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Ince sets new IHSA State Meet record in 1600 Meter Run in storm delayed 3A Girls State Championship

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Illinois IHSA Outdoor State Championships   Jun 13th 2021, 5:00pm
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Ince sets new IHSA State Meet record in 1600 Meter Run in storm delayed 3A Girls State Championship

 

 

 

Lincoln-Way East edges Homewood -Flossmoor for 3A team title

 

 

 

By Michael Newman [email protected]

 

 

 

Charleston, Ill – It was worth the wait to see what happened after 9:30 PM on a Saturday night in Charleston, Illinois. The IHSA 3A Girls State Meet had been delayed twice. The second time was at 5:10 PM where a storm system pummeled the area around and at O’Brien Field right before the start of the 1600 Meter Run.

 

It was 92 degrees before the storms hit the area. When the runners toed the line for the start of 1600 Meter Run, it was a comfortable 73 degrees. Perfect conditions to run a distance race. Those fans who braved out the delay thinking that maybe this meet might be cancelled saw something special. The only thing that can express what happened after the meet started up is that the greatest Girls 1600 Meter Run took place with Ali Ince of Normal Community running the fastest time in IHSA State Meet History in the fastest field that meet has ever seen.

 

RESULTS | VIDEOS | PHOTOS

 

Ince’s time of 4:40.85 was the second-fastest time ever run for an Illinois High School Girl trailing only Katelynne Hart. Ince’s time broke the State Meet Record set by Kayla Beattie in the 2011 state meet (4:43.65). Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest also broke Beattie’s record finishing second (4:42.55). Kate Dickman of Lyons Township finished third (4:44.54) as she was the third runner in this race that went under Katelynne Hart’s Class 3A State record of 4:47.36.

 

This was supposed to be the race of the meet. The four plus hour weather delay whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Ince earlier in the meet had just missed Courtney Clayton’s state meet record in the 800 Meter Run by one hundredth of a second winning in 2:07.06. Welin took the lead at the start of the 3200 Meter Run and won that race in 10:36.36. The meet was in a rolling schedule due to a weather delay at the beginning of the meet. The delay just before the start of the 1600 Meter Run gave the two state champions ore time to recover and set in motion what happened under the stars.

 

Welin took the lead from the start leading the pack through the first 400-meters in 68.7. Dickman and Ince tucked in close behind Welin. Samantha Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South and Audrey Mendrys of Naperville North led the pack behind the three runners less than a second behind.

 

Welin led past 800-meters in 2:21.93 with Ince and Dickman close behind. The second lap had dropped to 73 seconds. Not a total drop of the pace but setting up what would happen next. The fans did not notice as they were screaming at the top of their lungs waking everyone up in the neighborhoods of O’Brien Field.

 

Welin picked up the pace on the third lap knowing she had to find a way to distance herself from the rest of the field. That was not happening as Ince moved into a second within an eyelash of Welin. Dickman was a second behind the two still in the hunt for a title. Mendrys was three seconds behind the pack, Poglitsch five seconds behind.

 

A memorable finish of this story was close at hand. Ince stormed to the lead on the backstretch with 250-meters left. Welin and Dickman were not giving up, but Ince had a surge that no one could stay up with. Ince entered the final 100-meters as the noise from the crowd shook the foundations of this stadium. Ince crossed the line breaking the record in a 66.5 final lap. Welin closed in a 68.6 lap. Dickman closed in 69.9.

 

There was movement in the final lap as the top nine finishers were all under 4:56.5. Catie McCabe of Hinsdale Central finished fourth (4:52.23). Lexi Affolter of St. Ignatius finished fifth (4:52.66) after finishing fourth in the 800 Meter Run earlier in the meet. Katrina Schlenker finished sixth (4:52.99) after a disappointing 800 where she finished 11th. Mendrys (4:53.49), Poglitsch (4:54.53) were next in line followed by Naomi Ruff of South Elgin (4:56.03).

 

The night was not over for Ince. The freshman had to come right back to anchor Normal Community in the 4x400m Relay. Another magic moment was about to happen that will go down as one of the most memorable closes to an IHSA State Meet.

 

Evanston had taken command of this race from the start opening a lead of nearly second on Naperville North. Normal Community was in seventh when Ince took the baton. She had to weave around some other runners that had finished their legs of the relay. Ince had work to do.

 

She started picking off runners one by one until she came into the final 100 meters of the race. Evanston looked like it had the race won coming closer to the finish line. Ince kept digging and digging finding another gear just before the finish line. Ince caught Evanston’s Jacklynn Okereke just before the finish line. Normal Community won the state title (3:57.34) by just .38 seconds ahead of Evanston. Ince had an incredible 55.25 final 400-meters of the race.

 

“I was feeling pretty good entering the last lap,” Ince said about her 1600. “I knew I had to go and kill that last lap. I just waited and went with 300 to go.”

 

The team battle coming into this meet was supposed to be between Homewood-Flossmoor and Lincoln-Way East. That did not disappoint as the Griffins won their first state championship since 2016 with 56 points. Homewood-Flossmoor scored 50 points to finish second. Naperville North and Whitney Young both scored 44 points and tying for third. Grayslake Central had a great meet but just missed a trophy by two points finishing fifth with 42 points.

