Huntley’s Dominique Johnson triples her pleasure at state

CHARLESTON – Tears – because the realization that it was her last time with her Huntley teammates, after four years of late-May trips to Charleston, was hitting hard − couldn’t wipe the smile from Dominique Johnson’s face.

Nothing could.

Not even a disqualification in the 4x200-meter relay.

“I’m OK with it,” Johnson said. “I still had a good meet. It’s just a little disappointing, of course.”

Johnson’s Red Raiders career was stellar. She left Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field following the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet on Saturday with her fifth Class 3A gold medal in three years after setting the state record in the triple jump and also winning the long jump.

Her triple leap of 13.02 meters (42 feet, 8.75 inches) gave her the title for the third year in a row. She achieved her record breaker on her first and only jump of the day, choosing to skip her final two tries knowing that she had accomplished what she set out to do her freshman year.

“I was hoping to get [the record] on my first one, so then I could relax and have my legs fresh for the 4x200 [relay], because I wanted to save my legs for these girls,” Johnson said.

The Miami commit ran on Huntley’s state-champion 4x200 relay last year. On Saturday, after she already had won her two state titles, Johnson led off the 4x200 relay, which was seeded fifth.

Huntley was DQ’ed, however, when an IHSA official ruled that Johnson’s handoff of the baton to Emmy Byers came outside of the 20-meter exchange zone.

“We have video proof that we were in the zone,” Johnson said.

“We were messing with our steps a little bit, so that’s why our handoff was so long,” said Byers, who also ran on the winning 4x200 relay last year. “That was our fault, but we were still in the zone. I made sure to not step out of the triangle [on the track].”

Addi Busam, who joined Johnson in medaling in the long jump, and freshman anchor Reagan Ellis also ran on the Raiders’ 4x200 relay.

The DQ didn’t put a damper on a season that saw Huntley win the Fox Valley Conference Meet by nearly 100 points, before the Raiders won their own sectional by another hefty margin.

“This was just a great season,” said Byers, who will compete next for Marquette University’s rowing team. “I was just happy to be here. I knew that when Reagan passed the [finish] line that we were in ninth, and I was just like, ‘It’s OK. We got a medal.’ It just broke my heart a little, though, when I did see that we got DQ’ed. All of us here have just been tearing up, hugging each other, just kind of sad.”

Johnson won the long jump with a mark of 5.86 meters, while her teammate Busam was eighth (5.5 meters).

“That was pretty insane,” Busam said. “I’m really happy about that, but 4x200 is definitely a bummer since we worked so hard for it.”

While breaking the state record in the triple jump has been Johnson’s goal since her freshman year, when she finished second to her sister Alexandria, she also was excited to win the long jump. She was third in the event at state last year.

“Long jump was definitely satisfying to win because I made it to state every year for long jump and slowly have been inching closer and closer to that No. 1 [finish],” Johnson said.

Johnson’s Huntley classmate Sienna Robertson also earned a medal, finishing ninth in the discus (39.54 meters).

Jacobs junior Carly Uehlein won the silver medal in the Class 3A discus (42.53 meters) in her first state meet, finishing behind only Lake Zurich freshman Arisa Bisofa (45.06).

“I wanted to have a great season because I spent a lot of time in the offseason training really hard,” said Uehlein, who also qualified for state in the shot put. “I’m happy that my hard work paid off.”

She made sure she credited throws coach Sam Baker.

“He helped me a lot not just technically but mentally,” Uehlein said. “There are challenges. If you’re the best one on the team, or not the best one, you still have all that pressure to hit this mark or you have pressure from yourself or others. [Coach Baker] – and all of my coaches – helped me work through that.”

Prairie Ridge senior Katie Jewell capped her career by earning the Class 2A fourth-place medal in the 200 (25.07). Jewell’s freshman teammate Emmie Foster medaled in both of her distance races, taking fifth in the 3,200 run (10:42.16) and ninth in the 1,600 (5:07.94).

“It was really fun,” Foster said of her first experience competing in EIU’s stadium. “I really liked being here with my team, and I also loved the bus rides here. I wasn’t expecting it to be as fun as it was.”

Johnsburg junior Hope Klosowicz was an alternate at state last year after dealing with shin splints in her left leg all season. Saturday, she sped to a seventh-place finish in the Class 2A 400 dash, clocking a personal-best 57.83.

“It was really fun,” Klosowicz said. “It was nice to be here on my own and do something actually, instead of being an alternate. I just wanted to have fun with it too, and I was able to do that.”

Cary-Grove junior Olivia Parker earned her first state medal, finishing seventh in the Class 3A 300 hurdles (44.89), despite waking up Saturday with a cold severe enough that she said it hurt to breathe. She even took a nap before her warmup in hopes it would make her feel better.

“It was a pretty stressful morning, I’d say, but right now I’m feeling pretty good,” Parker said after running at state for the second year in a row. “I ran as well as I could for how I was feeling in the moment.”

Woodstock senior Amina Idris ran a personal-best 45.66 seconds in earning the Class 2A seventh-place medal in the 300 hurdles. She also advanced to state in the 100 hurdles but did not qualify for finals.

Hampshire junior Hailey Homola took eighth in the Class 3A shot put (personal-best 11.71 meters), while Crystal Lake Central sophomore Ryleigh Mazzacano was fifth in the high jump (1.66 meters). Burlington Central freshman LaRaiya Cunningham-Duncan earned a sixth-place medal in the triple jump (personal-best 11.64 meters).

In Class 1A, Marian Central freshman Addie Leitzen just missed medaling in the triple jump, as she finished 10th (10.67 meters).