By Bobby Narang
The 2022 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) girls state track and field meet was a return of the old days.
Somewhat, that is.
After three straight years of irregular or no state competition, Thursday, May 19 marked the first time since the 2019 meet that the competitors experienced a preliminary and a State finals in the same weekend at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
But similar to the crazy Spring season that included too much rain and too much cold and not enough sunshine, the three-day meet had to include a day of uncertainty. The Saturday finals were delayed for two hours, due to lightning, and featured a big change in temperature throughout the afternoon and two bouts of heavy rain.
In the end, the three-class State championships concluded with Tuscola winning the Class 1A State meet and Newark placing second, just three points behind. In Class 2A, Kankakee cruised to the team championship and St. Viator was fourth among northeastern State teams. Chicago Young claimed championship in big-school 3A, with Homewood-Flossmoor and Prospect in the next two spots.
St. Viator junior Emmi Scales was one of the standout performers by winning the 100 meters dash and the 100 and 300 hurdles in 2A.
“This feel so good, but I’m more relieved because there was such good competition,” Scales said. “I’ve been running without any competition for the whole season, and no one pushing me, so coming here and getting back with people coming up behind me and pushing me, I’m glad that I was able to come out on top in all three. I’ve been working really hard for the past eight months.”
• Glenbard West’s Audrey Allman took home first place in the 3A 1,600 meters to continue the program’s run of excellence in the event to include four champions going back to 1996.
“If anything, it has pushed me to be a better version of myself,” Allman said of the program’s 1,600 history. “I have total faith in this program, total faith in my coaches, so that’s what really drove me this year, especially coming out of the craziness of last year.”
• Hinsdale Central’s Catie McCabe notched second place n the 800 (2:14.21).
“I shifted gears with 200 to go, and I knew everybody was right by me and it was still a close race,” McCabe said. “I’m really happy because this was basically my goal for the end of the season.”
• Downers Grove South’s Sophia McNerney, who will run at Tulane University next season, earned a second-place medal for the second consecutive season after taking runnerup honors in the 3,200 last June. She established a new personal record for a fifth-place medal in Saturday’s 3,200 race (10:26.96).
“The whole goal after coming back from the 3,200 meters was to keep my nose up there and not let them get too far,” McNerney said. “I think the pace went out really fast, which was nice. I like to be dragged along and take away of every gap formed. The finish wasn’t quite the finish, as I was trying to hold on. It was nice to get a personal record in the 3,200. At the beginning of my indoor season, I wasn’t running very much because I was injured and in physical therapy a lot, so just being down here is special and a nice way to end it.”
• In Class 1A, Newark’s Megan Williams was one of the outstanding performers. She won the long jump and triple jump championships to notch the initial first-place medals in program history.
“I felt really calm in my last (long) jump (attempt), knew that I was all ready in second place and just wanted to put it all on the line,” Williams said. “I left on a good note if that was my last jump.
“I feel like it hasn’t hit me yet that I won, but I’m definitely excited and it means a lot. I really want to represent Dr. Schutt (Newark head coach Jeff Schutt) and the program he’s built. I owe it all to him, and without him, I would not even know how to long jump.”