May 25, 2025
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‘Stronger,’ ‘faster’ Alyssa Stacy of Sycamore earns 2 medals

By Joe Aguilar
Sycamore’s Alyssa Stacy, center, finishes just behind Joliet Catholic’s Symone Holman, left, in the competes in the 200 m dash during the IHSA Class 2A Girls Track & Field State Finals on Saturday, May 24, 2025.

Sycamore’s Alyssa Stacy, center, finishes just behind Joliet Catholic’s Symone Holman, left, in the competes in the 200 m dash during the IHSA Class 2A Girls Track & Field State Finals on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Tiffany Blanchette/Tiffany Blanchette)

CHARLESTON – Alyssa Stacy was stumped.

For some reason, one she couldn’t figure out, the Sycamore sprinter couldn’t drop times on the track last spring.

So as soon as the cross country season ended last fall, she started training for sprinting.

Saturday, the senior walked off O’Brien Field with Class 2A medals in the 100 and 200-meter dashes and a smile brighter than the sun shining down on Eastern Illinois University’s stadium during the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet.

“I just never gained any progress at all [last season],” said Stacy, who had advanced to state in the 100 dash as a sophomore. “So this season I was like, ‘It’s not happening again.’ I spent my entire off-season training, went to the gym every other day. I really pushed to get stronger and get faster.”

She showed off her speed first in the 100, placing eighth (12.48 seconds). She then bettered that finish by taking sixth in the 200 (25.48).

An offseason of relentless training, determination and positive thoughts had paid off.

“I was really proud of myself,” said Stacy, who will next run for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. “I wasn’t expecting to make it to finals. I was more likely in the 200, but I wasn’t really confident in the 100. I just came here to run and have fun, and then I kind of surprised myself, actually.”

Genoa-Kingston‘s 4x100 relay took seventh in Class 2A, running a season-best 48.76 seconds. That might have been a surprise prediction at the start of the season considering the foursome’s lack of varsity experience. Senior Ava Hardy was joined by sophomore Natasha Bianchi, freshman Jessie Fredrickson and sophomore Presley Meyer.

Genoa-Kingston's 4x100 relay members (from left) Natasha Bianchi, Presley Meyer, Jessie Fredrickson and Ava Hardy pose for a picture after finishing seventh in Class 2A during the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet on Saturday, May 24, 2025, in Charleston.

Genoa-Kingston's 4x100 relay members (from left) Natasha Bianchi, Presley Meyer, Jessie Fredrickson and Ava Hardy pose for a picture after finishing seventh in Class 2A during the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet on Saturday, May 24, 2025, in Charleston. (Joe Aguilar)

“We did really good as a team,” Bianchi said.

“I think the clean handoffs is what really made it stand out because none of us ever stopped,” Fredrickson said. “We trained really hard.”

Meyer wasn’t surprised, in truth.

“We’ve been PR’ing since the beginning of the year,” Meyer said. “We just keep getting better, so it felt really good.”

Sycamore junior Krista Cobb won the Class 2A fifth-place medal in the discus (38.63 meters).

For DeKalb, Sydney Myles in the high jump (13th, 1.55) and Alyssa Tumminaro in the pole vault (11th, 3.45) finished shy of medals.

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