Davis Pumps Up The Volume For Kits With 1600 Win

One month into her track career, Stella Davis is discovering the differences between cross country and track.

The Evanston sophomore knows she can count on more coaching during a track competition just because of the nature of the two sports. Cross country runners need a coach willing --- and able --- to run a half mile or so from one spot to another to shout out time splits to competing runners, while track coaches can position assistants (or teammates) at a couple of spots on the oval to let racers know where they stand on the clock.

But Davis wasn’t able to take advantage of that coaching at a raucous D117 Winter Grand Prix invitational Saturday at the new Lakes Community fieldhouse. So with U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name” blaring over the loudspeaker DURING the race, she still turned in the 3rd fastest time in school history indoors, winning the 1600-meter title in an impressive 5 minutes, 3.36 seconds.

Only former state champion Enyaeva Michelin has run faster wearing the Orange and Blue. She holds the indoor record in the 1600 at 4:54.30 and, to date, is the only Wildkit runner to break 5 minutes at that distance.

That record might not last too long. Davis, a sophomore who has abandoned soccer as her main spring sport to focus on running, is clearly in the fast lane.

All that remains is for the ETHS coaching staff to decide what distance --- 3200, 1600, 800? --- will be best for Davis. And it won’t hurt if the volume gets turned down, too. Meet organizers at Lakes have apparently decided that indoor meets need to be accompanied by music so loud that coaches, spectators and competitors can’t even hear the PA announcer for most of the day.

That left Davis on her own, but it didn’t slow her down.

“I came in to the meet today expecting some (tough) competition,but when I looked at the heat sheets I saw that the girl from St. Ignatius (Annika Swan, who won the open 800 Saturday) wasn’t running,” Davis said. “That’s when I knew it would be me against the clock, just like in practice.

“It was so loud that I couldn’t hear any splits. It really helps during a race to know exactly where you’re at (race pace), and if you need to pick it up. But everything today was really a blur for me. It was so loud. I still came in with a good time for my first 800 (2:29) --- I wanted to be under 2:30 --- but I need to pick it up more on the 5th and 6th laps.

“This was the first time I went out and took the lead right away. That was a new experience for me, and I think it worked out pretty well.”

ETHS head coach Fenny Gunter thought so, too.

“Stella did a good job of following the plan from Coach Sibert (assistant coach Jesse), and that was a very good time considering she ran by herself again, just like she did at Rockford (the previous weekend),” said Gunter after the sophomore turned in the 2nd fastest time in Illinois so far in the indoor campaign. “She was in a different environment, against better competition, and she still made a time drop. She’s coming along fine and she’s gaining more and more insight in how to run every day.

“We have the same expectations for her we had for (distance) girls like Allison Pink, Laura Schmidt, Stephanie Goodrich, Rachel Cyrus. It’s just a matter of getting a kid who is willing to be committed and locked in --- that’s half the battle --- and that’s what we’ve seen so far from Stella.

“It’s all still so new to her and she has to understand how best to channel her energy and not get carried away. She has a lot of boxes to check, and hopefully her training will carry over when she goes back to cross country.”

Davis’ victory, and a couple of top 3 relay finishes, powered Evanston to a tie for 7th place in the team standings with 30 points with Prairie Ridge and Lakes. Huntley ruled the team race with 68 points to Homewood-Flossmoor’s 51 in the 26-team field.

Gunter had to shuffle his relay lineups due to illness among a couple of young runners he wanted to take a look at. So he shifted senior Abrielle Artley and sophomore Nyel Rollins out of open races, and they teamed with senior Kai Strickland and soph Kennedy Murray to place 2nd in the 800-meter relay (1:49.54) and 3rd in the 1600 relay (4:14.15).

Another senior, Dawson Wright, captured 3rd in the shot put with a best toss of 11.06 meters. Wright, who is a former relay runner trying the field events for the first time this year, scored personal bests on 3 of her 4 attempts Saturday. Barrington’s Sofiabella Armirante won at 11.48 meters.