Barrington’s Molly Glantz heard the gasp from the crowd at Eastern Illinois’ O’Brien Stadium as she and teammate Samantha Learch mishandled the final baton exchange of the Class AA 3,200-meter relay Saturday.
Glantz had started to leave too early, so she stopped, grabbed the baton from Learch’s hand and checked that her feet were still in the exchange zone. They were, and that meant the state championship — and state-meet record — were still hers for the taking.
The Cornell-bound senior anchored the Fillies to a winning relay time of 9 minutes 4.14 seconds, topping the 9:07.89 set by Wheaton North in 2006. The mark, one of six meet records set on a warm, sunny weekend at the girls state track and field meet, propelled defending champion Barrington to a Chicago-area-best second-place finish in the Class AA team race.
“At least [the baton] didn’t drop,” Glantz said. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to end this race on a bad note.’ So we made up for it. It’s awesome. We won the relay last year, so this year the next-best thing was to go for the win and also go for the record.”
Glantz, who has been running with relay teammates Rebecca Tracy, Kala Bingham and Learch since middle school, also placed fourth in the 300 hurdles and ran on the third-place 1,600 relay. Tracy tied for second in the 1,600.
Barrington couldn’t overcome East St. Louis and sprinting sensation Ronecia Nash, who finished with titles in the 100, 200, 100 hurdles and 400 relay. The Flyerettes totaled 65 points to the Fillies’ 38.
Conant and Batavia tied for third with 34 points each. Benton won the Class A title.
The Cougars, led by senior Toni Graham, played second fiddle to East St. Louis in all but one sprint race. Conant lost to the Flyerettes’ record 400 relay (46.23), and Graham finished second to Nash in the 100 and 200. But Graham earned her moment at the finish line when she anchored the all-senior 800 relay of Briana Millar, Emily Quinones and Destiny Arps to a win in 1:38.96.
“In the [400 relay], I felt like I had a little bit to do with that, so I felt it was my responsibility to bring it on home [in the 800 relay],” Graham said. “We got the baton in first, and I thought, ‘When you get the baton in first, you have to do more than just win it.’ So we went for it.”
In a budding rivalry, Batavia junior Natalie Tarter ran a 42.14 in the 300 hurdles to top Waubonsie Valley junior Shakeia Pinnick, who won the matchup at sectionals. Tarter placed second in the 100 hurdles to Pinnick’s fourth.
“I knew my steps were off [in the 300 hurdles] in sectionals, and I just pictured it in my head the whole week of practice — the last straightaway,” Tarter said. “It’s definitely a huge shock. I just wanted a state first place in anything.”
Bailey Wagner’s discus record of 157 feet 8 inches, thrown in the prelims, stood through the finals. The Grant senior was unable to defend her two-time shot put title as Mahomet-Seymour’s Daniella Bunch broke her own record from Friday with a throw of 49-4 3/4. Wagner finished second.
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ckane@tribune.com
