Carrie Fleming got the scare of her life Friday. After finishing the first heat of the 300 low hurdles, the Prospect senior looked at the scoreboard in the southeast corner of O’Brien Stadium and stared in disbelief as the clock registered 46 seconds.
Fleming, who finished second as a sophomore and seventh last year, had the fastest sectional qualifying time, 44.04. Friday she won her heat by 10 yards but was shocked and disappointed with the 46.
Discouraged, she left the track and met her coach, Dave Wurster. Wurster told her she ran great. Fleming said, “What?” Wurster told her she ran a 43.
It turned out the scoreboard clock showed the time of the last-place finisher in her heat. Fleming’s time was 43.76, the fastest of the nine qualifying times.
The field includes Fleming’s arch rival Kerry Fink of Hersey who ran the second fastest qualifying time of 44.10. Tomorrow will be the final showdown between the two seniors who go to schools less than 3 miles apart and have been battling it out for the last four years.
They have only met twice this year with Fink winning at the Mid-Suburban league conference meet two weeks ago and Fleming winning at the Prospect sectional last week. Fink finished second last year at the state meet.
The 300 hurdles final field also includes Evanston’s Natasha Foreman who qualified with a 44.36, Dawn Harden of Crete-Monee who ran a 44.92 and Kelly Faber of Glenbard North who ran 45.04. The field was so tough that Crystal Riley of Morgan Park who finished fourth last year failed to qualify for the finals.
“It’s going to be a really good race to watch tomorrow, and to run in,” said Fleming.
Fleming also led off Prospect’s medley and 400 relay teams that qualified for the finals. Prospect’s Megan Wadas qualified in the 400 with a 57.2 and ran the 200 leg on the medley and anchored the 400 relay. But Wurster took a calculated risk and held her out of the 1,600 relay, and the Knights missed qualifying by a scant 0.44, running a 4:01.13 even without Wadas.
No-show: Geneva’s Rebecca Mitchell, the state’s two-time defending Class AA cross-country champion, apparently decided to concentrate on the 3,200 meters at the state meet this year. Mitchell, a sophomore, opted not to defend her title in the 1,600 meters and did not show up for her preliminary heat. Mitchell was not seen in Charleston Friday, apparently deciding to wait until the 3,200 on Saturday to make an appearance at O’Brien Stadium. The 3,200 is the only event without a qualifying heat. Mitchell, the state cross-country champion, had the second fastest sectional time in the 3,200 at 11:12.2, well behind a 10:51.2 turned in by Ann Gaffigan of Springfield Sacred-Heart Griffin.
Last year Mitchell won the 1,600 and opted to skip the 3,200. Her absence was noted by her friend and rival Tera Moody of St. Charles.
“I don’t know where Becca was,” said Moody. “I was looking forward to racing her. She is a good friend and rival.”
Moody was full of energy after running a 5:08.06 to finish third in her 1,600 heat and qualify for Saturday’s final. Moody ran a 4:57 last year in the prelims and then weakened by asthma struggled to merely finish the 1,600 final coming in last.
“Prelims are nothing,” Moody said. “Last year I ran a 4:57 and that contributed to my sickness. I don’t want to make any mistakes like that last year. Last year wasn’t much fun, but this year so far was a blast.”
Hersey junior, Sarah Spalding, won Moody’s heat and had the fastest qualifying time, 5:03.96, a personal best. Spalding also decided to skip a race. She qualified in the 800 in which she finished sixth a year ago, but decided to focus on the 1,600 this year, an event she skipped last year. Unlike Moody Spalding thought it was important to win her heat.
“I wanted to try and win,” Spalding said. “I think it is a confidence builder.”
Eight runners ran under 5:10 in the 1,600.
It’s the shoes: Warren’s Kristen Pace wore her new high-jump shoes last weekend and improved from a season best 5-7 to 5-11 to qualify for this weekend’s state meet. The 6-foot-1-inch junior cleared 5-5 in Friday’s preliminary round to qualify for Saturday’s final. The special high-jump shoes have spikes in the heals and allow for a more powerful pushoff.
“That was what I was having the most trouble with,” said Pace, who took the suggestion of one of the members of her church to try the shoes. “I almost went 6-feet in sectionals. I was really close.”
Ms. Basketball’s plan: Allison Curtin of Taylorville, Illinois’ Ms. Basketball, has a surprise in store for University of Illinois woman’s basketball coach Theresa Grentz. Curtin hopes to run track as well as play basketball at Illinois next year.
Although Curtin doesn’t enjoy track as much as basketball, she believes she has barely scratched the surface of her track potential.
“Track I enjoy, but it is so much harder than basketball,” said Curtin. “My mother says look at what you’ve done without hardly working at it. She says what if someone really worked with you and you really worked at it.”
Curtin qualified for the finals in the 400 winning her preliminary heat in 57.46, the fourth fastest time of the day, and in the long jump with a leap of 18-3. She failed to qualify in the 100 dash, running a 13.12. Last year at state, Curtin finished fifth in the long jump. Curtin was hoping to run better Saturday.
“I didn’t feel it today,” said Curtin. “I was just blah.”
Friendly rivalry: The 800 state final Saturday in Class AA shapes up as a battle between best of friends. Defending champion Christin Wurth of Bloomington will be battling it out with Katie Butler of Normal. Until Wurth moved to Bloomington from Normal after her freshman year at Normal Wurth and Butler live just a block apart.
“We used to be best friends,” said Wurth..
Now they are friendly rivals. Butler ran the fastest qualifying time Friday with a 2:14.21 to narrowly edge Lake Forest sophomore Kara Mullin in the first qualifying heat. Wurth, who missed three weeks of training earlier this spring with tendinitis in her hips, ran a 2:14.38 to win the second heat finishing ahead of Ruth Kipping of Quincy by almost 3 seconds. Kipping was third last year and will play basketball next year for the University of Michigan.
“I’m very happy,” Wurth said. Hopefully tomorrow I can run better.”
Wurth later decided to skip the 1,600 in which she had also qualified at sectionals to save her energy for tomorrow’s 800 final.
Short run: It was a disappointing afternoon for Providence-St. Mel senior Nyasha Scott, who failed to qualify for the Class A finals in both the 100 and 200 dashes after finishing second in both last year. Scott managed to help her 400- and 800-meter relay teams qualify for the finals. The 400 relay had the fastest preliminary time of 50.70. The 800 relay team grabbed the final qualifying spot with a time of 1:49.07.
Scott was without a coach until the start of the outdoor season when boys basketball coach Billy Garrett was recruited to take over the girls track team after last year’s coach, Jackie Hariss, retired and replacements didn’t pan out.
“When everybody else was training, I was just looking for a coach,” Scott said.
Final four: Timothy Christian qualified three relays and high jumper Summer Reynolds for Saturday’s Class A finals in the Class A preliminaries. Reynolds cleared 5-3 and ranked fifth among all qualifiers for the finals. The Trojans’ 1,600-relay team will enter the finals with the fastest preliminary time of 4:10.05.
One and only: Kristin Owens of Tri-Valley was a very busy person Saturday afternoon. The senior qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 100, 200, 400 and the long jump. She could give Tri-Valley, a school near Bloomington with a graduating of class of 52, the team title all by herself. Last year Tri-Valley finished fifth with points won solely by Owens, who won the 100 and the 200, finished third in the long jump and seventh in the 400.
