Kara Glenn knew that she had just enough left in the tank, somehow.

With just 400 meters to go in the Class 3A 1,600-meter run, the St. Charles North sophomore found herself in the midst of the lead pack of four runners, which included Barrington’s Mia Sirois, who beat Glenn in the 3,200 earlier in the day.

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Jacob’s Lennox Szymonik stays with the pack in the Class 3A 1600 meters at the IHSA state championships on Saturday, May 23, 2026 in Charleston. (Gary Middendorf)

But even though she had ran a mile more than the fastest 3,200 runner in state history, Glenn showed how eager she was to bring an end to an all-time performance at the IHSA girls track and field state meet.

“It was just a matter of conserving the little of what I had left for the end,” Glenn said. “It was my last event, I heard the bell and just told myself to go for it. It wasn’t even a matter of time, I just wanted to be done and get back home.”

Glenn crossed the line in 4:41.28 for the title, putting an end to a historic performance where she won three state titles, the first ones in St. Charles North history, while adding a second-place finish to carry the team to a fourth-place finish at the state meet in Charleston.

“I just did what I’ve wanted to do for such a long time,” Glenn said. “Since January, this has been the No. 1 goal, this is what I’ve wanted to do. My coach told me it’s been done before and if anyone could do it again it could be me.

“It was very hard, but I’m glad I did it. It was definitely a challenge, but I’m really proud of my performance.”

Glenn was the only athlete at the state meet to secure wins across three different events on the day. Her 38 points scored was also the most among any athlete.

Besides her win in the 1,600, she also secured an individual title in the 800 in 2:05.66 and a second-place finish in the 3,200, running a 10:11.59 in a solo effort in the first heat.

“I’m definitely very tired,” Glenn said. “But I’m looking forward to cross country and having great competition there. And I definitely think from the team side, we’ll get some more relay teams down here next year, and you can expect more from this St. Charles North team in the future because we are definitely up and coming.”

The North Stars put forth a big team effort to lead off the track events, with Glenn joining Gwen Hobson, Julia Rodney and Alana Gupta in the 4x800 to run a 8:54.5, securing the first state title in program history while also shattering the state meet record by five seconds.

“It’s so amazing to finally be on top of that podium,” said Rodney, who also added a ninth-place finish in the 800 in 2:12.59 for All-State honors. “Last year we were the top seed in the preliminary round and then took seventh, and I think that really motivated us to keep on winning, and this is just super fun.”

In the race before the North Stars’ historic feat, St. Francis secured a spot back atop the podium in the Class 2A 4x800, with the team of Alicen Sheldon, Elena Mamminga, Margaret Andrzejewski and Erin Hinsdale running a 9:18.81, reclaiming the title the quartet won back in 2024.

“I was just so happy that we all got to run together one last time before Margaret graduates,” Mamminga said. “And to make it even better we won it again, which was really exciting.”

Mamminga, Andrzjewski and Hinsdale all finished doubling up on All-State honors on the day. Andrzjewski, a Georgetown commit, took third in the 800 in 2:12.48, Hinsdale took fourth in the 1,600 in 5:04.92 and Mamminga, on very short rest from the state title run, took fifth in the 3,200 in 11:00.68 to help the Spartans to a seventh-place finish in Class 2A.

“Part of me wishes I PR’d in the 3,200, but it was a lot and I still moved up a place from last year,” Mamminga said. “As a freshman, there was no expectations in the 4x800 since I had no other events on finals day. But I was just having fun this year, and it felt amazing to win that race and still be OK for another event right after.”

Aurora Central Catholic senior Cecilia Hilby was also a state champion, with the DePaul commit winning the Class 2A 800 with a personal-best time of 2:11.53, securing the title after getting sixth and fifth in the event over the past two years.

“It’s just relief knowing that all my hard work has paid off,” Hilby said. “I took a risk and didn’t play basketball this year so I could train during the winter more. I was nervous because I really like playing, but it paid off and I would take this feeling over and over again.”

The senior made the decisive move with 250 meters to go, jumping into the lead and holding off a surge from Prairie Ridge’s Anneke Dam, only taking a peak back with 50 meters to go before crossing the line with pure joy.

“I knew when I made the move that if I didn’t move, someone else was going to,” Hilby said. “My coach told me to take it no matter what with 150 to go, and I was just kind of nervous that someone would pass me in that final stretch, but it’s just an unreal feeling.”

Junior Molly Russelburg had the other All-State finish for the Chargers, improving on her fifth-place finish a season ago by taking third in the pole vault with a vault of 3.55 meters.

“I came in hoping for a higher place and higher bar, but I can only do so much,” Russelburg said. “I just came in trying to stay calm and stay cool, and I feel like I did the best I could, and I got a pretty good outcome out of it.”

Batavia finished with four All-State performances on the day.

Junior Abby Wirth finished with All-State in both horizontal jumps, taking seventh in the long jump with a leap of 5.51 meters and a third-place finish in the triple, jumping 11.8 meters. It was the first time she made it to the finals in the triple jump after finishing 13th in each of the past two seasons.

“It’s really a full-circle moment that feels amazing,” Wirth said. “My first jump in the triple jump was rough, but I had my coaches and support team all around me telling me that I could do it and I should believe in myself, and honestly that helped me get there.”

Sophomore Ingrid Wit took sixth place in the Class 3A shot put with a personal-best throw of 12.59 meters, junior Avery Hacker took seventh-place in the 3,200 with a personal-best of 10:28.4.

Burlington Central sophomore LaRaiya Cunningham-Duncan earned two Class 3A state medals, finishing third in the long jump (personal-best 5.67 meters), before placing fourth in the triple jump (11.78 meters).

She finished sixth in the triple jump at state last year.

“I’m happy with [the long jump],” Cunningham-Duncan said. “I’m happy to keep improving too, because I just love long jump. I love long and triple jump so much, like it makes me happy to just even place in it.”

Geneva senior Sofia Borter took All-State honors across both distance events on the day, taking fifth in the 1,600 with a time of 4:55.76 and sixth in the 3,200 in a school-record 10:28.15.

“This is just sort of surreal, especially since these were my last high school races,” Borter said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. This has been a goal since last year since I qualified but didn’t place in both events. It’s just real exciting.”

St. Charles East had two relay teams secure All-State honors. The team of Luca Ketter, Siri Forsell, Nicole Mayer and Madeline Piekarz took sixth in the 4x400 with a school-record 3:53.16. Ketter, Forsell and Piekarz also joined Fiona Post to place seventh in the 4x200, running a 1:40.04 for the school’s first All-State honor in the event.

“We all ran a lot of events, and it was tiring, but we all worked really hard for this,” Ketter said. “When I was getting to the blocks, I knew we wanted this so badly to get on the podium with the girls in both those events.”

Kaneland senior Delainey Baran earned All-State honors in the Class 2A pole vault with a sixth-place finish, clearing 3.45 meters for a season best.

https://www.shawlocal.com/kane-county-chronicle/2026/05/24/kara-glenn-wins-three-state-titles-leads-st-charles-north-to-fourth-place-finish-at-state-meet/