th in the finals.

According to head coach Doug Mynatt, Warner ran a personal best in her split today.

“Lizzy led off with a PR for her,” he said. “I had high hopes at that point, and it sort of went downhill from there. You've got to get all four of them together running their best race on the same day when you get to state. That didn't happen.”

“When we finished our race, we knew we hadn't run the best time that we could have,” Warner said. “Everyone could've pushed themselves a little more, and if it had worked out that way, I'm sure we could have been one of the top-finishing teams at finals. … We definitely wanted it, and we definitely had the potential. But as Doug said, we can all do really well, but it's about being able to do it all together.”

Also this morning, senior Paige Martin competed in the prelims for the pole vault. Early on she had trouble making heights that she usually clears with ease.

She needed three attempts to vault 9 feet. She failed in three attempts to make the next height, 9-3, and was out of contention for Saturday's final.

Nine girls cleared 10-0 today to advance. Martin finished 14th in her flight and 19th out of 41 competitors overall.

Martin won her sectional on May 10 when she vaulted 9-9. On Monday she won the News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet with a personal record of 10-6. (Since Martin is Uni's first female pole vaulter, all of her personal records this season have been school records as well.)

In the 1,600 run, freshman Elizabeth Russell clocked in at 5:53.40 to place 12th in her heat and 32nd out of 34 runners overall.

Olivia Klaus of Eureka turned in the fastest time — 5:06.26. The slowest of the 12 qualifers was Jamie Pfister of Lowpoint-Washburn — 5:20.10.

Russell entered the prelims with the 23rd fastest time (5:39.23) out of 38 qualifiers. She placed second last week at the Sidell (Jamaica) sectional.

The season is now over for the girls track and field team. The last female Illinek to win a medal at the state track finals remains Cindy Wang in 1995, who placed fifth in the 100 dash and sixth in the 200 dash. (To win an IHSA track medal, an athlete must finish in the top nine of his or her event.)

“I guess I'd just like to say that I'm proud of what we accomplished even if we didn't meet all of our goals,” said Khanna, who ran the third leg of the 4x800. “Sometimes it's just hard to get all four members of a relay to run their best on any given day. I think Paige and Elizabeth were phenomenal, and I'm just glad that we were all able to get out of sectionals and to state.”

With four of Uni's six qualifiers returning in 2008, the prospects of ending that state-medal drought are good for the Illineks.

“I'm excited to come back next year and have a stronger showing at state,” Khanna said. “The entire season was marked with improvement, and it's great to look back
and see what the entire team has accomplished.”

Added Warner: “The majority of the team will be back next year, so we're planning on coming back and being able to show them what we're really made of!”

2007 GIRLS VARSITY TRACK & FIELD RESULTS (OUTDOOR)

March 29: Gibson City Meet (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 5th (out of 5 teams), 30 pts

• STORY: Relay teams run season bests at Indoor Classic (Outdoor results included in story)

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 100: Rachel Skoza (so), 2nd, 14.35

— 3,200: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 3rd, 13:56.7

— 4x200 relay: Skoza, Katherine Allen (fr), Angie Jin (jr), Lizzy Warner (so), 3rd, 2:03.08

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Allen, Russell, Warner, 2nd, 4:41.6

— high jump: Russell, 3rd, 4-8

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 30-0

March 31: Champaign County Meet (at Urbana H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: No overall team standings were compiled

• STORY: Uni athletes take first in three events at county meet

• EVENT RESULTS (top 5 finishes):

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 4th, 1:09.8

— 3,200: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 5th, 14:01

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Warner, 4th, 2:00.1

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Allen, Linda Ly (fr), Warner, 1st, 4:49

— 4x800 relay: Shivani Khanna (jr), Elaine Gu (so), Aria Collopy (sr), Ruthie Welch (jr), 1st, 10:48

— high jump: Russell, 3rd, 4-6

— long jump: Angie Jin (jr), 4th, 14-1

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 29-11

April 10: Gibson City Tri-Meet (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 2nd (out of 3 teams)

• STORY: Uni athletes win 11 events against GCMS, PBL

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 200: Cheyenne Stewart (fr), 2nd, 31.04

— 400: Aria Collopy (sr), 1st, 1:07.41; Ruthie Welch (jr), 2nd, 1:08.6

— 800: Shivani Khanna (jr), 1st, 2:40.1; Elizabeth Russell (fr), 2nd, 2:45.6

— 1,600: Katie Easley (sr), 2nd, 6:56.8

— 3,200: Elaine Gu (so), 2nd, 13:02.6

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Stewart, Lizzy Warner (so), 1st, 2:00.6

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Skoza, Warner, 1st, 4:38.7

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Collopy, Welch, Khanna, 1st, 10:48.9

— long jump: Angela Jin (jr), 3rd, 12-1

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 28-9

April 13: Unity Girls Invitational (at Unity H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 11th (out of 21 teams)

• STORY: Relay teams run seasonal bests at Unity Invite

• EVENT RESULTS (top 10 finishes):

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 8th, 1:04.87; Aria Collopy (sr), 9th, 1:06.17

— 800: Ruthie Welch (jr), 3rd, 2:32.51

— 1,600: Elaine Gu (so), 4th, 5:55.02

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Elizabeth Russell (fr), Collopy, Warner, 5th, 4:33.48

