Girls track and field: Huntley’s Johnson sisters set up for big points; PR’s Rylee Lydon qualifies in 3 events

CHARLESTON – Whether Huntley junior Alex Johnson has to compete in Saturday’s Class 3A triple jump finals at the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet pretty much depends on one person.

Her sister Dominique.

Alex Johnson jumped 12.33 meters (40-5 1/2 feet) in Friday’s preliminaries and sits in first place over Dominique, a freshman, by about 6 inches. Since Alex Johnson is in the finals of the 100 meters and 4x100 relay, she would like to concentrate on running.

“I feel pretty solid with my jump, but if my sister gets it, I might take my last jump and get her,” Alex Johnson said, smiling. “It all depends on what happens.”

Johnson also leads the long jump at 6 meters (19-8 1/4), where she is the defending champion. She is ahead of Naperville North’s Denise Hernandez by about 6 inches in that event as well.

“I think it’s probably guaranteed first place, so I’m pretty proud of it,” Johnson said. “I might just leave it. I wasn’t planning on making the 100 finals.”

Huntley qualified eight entries into Saturday’s finals and will chase a top-three finish and a state team trophy. The Johnsons made the long and triple jump finals, Alex Johnson made the 100 and made the 4x100 with Vicky Evtimov, Jessie Ozzauto and Melissa Aninagyei-Bonsu.

The 4x200 team of Evtimov, Dominique Johnson, Ozzauto and Aninagyei-Bonsu qualified and Ally Panzloff advanced in discus. Breanna Burak also will run in the 3,200 on Saturday.

Prairie Ridge junior Rylee Lydon, the defending Class 3A 400 state champ, qualified in that race, along with the long and high jumps. She sits in third place in long jump.

Dominique Johnson jumped 12.17 (39-11) in triple jump and is about a foot ahead of third place. She also is currently in ninth place in long jump, where she will likely take her three finals jumps and try to get the Red Raiders more team points.

“I really wanted to get to 40 (in triple),” Dominique Johnson said. “I might take some jumps tomorrow, but I’m in second, that’s a good place to be. That’s my goal to pass Alex.”

Other area athletes making the finals were Prairie Ridge’s Rachel Soukup (1,600) and Haylee Yelle (pole vault) and Hampshire’s Karolina Ryzka (high jump).

Lydon jumped 5.74 meters (18-10), her career best in long jump. She was also pleased with her high jump, where she was state runner-up last year. She made 5-8 3/4 earlier this season, but recently battled some knee soreness.

“I’ve been struggling a little bit. My knee, thankfully, knock on wood, feels really good today,” Lydon said. “I took some time off from jumping and that’s helped a lot. I feel like myself again in high jump.”

Huntley will fight it out with Whitney Young, Chicago Kenwood and Homewood-Flossmoor for the team title Saturday. Alex and Dominique Johnson should get the Raiders close to 30 points in the long and triple jumps, and they will try to add on from there.

“We’re great. We did what we needed to do in jumps,” Raiders coach Jason Monson said. “Ally Panzloff made discus finals as well and she gets to throw for points. We got our 4x1 and 4x2 through, which was the goal. Alex making finals in the 100 is big.

“Rest and recovery tonight. Proper fueling, sleep and we’re going to have similar conditions tomorrow. We have to be prepared and ready to go, get the point where we can tomorrow.”

GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

Class 3A State Meet

Local preliminary results

Places listed are from preliminary heats and flights.

4x800 relay: 14. McHenry (Peyton Stinger, Lynda Rotundo, Lydia Zancho, Alyssa Moore) 9:33.98, 16. Prairie Ridge (Faith Wilder, Olivia McPherson, Rachel Soukup, Bridget Jewell) 9:49.80.

4x100 relay: 4. Huntley-* (Vicky Evtimov, Alex Johnson, Jessie Ozzauto, Melissa Aninagyei-Bonsu) 48.34.

100 high hurdles: 11. Lindsey Kownick (Cary-Grove) 15.06, 21. Sophie Amin (Hunt) 16.06.

100 meters: 8. A. Johnson-* (Hunt) 11.98, 18. Aninagyei-Bonsu (Hunt) 12.24.

800 meters: 15. Moore (McH) 2:21.23, 16. Abby Machesky (CL South) 2:21.59.

4x200 relay: 7. Huntley-* (Evtimov, Dominique Johnson, Ozzauto, Aninagyei-Bonso) 1:45.24.

400 meters: 4. Rylee Lydon-* (PR) 57.33.

1,600 meters: 10. Soukup-* (PR) 5:10.53, 17. Brittney Burak (Hunt) 5:36.62.

200 meters: 13. Lydon (PR) 26.50.

4x400 relay: 13. Huntley (Ozzauto, Sammi Campanelli, Anna Campanelli, Evtimov) 4:07.09.

Shot put: 25. Annika Nordin (C-G) 9.89 (32-5.5).

Discus: 10. Ally Panzloff-* (Hunt) 34.50 (113-2.25).

High jump: Lydon-* (PR), Karolina Ryzka-* (Hampshire) 5-3.

Long jump: 1. A. Johnson-* (Hunt) 6.0 (19-8.25), 3. Lydon-* (PR) 5.74 (18-10), 9. D. Johnson-* (Hunt) 5.52 (18-1.25), 31. Haylee Yelle (PR) 4.82 (15-9.75).

Triple jump: 1. A. Johnson-* (Hunt) 12.33 (40-5.5), 2. D. Johnson-* (Hunt) 12.17 (39-11), 24. Ashley Ciezadlo (CLS) 10.65, (34-11.25).

Pole vault: 13. Yelle-* (PR) 3.30 (10-10), Gabriela Whitfield (Hunt) no height).

*-Denotes finals qualifier.