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Sports

Girls State Track: Tigers Sending Large Contingent to Class 3A Meet

Wheaton North and St. Francis also will be represented in the Class 3A and Class 2A meets, respectively, this weekend.

The Tigers clearly have one of their best girls track teams in recent years.

Wheaton Warrenville South nipped a formidable Glenbard West squad by two points (86-84) to win last Thursday’s Glenbard North sectional. Now the Tigers—with nine individuals in seven events and three relay teams—are setting their sights on the Class 3A state meet, which starts Friday and concludes with the finals on Saturday at Eastern Illinois University.

If the expected teams reach Saturday’s 4x800 relay final, that race alone should be worth the price of admission.

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The Tigers’ team, consisting of McKenna Kiple, Hope Schmelzle, Mikayla Kightlinger and Amy Yong, has the best time qualifying time of any 4x800 quartet that's going into the state meet (9:13.65)— eight seconds ahead of Schaumburg’s state-qualifying time (9:21.83).

But these times don’t tell the real story. Downers North, with fourth-best state qualifying time (9:23.15), actually owns the state’s top 4x800 time for the season at 9:13.27. Schaumburg is No. 2 in the state with a season-best of 9:13.47 (which it posted three weeks ago), and the Tigers are third with their 9:13.65.

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Downers North, Schaumburg and Wheaton South’s 4x800 teams are ranked 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively, in the nation, according to ESPN Rise’s dyestat.com rankings.

The Tigers’ 4x400 team, with Kiple, Yong, Schmelzle and Emily Phillip, has the seventh-best qualifying time among teams going into the state meet at 4:00.16. Wheaton South also will be sending its 4x200 team of Maggie Dansdill, Jesse Spera, Kelli O’Dwyer and Jenny Fiola downstate.  

Wheaton South has two representatives each in the pole vault, 800-meter run and high jump. Emily Schwartz, who vaulted 11 feet at last year’s state meet, returns after going 10-9 at sectionals. She’ll be joined by Miranda Dillon, who placed fourth at sectionals but equaled the state-qualifying height of 10-3.

Six of the top 10 state-qualifying runners in the 800 came out of the Glenbard North sectional. Kiple placed second in the sectional race and has the second-best state qualifying time (2:15.21) while Schmelzle, who took fifth, has the seventh-best qualifying time (2:17.38).

Kasey Gassensmith is one of six state-qualifying high jumpers who have cleared 5-5. The leading jump going into the state meet is held by Cary-Grove’s Carly Loeffel, who’s jumped 5-7. Erin Zappia also will represent Wheaton South in this event after reaching the state-qualifying height of 5-3 at sectionals.

Other Tiger state qualifiers on the track include Dansdill in the 200 and Kightlinger in the 1,600. In the field events, Desirae Ranberg placed second at sectionals in the discus with a throw of 117-2 to qualify for state.

Wheaton North

Senior Shenelle Burnett punches a return ticket to state after qualifying in both the 100 high and 300 low hurdles. Burnett finished second in the 300 lows and was third in the 100 highs at Glenbard North. Last spring, she qualified for state in the 100 highs.

Kelly O’Connor is the Falcons’ other state-bound track performer. The first-time qualifier was fourth in the long jump at Glenbard North, but reached the state-qualifying mark of 17-3.

St. Francis

A handful of Spartans will take part in the Class 2A meet this weekend.

Katy Garcia, a senior, qualified in two events for St. Francis. She enters the high jump competition with a chance at a state title. Garcia is one of several qualifiers who’ve jumped 5-2. Three girls going into the meet have jumped 5-4.

Garcia ran to a second-place finish at the Glenbard South sectional in the 300 low hurdles (47.40 seconds) to qualify.

Kelly McShea, one of St. Francis’ most successful long-distance runners, will line up for the final time in her prep career this weekend as she competes for an all-state medal in the 1,600. McShea’s 5:16.93 is the eighth-best time among this year’s state qualifiers.

St. Francis’ 4x800 relay team of McShea, Lauran Callahan, Ann Kolker and Alyssa Robinson—all seniors—has the fifth-best qualifying time in the state field going into the weekend (9:47.96).  

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