Posted Saturday, May 6, 2006, The OG, sports

In two straight meets this spring, Uni's 3,200-meter relay team finished behind area powerhouse Unity by less than a second.

At the Lady Falcons Invitational in Gibson City on April 21 and the Lady Sages Invitational in Monticello a week later, the Illinek squad trimmed its time impressively but still came tantalizingly short of beating the girls from Tolono.

On Friday the Illineks finally reached the finish line first.

Running a season-best time of 10 minutes, 17.33 seconds, the 4x800 team of sophomores Ruthie Welch, Samantha Nguyen, and Shivani Khanna and senior Josie Chambers won the 3,200 relay at the Lady Spartan Classic in St. Joseph.

By recent standards, the result wasn't even close — Uni beat the Rockets by more than seven seconds (Unity clocked in at 10:24.56). Third-place Bloomington Central Catholic finished 41.26 seconds off the mark.

On top of that, Uni's 4x800 team met the Class A state-qualifying standard by more than six seconds. Since competing in the Unity Invitational on April 14, the squad has dropped 30.59 seconds off its time.

“I thought the times we ran were great,” said Khanna. “[Beating Unity] gave us the confidence we need to go into the state series strong.”

Also at the Lady Spartan Classic, Uni's 1,600 relay team of Welch, Chambers, junior Aria Collopy, and freshman Lizzy Warner placed third with a time of 4:21.87. The girls were barely edged out by second-place Monticello (4:21.67) and first-place Bloomington Central Catholic (4:20.64).

Individually, Khanna placed third in the 800 (2:34.58), Warner finished fourth in the 400 (1:04.28), and freshman Laura Hazlett earned fifth in the 800 (2:37.45).

Overall, Uni placed ninth in the 18-team meet.

Next up: Class A sectionals this Friday. The Illineks will compete in the 17-team Gibson City (G.C.-Melvin-Sibley) bracket. Look for a preview in The Online Gargoyle later this week.

— Gargoyle staff