Fate, dedication paved way for 1993 track titles for city of Ottawa

Two events, occurring just moments apart on a single day now 30 years ago in a place hours away from their homes, changed the lives of two talented local young women forever.

It was on that day, May 23, 1992, that Ottawa High School’s Tricia Weygand and Marquette Academy’s Peg Condon gave their scholastic home city of Ottawa plenty of reason to cheer: a pair of championships at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in downstate Charleston.

Now Peg Condon Callaghan, the Ransom native resides in Plainfield with her husband, Jim, and five children – the eldest, Quinn, a member of the Plainfield East track team she helps coach.

Tricia Weygand Horaney died in December 2018, leaving behind her husband, Emmett M. Horaney, and their son, Emmett J.

The accomplishments of that day helped give both girls the building blocks to achieve further success athletically, professionally and personally in the three decades that followed.

“No, it certainly doesn’t seem like it was 30 years ago,” Callaghan said. “It was so cool that Tricia and I both won. We knew each other and got along fine, crossing paths at the same events, and we both played basketball and volleyball. I remember [then Ottawa Daily Times sports editor] Dan Eilts talking to us, and seeing and reading in the paper how good she was.

“It’s awful that she’s no longer with us. She was always lovely. I’m sure she is very much missed.”

As with many great athletes, both experienced a mixture of success and adversity before that big day.

Both qualified for state track early in their careers. Horaney did as a freshman, but did not place in the shot, then took seventh place as a sophomore. Meanwhile, Callaghan, who only went out for track as a sophomore because Marquette didn’t have softball, was disqualified in the hurdle prelims and did not medal.

However, those “failures” spurred them.

Horaney captured the Class AA state shot put crown with a toss of 43 feet, 7 inches, easily outdistancing the rest of the field led by runner-up Lindsey Trudell of Schaumburg and third-place Stephanie Saracco of Glenbard North.

At almost the same time on the track, Callaghan was living up to her first-place prelim time by breezing to a clocking of 15.44 seconds, edging Alleman’s Angie Schmidt and Sherrard’s Tracy Coyne for her state title.

“I remember thinking I might win if I could three-step the whole way … but I do remember that I three-stepped every hurdle until the last one, when I four-stepped it, switch the lead leg,” Callaghan said with a laugh.

“I don’t remember it at the time, but I do remember watching a video and seeing my mom and dad yelling, ‘C’mon, Peg!’ That was exciting.”

The following year was just as good for Horaney and almost as good for Callaghan. The Pirates star not only made it to the finals again – she was ranked fifth in the nation at one point – but repeated her championship, topping second-place Patience Grayer of Peoria Manual with a toss of 44-7½.

“Tricia had this motto, that if you can dream it, you can achieve it,” said her mother, Linda McLaughlin Pool. “She always strived to do better. She wore these shoes that were heavier and looked awful, but she wore them every day running the stairs in the gym or the bleachers at the football field to build up her legs.

“Her focus after she won her junior year was to go to a Big Ten school. She had a folder of letters from 30 different colleges recruiting her, but after a trip to Champaign, she fell in love with the University of Illinois, and that’s where she went.

“She was a very humble, likable person with a dry sense of humor, but when she had a drive for something, she went after it. We’re all very proud of her.”

Such a repeat was not in the cards for Callaghan in the hurdles, who saw Coyne rebound to take the 110 hurdles title with the MA senior third. However, she also did well in her two other events in that same meet, placing second in the long jump and seventh in the 300 hurdles.

“I remember being so surprised when I was as a junior and so disappointed when I got third as a senior,” Callaghan said, “but my senior year, I did do well in other events too, so I felt that was pretty good still. … I had chances for track in college, but chose to play volleyball [at St. Francis University], because I didn’t have the love for track to make it happen at that level.

“I loved that I won, I loved doing well, but it was funny, because none of that would have happened had we had softball at Marquette. The path is winding, and you just don’t know how plans will turn out.”

Horaney, who with the Pirates earned nine varsity letters, two more at Illinois and was inducted into the OHS Hall of Fame in 2006, immediately after college went to work helping others. After starting at a nursing home, she was later a substance abuse counselor for Sheridan Correctional Facility and with various youth groups before finally landing at the Illinois Department of Public Health in Pontiac at the time of her death from a genetic heart defect in 2018.

“Mom told me some of the things she did in high school. I’ve seen her plaques and things for what she’s done,” said her son, Emmett J., now a 12-year-old seventh grader and soccer, football and basketball player. “She was kind of my best friend, always encouraging me in my schoolwork and sports.

“I’m so proud of her.”

“Emmett is her Mini-Me. He’s Tricia through and through,” Pool said. “There isn’t a day goes by that we don’t talk about her. Her memory is still very much alive in us.”

Callaghan, who is a member of Marquette’s John Pocivasek Hall of Fame, worked as an insurance underwriter in Chicago for several years until the birth of their second child. She is now a full-time wife and mom-plus-coach to Quinn, St. Mary’s Junior High track athletes Hugh and twins Tess and Liam, and third grader Mary.

“I know it’s been 30 years, and now look,” Callaghan said. “I’ve got four kids in track, and I’m helping coach. I’m coaching volleyball and basketball too, so it’s all still a big part of my life. That’s nice.”