 

Lincoln-Way East still was in the stadium past 11PM celebrating what they had just accomplished. Give Brian Evans and his staff credit on building a tremendous culture that surrounds this team. “We did not win the races we wanted to win at this meet,” Evans said. “They just kept fighting for every point. That is a credit on how tough this team is.”

 

Mariam Azeez led this team with four all-state performances. The junior started her day by jumping 19-1.50 in the second round to finish second in the Long Jump. Alexandria Johnson of Huntley jumped 19-5.25 to claim the state title. Azeez anchored Lincoln-Way East to a third-place finish in the 4x100m Relay (47.85) behind state champion Whitney Young (47.24) and second-place Homewood-Flossmoor (47.41).

 

Azeez got a tremendous start in her section of the 100 Meter Dash. She went on to win her first state championship in 12.09. Itzel Garcia of Waubonsie Valley won Section 3 of the event to finish second overall (12.28). Azeez’s final event came after the weather delay. She ran close to her personal best in the event running 24.68 to finish third behind state champion Sydney Robinson of Whitney Young (24.46) and Ana-Liese Torian of Homewood-Flossmoor (24.59).

 

“We had an undefeated season. We had this (winning state) in our minds,” Azeez said. “We told ourselves this week that we were going to do it. We did it. I am super proud of everyone on this team.”

 

Lincoln-Way East also got points from a sixth-place finish from Ali Van Dyke in the Pole Vault. Sophia Barnard finished eighth in the 100 Meter Hurdles. The big event for the Griffins was in the 300 Meter Hurdles as Katie Sciarini and Barnard finished third and fourth. The two were part of the quartet that won the second section of the 4x400m Relay placing them sixth overall. Their quartet in the 4x800m Relay got the team a point finishing ninth.

 

On the Track Highlights

 

Naperville North set the standard in the first section of the 4x800 Relay as they ran 9:20.58 to win that race. They had to wait for the second section to see what would happen. Prospect pulled away in the second section of the event on Lily Ginsberg’s 2:17.8 third leg. She gave it to her sister Audrey who ran 2:15.02 to clinch the title for the Lady Knights.(9:13.29) to finish ahead of Naperville North and Downers Grove North (9:23.06).

 

Josephine Welin won the 3200 Meter Run taking the lead at the gun. She won the state title in 10:36.36 surviving the heat in the process. Sophia McNerney of Downers Grove South pulled away from the pack with two laps to go to finish second (10:44.12) for a new school record. Maggie Gamboa of Naperville North finished third (10:52.21) just ahead of Brooke Stromsland of Lakes Community (10:52.88).

 

Ana-Liese Torian of Homewood-Flossmoor will break the state title in the 100m Hurdles in one of her next two state meets. Torian pulled away from the field from the start to run 13.87 to win the state title ahead of Macee Rivers of Belleville West (14.06), and Victoria Spagnola of West Aurora (14.47). In the 300 Meter Hurdles, Spagnola dipped under 44 seconds for the first time. Her time of 43.98 was just four hundredth of a second ahead of second-place finisher Hallee Thomas of Danville (44.02).

 

We mentioned Allison Ince and her race in the 800 Meter Run. Bella Domier of Grayslake Central finished second (2:12.64) ahead of Lauren Huber of Glenbard East (2:12.98).

 

Rylee Lydon of Prairie Ridge moved away from the field in the final 50 meters to run a personal best of 56.25 to in the 400 Meter Dash. Alexandria Edison of Homewood-Flossmoor finished second (57.23) ahead of Bridget Vitu of New Trier (57.24) and Angela Alzoie of Homewood-Flossmoor (57.65).

 

In the Field Highlights

 

Julia Reglewski of Grayslake Central concluded her high school career with a pair of wins in the weight events. Reglewski had the lead in the opening round. She had a 46-0.75 mark in the fourth round to win the Shot Put. Sarah Byrd of Springfield (44-6) finished second. It was the same scenario in the Discus with Reglewski taking the lead on her opening throw. She threw 144-6 to secure her second state title of the meet. Christine Nosike of Thornwood threw 133-9 to finish second.

 

Riley Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley finished her high school career undefeated in Illinois meets in the Triple Jump. Her first-round jump of 40-10.5 was enough to win her third state championship in the event. Ammenhauser fouled in her next three attempts. Sydney Willits of Glenbrook South finished second (40-1.50).

 

Annika Bynum of Warren Township was on a tightwire in the High Jump staying alive in the competition clearing 1.67m and 1.70m on her third attempts. Rylee Lydon was clean in this event clearing her first attempt on four heights. Lydon missed on her three attempts at 5-8 settling for second clearing 5-7. Bynum cleared 5-8 on her third attempt to capture the state championship.

 

Lilianna Ifft of Bloomington cleared 12-9.5 on her third attempt to win the Pole Vault. Mia Morello of Grayslake Central had a 11-10.25 height to finish second.

 



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