High school girls track and field: Relay dream comes true for Lyons Township at state meet

CHARLESTON – Lyons Township’s 4x400-meter relay of sophomore Renata Wingert, senior Maggie Caplice and juniors Sonia Slusarczyk and Tara Schwarz surprised many in their first outdoor race together by winning the West Suburban Silver meet.

At the Class 3A girls track and field state finals May 20 at Eastern Illinois University, the Lions surprised even themselves.

The Lions finished second in 3:55.49 – the second-fastest time in school history – after being ninth last year (4:03.09) with Slusarcyzk, Caplice and Schwarz and Wingert an alternate.

“Honestly, it’s like a fairy-tale ending because never in my wildest dreams [was second possible],” Caplice said. “I cannot describe it. ... In the beginning of the season, we thought top five would be a dream for us.”

Slusarczyk was sixth in the 100 high hurdles (15.34), and sophomore Emily Henkel took ninth in the 3,200 run (10:52.96) for top-nine, all-state honors for the Lions.

Junior Emma Fink made the high jump finals and placed 12th (5 feet, 1 inch).

It was LT’s highest 4x400 relay finish, although the one-mile relay was second in 1975 and 1976. The 2009 4x400 team was eighth after a school-record 3:54.67 in prelims.

This year’s 4x400 time of 3:56.97 in the state prelims was third-fastest.

The same quartet just missed making the 4x100 finals with their prelim time of 50.06 seconds.

“We wanted to stay on the blocks of the podium [for top-five finishers] because last year we were on the grass,” Caplice said.

Schwarz’s 57.8-second anchor split helped LT pass East St. Louis for second place by .13 seconds.

“She was slowing down at the end. I had to push and catch her,” Schwarz said. “I tried to lean [at the finish].”

Slusarcyzk owns LT’s No. 4 times in both the 100 hurdles (14.99 May 19) and 300 low hurdles (46.48) and earned her first state berths in both, just missing the 300 finals with a time of 45.541.

Slusarczyk and her 4x400 relay teammates had their hair braided by sophomore alternate Lizzy Scotty.

“We all wanted to look fierce, not fearful. I think we sent a message,” Slusarczyk said. “This is why we came here. Hurdles, I was like whatever happens. I was so shocked to make [100 hurdles] finals.”

Olivia Kalata (10 feet) and Julia Cozzi (9-6) in pole vault, the 4x800 relay of Madeline Cranny, Marta Kogucki, Maggie Abbs and Megan Ng (9:36.61), the 4x200 quartet of Wingert, Caplice, Kyla Miller and Natalie Swinehart (1:45.92), Cara Paliakas in the 1,600 (5:09.54), and Miller in the 200 dash (26.86) ran at state but missed finals.

In the 3,200, Henkel improved from 25th in 2016, when she ran a 11:20.28. An all-state 16th in cross country, Henkel and injured sophomore Sarah Barcelona ran the No. 3 and 1 times in LT history April 22 in 10:48.31 and 10:43.80, respectively.

“What I’m going to take away from this is my teammates, the race and all of the hard work,” Henkel said. “This is amazing. This is what we strive for, but this is just a medal.”

Fenwick

Margaret O’Brien ran an 11:44.64 in the Class 2A 3,200-meter run at the state meet May 20 to finish 16th.

Claire Gatermann in pole vault (10 feet) and Colleen Grogan in 100 hurdles (15.55 seconds) and 300 hurdles (47.18) competed in prelims for the Friars.

Morton

Claudia Rodriguez in long jump (17 feet, 0.75 inches) and triple jump (34-6), Tamara Dzolic (34-10.5) and Samantha Quiroga (34-9.25) in shot put, Zahra Sammour in 100-meter hurdles (17.07 seconds), Nija Redmond in the 100 dash (12.55) and 400 dash (58.99), and Veronica Navarette in the 800 run (2:25.72) competed in Class 3A state prelims but did not make the finals.

Nazareth

Maeve Roach ran a time of 1:00.85 in the 400-meter dash prelims May 19 at the Class 2A state meet.

Riverside Brookfield

Tara Janney clocked a time of 11:40.39 in Heat 1 of the 3,200-meter run May 20 at the Class 3A state meet.