Girls track & field: Sterling’s Sotelo comes up short in bid for second straight state title

CHARLESTON – Being the defending state champion in the triple jump has made for a challenging season this spring for Alice Sotelo.

But she’s been up to the challenge with the target on her back, and took a .31-meter lead into the finals after Friday’s prelims at the IHSA State Meet at O’Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois University.

On Saturday, she couldn’t hold onto that spot, as Columbia’s Abby Venhaus posted three jumps farther than Sotelo’s 11.37 from prelims and the Sterling senior couldn’t improve on that mark.

Sotelo finished second with that 11.37 carrying over from prelims, while Venhaus’ first jump in finals of 11.56 won the state title.

“I’m proud of myself still, even though I got second. It’s obviously not what I wanted; being the competitive person that I am, it doesn’t feel great,” Sotelo said. “But I have such an amazing support system with my family and friends, it makes it a little easier. And I know Sterling is going to be proud of me no matter what.”

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Sotelo posted jumps of 10.59, 11.14 and 10.81 meters; Venhaus, who finished sixth a year ago, went 11.56, 11.47 and 11.46 meters in the finals after having the second-best jump in the prelims (11.06).

Even with the disappointment of not being able to win another title, Sotelo still takes home silver to go with last year’s gold, and back-to-back top-2 finishes at the state meet is certainly quite an accomplishment.

“I feel like I was too confident; maybe more like I was too focused on calming myself down rather than doing what I had to do, and that definitely had a part in it,” Sotelo said. “After she jumped the first time, I wasn’t nervous; I knew I had done better this season, and I still had all three jumps. But it’s just how things went today.

“It’s a personal thing, because I wanted to do better this season. But I feel that everything happens for a reason, and in the end, I’m still proud of myself, and glad I went out and gave it all I had.”

Dixon’s Hannah Steinmeyer felt the same way after her two runs on Saturday. After getting the Duchesses into the lead in the second leg of the 4x800 relay, the senior came back about three hours later and finished her career with a strong run in the open 800.

She clocked a 2:19.30 to place eighth, but after nearly falling into 10th – which wouldn’t have earned her a medal – halfway through the second lap, she passed another runner down the backstretch to put that doubt to rest.

“I was just a little tired, but I told myself, ‘Nobody cares about how tired you are.’ I was feeling it a little bit, then I told myself, ‘This is your last 200 ever, so give it everything,’” Steinmeyer said. “My coach just told me to stay calm and he helped me through a lot mentally, so I just kind of had to ride it through.”

In the first event of the day on the track, the Duchesses ran a 9:47.92 to finish seventh in the 4x800. Freshman Kate Boss led off, followed by Steinmeyer, senior Kait Knipple and freshman Dani Lovett.

Boss ran a strong first leg, and handed the baton to Steinmeyer in third place.

“The goal was to stay in the top five, so we could stay where we were seeded, and then I would hand off to Hannah and she’d try to make it to first – which worked,” Boss said. “I was trying to keep the lead, but I was happy with where I was. I felt good. I think I got a PR, which was a goal. I’m happy with what I ran.”

Steinmeyer worked her way past the two runners ahead of her, and took the lead down the final stretch of her second lap before handing off to Knipple.

“I just have so much love for my teammates, and I think we all just put our everything into it, so I wanted to give that to them too,” Steinmeyer said. “Two medals, it feels awesome. I just think later tonight I’ll definitely be really admiring them, just enjoying it.”

Knipple was passed almost immediately by quick starts from the third runners on two other teams, and she settled into a rhythm and tried to keep pace with the runners around her.

“I definitely knew that Hannah was going to get us up there, because she’s an amazing 800 runner, and my goal was just to remain in those top five spots and really try to hold a place. I was focusing less on time and more of just competing in the moment, so I’m really proud,” Knipple said. “It’s maybe not the time I wanted, but I’m definitely happy with my finish, because that’s something I’d struggled with a little bit of the season.

“And then I’m just glad that I had fun in my last meet, and that was the main goal, because I’ve been very overwhelmed recently, and it was nice to let go and just race it out.”

Lovett took over for the final leg, and she carved out a nice spot for herself in between a few other runners. She pushed down the final stretch to make sure she sent her teammates home with a medal.

“I was just trying to get a good place for the team,” she said. “I was just thinking in my head, ‘It’s just two laps, you need to finish strong for the whole Dixon team, give us a good rep.’

“It’s really cool. Coach was saying last season [when I was an eighth grader] that I could be on this team, and I was thinking, ‘No way!’ Yet here we are in my first state meet with a medal. It’s so great.”

Rock Falls sophomore Ariel Hernandez was also competing in her first state meet – a great ending to her first season in track.

A softball player as a freshman, Hernandez qualified for state in the 3,200 meters. She missed out on a medal with an 18th-place finish in 11:39.88, but it was a personal record in a field that saw winner Tatum David set a new 2A state record of 9:53.56; David also just missed setting a new state record in the 1,600 (4:49.73) later on in the meet.

“My goal was to be in the mid-pack and not go out with the top five. I wanted to stay in the pack with the Tolono girl [Ercia Woodard, who finished sixth in 11:02.50] and the Lakes girl [Paige-Elicia Caruth, who finished 10th in 11:17.57], but I felt like I got away from that after the first mile,” Hernandez said. “It was hard, but I still PR’d. I still could’ve ran better, but it was my first year of track, and it was fun. It makes me want to get better and get back down here.”