Since entering Wilmette Junior High as seventh graders in 2011, Kate Holly, Grace Fagan and Caroline Fix have run together on the same track team.
They competed on the same team for the final time at the Class 3A girls track and field state meet on Saturday at Eastern Illinois in Charleston.
Holly, along with freshman Bridget Forbes, junior Savannah Noethlich and sophomore Marne Sullivan, ran on the New Trier 4×400-meter relay team, which placed ninth in 4 minutes, 1.89 seconds. And Fagan, along with Noethlich, sophomore Caroline Trukenbrod and Sullivan, was part of the 4×800 relay. The Trevians took seventh (9:21.92).
Fix placed ninth in the 1,600 with a time of 5:06.39.
“It was the last hurrah for the seniors and to go out with them on such a high note is really special,” said Fagan, who resides in Wilmette.
The two relays and Fix earned all-state honors and accounted for all five of New Trier’s team points. The Trevians finished in a tie for 52nd place.
“If you ask any athlete who finished ninth, they’d have preferred eighth. To have seven kids be all-state, we’re thrilled about that,” Trevians coach Bob Spagnoli said.
Due to injuries, the Trevians made lineup changes in the 4×800, 4×400 and 4×200 relays. Noethlich replaced senior Molly Schmidt in the 4×800, freshman Forbes replaced Schmidt in the 4×400 and freshman McKenna Fox subbed for junior Grace McManus in the 4×200.
Fagan plans to run next year at Tufts (Mass.) while Holly intends to compete at Middlebury (Vt.) College. Both Division III schools are part of the New England Small College Athletic Conference.
“We hope to see each other (in college),” Fagan said.
Loyola
Believing the competition would get out fast in the 800-meter finals at the Class 3A girls track and field state meet on Saturday, Loyola senior Margot Dooley had a plan for the final lap.
More Top Picks Best Workout Headphones
“I wanted to break away and for the final 200 or 150 (meters) go as fast as I could,” said Dooley, who resides in Evanston.
Dooley admits she didn’t get out as quickly as she wanted. That left her with too much ground to make up to ultimately win the race. She still placed third with a time of 2 minutes, 16.03 seconds.
Dooley, who plans to run at the Alabama next year, leaves Loyola with an all-state medal and three appearances at the state meet (2015, 2016, 2017) in a total of three events (800, 4×400 and 4×800 relays).
“I thought it was so much fun. It was a great atmosphere and a great crowd,” Dooley said.
Evanston
Evanston junior Enyaeva Michelin not only had to contend with 11 other runners in the 800-meter final at the Class 3A girls track and field state meet, she also had to cope with the burden of history.
The program has scored at least a point in every state meet since the Wildkits were first involved in the 1974-75 school year, according to Evanston coach Fenton Gunter. But after Evanston endured a frustrating afternoon in the prelims on May 19, Michelin became her team’s lone finalist on Saturday in Charleston, and thus its only hope to continue the streak.
Michelin finished seventh in the 800 (2 minutes, 16.82 seconds), earning her team 3 points and a tie for 66th in the final standings.
“(The streak) was actually one of the strongest things on my mind,” said Michelin, who lives in Evanston. “That tradition is something our (now) alums have managed to carry through. Having to maintain that, pressured me. But it was rewarding to continue that tradition.”
Michelin said she was not pleased by the early part of her race in the final, when she got boxed in by other competitors. But Michelin said a good start had been the key to her performance in the prelims, where she won her heat in 2:15.93, a career best.
“(Entering state) I was focusing on starts as one of my main objectives, trying to run the first 100 meters faster and positioning myself ahead of the other runners. (Doing that) was a crucial factor (in running a PR in prelims),” Michelin said.
Michelin added: “In the final, everyone I’m sure had the same mentality. When we were all trying to do that, it was really easy to get boxed in. But (in prelims) I had a really successful start.”
Glenbrook North
Spartans senior Hannah Wilson was not able to replicate her 2016 all-state performances in the 100- and 200-meter dash at this year’s state meet. But the Wisconsin-bound sprinter has left a legacy within the Glenbrook North program.
“(Wilson) leaves as the fastest girls sprinter to ever walk through the halls at Glenbrook North,” third-year Spartans coach Justin Cooper said. “In the moment (after not qualifying for finals), she was very upset, and who wouldn’t be? But she will look back at an amazing career.”
Cooper continued: “Glenbrook North girls track is headed in the right directions because of Hannah. The younger girls looked up to her, and she instilled a work ethic. She has the school record in the 100, 200 and 400 relay, and those are made to be broken. But she pushed the culture, where Glenbrook North is now a track and field school, and we’ll continue to be because she helped lay the groundwork.”
After finishing fifth in the 100 and sixth in the 200 in 2016, Wilson did not make it past prelims in 2017. In the 100, she finished sixth in heat No. 2, with a time of 12.35. Wilson was fifth in heat No. 2 of the 200 in 25.13.
“She’d been working on her starts, and she had great starts in the 100 and 200. In the first 30 to 40 meters (of both) she was leading her heats,” Cooper said. “But people started coming up, and she was pressing, trying to fight. But when she was pressing, her stride got shorter and her arm drive was not as good as it has been when she’s been more relaxed. When you’re competing at such an elite level, that can make a difference.”
Glenbrook South
Glenbrook South may not have had any finalists at the Class 3A girls track and field state meet, but the Titans left Charleston with a sense of optimism: They brought seven competitors, and one alternate, and not one is a senior.
Juniors Bailey Smith (100-meter hurdles) and Emily Noone (800) were the only upperclassmen in the bunch.
“No one made finals, but they were all really proud of their performances,” Glenbrook South first-year coach Meaghan Fastert said. “It was nice to hear them say, ‘I want to do this next year, go even harder and see what I can do in the finals.’ Nobody was upset, they were more excited.”
Freshman Annie Streb came close to making finals in a few different events. She high-jumped 5-3, but couldn’t reach the 5-4 cutoff for finals. Her triple-jump distance of 36-3 1/2 was a little shy of the last finalist (36-9 1/4) and she was part of a 4×400 relay team (4:04.43) that was about three seconds off the qualifying pace. Sophomore Taylor Ozimek, Noone and sophomore Lauren Hayes also were part of that relay.
North Shore Country Day
When the North Shore Country Day girls 4×400-meter relay team qualified for the 2017 Class 1A state meet, it became the first 4×400 relay, boys or girls, to reach state in school history.
The Raiders continued to excel at state. The team of senior Julia Kolbe, sophomore Meredith McCabe, sophomore Caroline Rice and junior Julia Doyle, turned in a personal best, finishing in 4 minutes, 26.86 seconds, in the prelims on May 18. North Shore Country Day did not advance to the final.
“The biggest thing was making it downstate. It was neat accomplishment to be the first in school history,” said Doyle, a Wilmette resident. “We ended the season on a very high note.”
Katie Glew, a senior from Wilmette, finished sixth in the 1,600 in 5:12.29 on Saturday. That came two days after she ran a personal best by 21 seconds in the prelims (5:11.55).
More Top Picks Best Washing Machines
“I hadn’t been running the mile well, so I really didn’t expect this,” Glew said.s
Regina
Competing in the Class 2A girls track and field state meet prelims on May 19, Regina junior Katie Clancy cleared 4-11 in the high jump. However, she didn’t advance to the final. Clancy is a Skokie resident.
Dan Shalin, Jon J. Kerr and Mark Perlman are freelance reporters for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press