By Michael Newman

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It is a special moment in a distance runner’s life when they run under five minutes for the 1600 / mile for the first time. After Lindsey Payne (Glenbard West HS), Glen Ellyn crossed the finish line winning the 1600 Meter Run, she stood beyond the finish area looking at the scoreboard waiting for her time to pop up. In all of the races that were contested at this meet, the results of this race for season to the longest to appear. All Payne could do is stand with her hands on her head just waiting for that moment.

“This is has been a goal of my life to go under five,” Payne said. “I was just afraid they were going to round the time up. They did that at state my freshman year rounding it to 17 minutes.”

The time finally popped up: 4:59.18.

There were tears in her eyes as she accepted the congratulations of the other runners. She did not know how to process what she was feeling. She then ran across the track to hug her coaches Kelly Hass and then Paul Hass. She then ran at a full sprint across the Res-Rec Center maybe faster than she ran the final lap of her race. She found her parents standing in the balcony above. The sophomore flashed the numbers on her hand 4-5-9.

Payne’s race win in the 1600 was typical of her race strategy that she used during the cross country season. She was back in the pack led by Maddy Kammerer (Oswego HS) as the leaders passed by in 71 seconds. Payne was three seconds back. The pace slowed down considerably the next 400 as Kammerer and the pack passed by in 2:29. Payne was still moving up now in fifth two seconds behind the lead. The next two laps, the lead starting changing hands, At first, Mackenzie Callahan (Minooka HS) took over the chores as the packed slimmed down to five runners with teammate Emily Shelton, Annie Zaher (Hinsdale Central HS), along with Kammerer and Payne. It was not the pace slowing down as they approached the final 400 of the race but Payne speeding up. As they came off of the curve approaching the finish line with two laps to go, Payne shot to the lead not looking back. A final 72 seconds brought her across the line under five minutes.

“I ran a 2:20.5 leg in the 4x8 and I was a little worried coming into this race. My coach told me to calm down,” an excited Payne said afterwards. “I was nervous before the race. Once that gun goes off that goes away and I just concentrate on what I have to do.” Watch the full interview here

There were five runners that ran faster than 5:10 in this race. Eight of the top ten in the 1600 Meter State Rankings came from this race. Emily Shelton ran 5:03.31 to place second. Annie Zaher was a second back in third (5:04.75). Maddy Kammerer was rewarded with her leading the race with a fourth place finish along with a personal best and school record (5:07.80). Alexis Grandys (Yorkville HS) moved up in the final 400 to finish fifth (5:09.67).

Payne was the opposite position when she took the baton as the anchor for Glenbard West in the 3200 Meter Relay. For the first three laps of the final leg, she was challenging Julia Schultz (Yorkville HS) for the lead. As the two runners were battling for the lead, Claire Hamilton (Naperville North HS) was moving closer to the lead. Payne started to stretch the lead in the final lap with Schultz starting to drop back. Hamilton passed Schultz and had her eyes on the lead. Payne and Hamilton pushed each other the final 50 meters with either refusing to falter. It was a final surge at the line for Payne that gave her the win just a tenth ahead of Hamilton (9:26.25 – 9:26.35). Hamilton came from five seconds behind in the final 800 to challenge for the win with a 2:16 anchor split. The top four teams in the race (Yorkville 3^rd, Oswego 4^th) were all under 9:35 all with the four fastest times in the state.

It was a coming out party for Glenbard West freshman Katie Hohe in the 3200 Meter Run. She sat in third most of the race as Ashley Tutt (Minooka HS) and Sara Schmitt (Naperville North HS) sharing the race leading responsibilities. In the final lap with under 175 meters to go, Hohe took the lead on the back stretch unleashing a strong kick. She improved her personal best by 35 seconds as she won the race just missing going under 11 minutes (11:01.24). Tutt was less than two seconds back in second (11:03.07) just nine hundredths of a second ahead of Schmidt. Sara Barcelona (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) finished fourth (11:06.84) three seconds behind the pack.

While eyes were on the distance races, Lincoln-Way East did some magical things in the sprint relays eyeing fast seed times for next week’s New Balance Indoor Nationals. To say that the Griffins were untouched in the 800 Meter Relay would be a drastic understatement. Asia Brown gave her team a huge lead on the opening leg putting the race win out of reach for everyone else in the first 25 seconds of action. Alexis Pierre-Antoine, Jasmine Howell, and Kayla Hylton stretched it out from there. They improved their state best a second crossing the line in 1:41.24. Lincoln-Way East’s “B” team had the second fastest time of the meet (1:48.59) in the fourth section of the event. Hinsdale Central was second overall (1:48.67) in the scoring but a whopping seven seconds behind Lincoln-Way East.

The story was the same for the Griffins in the 1600 Meter Relay but there was determination in this quartet. The week before at an invitational at Lewis University, they were disqualified in this race. They wanted to make amends for that. The process in this race was just the same as in the shorter relay. Kayla Hylton gave her team the lead running a 60 second opening leg. The question after she handed off to Kyndall Wallace was which team would place second. East, with Jasmine Howell running the third leg and Asia Brown anchoring, ran the state’s best time (3:59.50) making the race more of a time trial. Downers Grove South, behind a strong anchor leg by Michaela Hackbarth, finished second (4:09.38) ten seconds back.

Hackbarth looked in mid-season form in the 800 Meter Run controlling the race from the outset refusing to give up the lead. She passed by the 400 in 68 then 1:38 at 600 with Vanessa Flaherty (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) and Riley Revord (Hinsdale Central HS) close behind. Hackbarth’s winning time (2:17.10) is the second fastest time in the state and a half second ahead of Flaherty and Revord.

The Downers Grove South senior had little time to rest before the 400 Meter Dash and it showed early in the race. There was no question that Kierra Griggs (Bloom Township HS, Chicago Heights) was going to win this race as she had a big lead crossing through the 200 in 25 seconds. Griggs held on to run 57.54 for the win and the third fastest time in the state. Hackbarth moved from fourth to run the only other time under 60 seconds in this meet (59.48) to finish second.

The athletes from the three sprint races will be facing each other many times as this season progresses. Shaliyah Dixon-Tucker (Downers Grove South HS) had the edge in the 55 Meter Hurdles as she cleared the final hurdles. She won the race (8.31) just four hundredth of a second ahead of Alexis Pierre-Antoine (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort). Dixon-Tucker was right back on the line ten minutes later for the 55 Meter Dash. It was Kayla Hylton that was the winner of the race (7.20) but just two hundredths ahead of Dixon-Tucker. D’Jenne Egharevba (Naperville Central HS) ran 7.30 to finish third. Egharevba’s fortunes were different in the 200 Meter Dash. She made up the stagger on the back stretch and held that lead (25.26) to win her section and the event. Dixon-Tucker concluded a great day by finishing second (25.66) and winning the second section of the event.

There were two field event performances that shined above the rest in this meet. Jelena Rowe (Bloom Township HS, Chicago Heights) won the High Jump clearing 5-7 on her second attempt. She had the bar raised to 5-8 ¼ and cleared that on her third attempt taking over the state lead. The junior had the bar raised to 5-9. She had two good attempts at that height just grazing the bar. She had the right speed on the approach on her final attempt at that height clearing the bar improving her state lead and establishing a new personal best.

Courtney Morgan (Metea Valley HS, Aurora) took control of the Shot Put early in the meet with a state #2 46-8 ½ on her first attempt. She was “on” in this meet with all three attempts over 45 feet. She won the Shot Put by a commanding ten feet ahead of Lincoln-Way East’s Lauren LaDere (36-7).

Meet Results