Posted Friday, May 12, 2006, The OG, sports

The Uni girls track team will compete in the Gibson City Class A sectional today, with berths in next week's state finals at Eastern Illinois University on the line. Seventeen schools will participate in the sectional, which begins at 4 p.m. (For directions to Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley High School, click here.)

To qualify for state, competitors in each event must finish in the top two or meet the automatic qualifying standards.

Uni's 3,200-meter relay team of senior Josie Chambers, sophomores Shivani Khanna and Ruthie Welch, and freshman Laura Hazlett is the school's best bet for making state. (Hazlett missed several meets this spring due to an injury; sophomore Samantha Nguyen ran in her place.)

Last week the 4x800 team took first place at the Lady Spartan Classic in St. Joseph with a time of 10 minutes, 17.33 seconds, breaking the state qualifying mark by more than six seconds. Since competing in the Unity Invitational on April 14, the squad has dropped 30.59 seconds off its time.

The 1,600 relay team of Welch, Chambers, junior Aria Collopy, and freshman Lizzy Warner also has a shot at qualifying today. Last week at the Lady Spartan Classic, the girls clocked in at 4:21.87, finishing third to Monticello (4:21.67) by a mere two-tenths of a second. For that matter, first-place Bloomington Central Catholic (4:20.64) edged the Uni squad by only 1.23 seconds.

Individually, freshman Elaine Gu has run strong in the 3,200 this spring, placing in the top three at most meets.

To catch up on how the team has performed this season, visit The Online Gargoyle's coverage of the Unity Girls Invitational, the Lady Falcon Invitational, the Lady Sages Invitational, and the Lady Spartan Classic.

— Gargoyle staff

TRACKING SHOTS
Below are photos from the Lady Falcon Invitational, which took place April 21 at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley High School, site of today's sectional. Click photos to enlarge.

photos by David Porreca