Girls track and field: Audra Soderlind wins pair of titles for Oswego, but Oswego East wins SPC meet

PLAINFIELD – If you’re Audra Soderlind, you run with confidence, with self-assurance, but not without a measure of fear.

In a race, anything can happen. That’s why Soderlind, a senior from Oswego, kicked with 300 meters left in Wednesday night’s 1,600-meter run in the Southwest Prairie Conference Championship at Plainfield Central, in which Oswego East took the team title.

“At 300, I had to go; I wanted it bad. You always want to be on the safe side. You never know what people are going to have, and I’m a little bit disadvantaged in speed.”

—  Audra Soderlind, Oswego track

She had already defended her win in the 3,200-meter run. Now she was trying to do the same in the 1,600, and led by 20 meters with three-quarters of a lap left.

Yet, she kicked, pulling away from Romeoville’s Sophia Flowers, who was breezing along but must have felt she was running uphill.

“At 300, I had to go; I wanted it bad,” Soderlind said of her win in 5:13.14 to help Oswego to a fifth-place tie in the team competition. “You always want to be on the safe side. You never know what people are going to have, and I’m a little bit disadvantaged in speed.”

Not on this chilly night. Flowers finished 3.95 seconds behind, with Minooka’s Gabrielle Kics right on her shoulder.

Soderlind considers the 3,200 the better of her two races. Wednesday, she won that by more than 25 seconds. Josslyn Gaona of Oswego East was in the middle of the final turn when Soderlind hit the finish line.

Oswego East, showing depth, won the team title while winning only one of 18 events. Layla Brisbon took the 100 hurdles in 15.97, and after that, the Wolves piled up three seconds and six thirds, including Faith Adams’ second in the long jump and third in the triple jump.

Junior Tania Miller of Romeoville also doubled, winning the 100 and 200. She came in as the defending conference champion in the 100 and remains so, beating Ava Mabry-Spencer of Plainfield East to the line in 12.16 seconds to Mabry-Spencer’s 12.22. Miller’s time is the 11th best in Illinois this spring.

“My start could have been better, but it was good enough to win,” Miller said. “I felt her right on my tail, and it just helps me go faster.”

Miller added a blistering time of 25.06 in the 200, sixth-best in the state, edging Jahnel Bowman of Plainfield South (25.35).

Mia Boule of Yorkville had a scary moment in the pole vault, nearly missing the pit on her first attempt at 11 feet 5.75 inches, but recovered nicely to clear the height on her next attempt, which became the winning vault when Dana Surwillo of Plainfield South missed three times at that height.

“I’m a little disappointed,” Boule said. “I’d cleared 12 feet twice before, but a bar is just a bar. You can’t clear a bar every meet.”

Her form on cleared jumps was perfect. At 12 feet, which she wanted to clear to go for a personal best of 12-3, she ran into a roadblock.

“I was going on a pole I’d been on only one other time, so I’m still learning it,” Boule said. “Got some good hip height, though.”

Boule is a relative newcomer at vaulting. She jumped five meets last spring and all of this year, which, combined with her other talents, has earned her a scholarship to Miami (Ohio).

The long jump also came down to a one-on-one matchup, and Plainfield East’s Joselyn Trotter outjumped Yorkville’s Cassidy Madden, clearing 5 feet, 3 inches to Madden’s 5-1.75.

“I felt I had enough practice coming in, hitting my personal (outdoor) best of 5-2,” Trotter said, smiling about raising that mark. “When it’s down to two, it’s all about the focus and the energy. You feel all the energy and excitement around you, so you have to zone in on that experience of being down to the final two. Performing, doing what you do.”

Trotter’s won three high jumps in outdoor season, which sets her up well for next week’s sectional at Moline. She also finished fourth in the long jump, which was won by teammate Elissa Perkins, 18-9.75.

Romeoville’s winning 4x100 relay time of 48.81 seconds was the 12th-best in Illinois this season. Arianna Nance anchored the quartet, which beat Oswego East to the line by over a third of a second.

Yorkville’s Courtney Clabough captured the discus (115-11) and shot put (40-3.25).