— 4x800 relay: Welch, Collopy, Russell, Gu, 2nd, 10:39.24

— long jump: Angie Jin (jr), 8th, 13-07.25

— triple jump: Russell, 8th, 29-07.50

April 20: Falcon Invitational (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 11th (out of 16 teams)

• STORY: Illineks tune up for sectionals with Falcon Invitational

• EVENT RESULTS (top 5 finishes):

— 800: Ruthie Welch (jr), 5th, 2:35.77

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 3rd, 5:46.41; Shivani Khanna (jr), 5th, 5:47.14

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Aria Collopy (sr), Rachel Skoza (so), 5th, 4:37.85

— 4x800 relay: Welch, Collopy, Khanna, Elaine Gu (so), 2nd, 10:31.07

— Distance medley relay: Skoza, Gu, Linda Ly (fr), Katherine Allen (fr), 3rd, 4:56.25

April 24: Unity Dual Meet (at Unity H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 2nd (out of 2 teams)

• STORY: none. In several of the events, Uni faced no competition; in others the competitors were overwhelmingly from Unity High. The meet gave both teams a chance to experiment with different lineups. “The best thing about the meet was we learned how to compete against ourselves — how to push ourselves,” said junior Shivani Khanna.

April 27: Monticello Lady Sages Invitational (at Monticello H.S)

• TEAM FINISH: 14th (out of 21 teams)

• STORY: Martin, 4x800 team excel at Lady Sages Invitational

• EVENT RESULTS (top 15 finishes):

— 200: Rachel Skoza (so), 12th (semifinals heat), 29.79

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 10th, 1:05.84; Aria Collopy (sr), 12th, 1:06.55

— 800: Shivani Khanna (jr), 5th, 2:31.17; Ruthie Welch (jr), 7th, 2:33.44

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 5th, 5:49.10; Elaine Gu (so), 7th, 5:51.76

— 300 low hurdles: Paige Martin (sr), 14th, 55.60

— 4x200 relay: Skoza, Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Rachel Harmon (fr), 10th, 2:01.31

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Collopy, Warner, 7th, 4:26.79

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Khanna, Gu, Welch, 3rd, 10:15.50

— Triple jump: Martin, 7th, 30-0; Russell, 11th, 28-10.5

— Pole vault: Martin, 2nd, 9-0

May 4: Lady Spartan Classic (at St. Joseph-Ogden H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 9th (out of 18 teams)

• STORY: Shorthanded Uni turns in strong performance at Lady Spartan Classic

• EVENT RESULTS (top 6 finishes):

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 6th, 5:52.63

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Rachel Harmon (fr), 5th, 1:57.11

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Russell, Aria Collopy (sr), Lizzy Warner (so), 6th (tie with St. Thomas More), 4:31.28

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Shivani Khanna (jr), Collopy, Ruthie Welch (jr), 3rd, 10:22.01

— Triple jump: Paige Martin (sr), 2nd, 31-6

— Pole vault: Martin, 1st, 10-0

May 10: Class A Sidell (Jamaica) Sectional (at St. Joseph-Ogden H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: not applicable (this was for pole vault only)

• STORY: Martin wins sectional title in pole vault

• EVENT RESULT:

— Pole vault: Paige Martin (sr), 1st, 9-9 (IHSA state qualifier) (automatic state qualifying standard: 8-6)

May 11: Class A Sidell (Jamaica) Sectional (at Catlin H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 8th (out of 16 teams)

• STORY: Illineks advance to state meet in three events

• EVENT RESULTS (top 6 finishes):

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 6th, 1:05.55 (automatic state qualifying time: 1:02.04)

— 800: Ruthie Welch (jr), 4th, 2:35.83; Shivani Khanna (jr), 5th, 2:35.97 (automatic state qualifying time: 2:27.24)

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 2nd, 5:39.23 (IHSA state qualifier) (automatic state qualifying time: 5:36.24)

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Aria Collopy (sr), Khanna, Welch, 1st, 10:12.34 (IHSA state qualifiers) (automatic state qualifying time: 10:23.74)

— Triple jump: Paige Martin (sr), 5th, 31-6; Russell, 6th, 30-10.5 (automatic state qualifying standard: 33-5)

May 14: News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet (at U of I Track & Field Stadium)

• TEAM FINISH: not applicable

• STORY: Illineks impress at News-Gazette Honor Roll Meet

• EVENT RESULTS (all finishes):

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 6th, 5:49.15

— 4x800 relay: Lizzy Warner (so), Aria Collopy (sr), Shivani Khanna (jr), Ruthie Welch (jr), 2nd, 10:09.8

— Pole vault: Paige Martin (sr), 1st, 10-6 (school record)

May 18: Class A State Meet (at O'Brien Stadium, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston)

• TEAM FINISH: not applicable

• STORY: see above

• EVENT RESULTS (all finishes):

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 12th (in prelim heat), 32nd (in prelims overall), 5:53.40

— 4x800 relay: Lizzy Warner (so), Aria Collopy (sr), Shivani Khanna (jr), Ruthie Welch (jr), 6th (in prelim heat), 17th (in prelims overall), 10:12.77

— Pole vault: Paige Martin (sr), 14th (in prelim flight), 19th (in prelims overall), 9-0