Frosh Noel Sprints To 6th In 400 At State

CHARLESTON --- One glance at his stop watch after Evanston freshman Brie Noel finished competing in the Class 3A 400-meter dash here Saturday convinced head coach Fenny Gunter that she’d run a good race.

Then it was time for Gunter to do a double take when he found out his watch was wrong.

Noel ran a blistering 55.85 quarter mile and scored a sixth place finish in her first trip to the blue oval track at Eastern Illinois University for the Illinois High School Association state finals. That effort, and a ninth place finish by junior Lejla Maljevic in the shot put, allowed the Wildkits to keep alive their streak of having scored state meet points in every year the championship has been held.

Evanston totaled five points to earn a tie for 41st place in the team standings along with Rich Township, Loyola Academy, Bloomington and Grayslake Central. Homewood-Flossmoor outscored Prospect 56-52 to claim the Class 3A team title.

Noel grabbed the last qualifying spot in the open 400 coming out of Friday’s preliminary races, then registered a time drop of almost two full seconds 24 hours later. She rose to the occasion just like a veteran wearing the Orange and Blue, passing up three runners who had better times than her Friday performance of 57.35 that was a personal best.

And her 55.85 clocking is just two seconds shy of Parker English’s school record of 53.80.

“We’ve only had two freshmen get to the finals (in open races) at State in Shalina Clarke and Traci Ann Henry, so she’s in pretty fast company,” Gunter said. “She really responded well today with that massive PR.

“She didn’t run well on Friday to get that last spot (9th overall) because she went out too easy and didn’t follow our instructions. Today we told her she had to go out and get two or three of those girls right away, and she ran a tremendous time. She really seized the moment.

“I knew she could hit 55 (seconds) if everything clicked, and my watch said 56. But when I was talking about it with (assistant coach) Coretta Evans she said what are you talking about, she didn’t run a 56, she ran a 55.85! Oh my goodness, I just fell out when I heard that!”

The finals field in the 400 included two runners who finished in the top four a year ago and another who also reached the finals. Mariyah Robinson of Homewood-Flossmoor, who placed second competing for Simeon last year, blazed her way to a winning time of 54.17 to 54.51 for Julia Brown of Oak Park-River Forest.

Also placing ahead of Noel were Alaina Steel of Lincoln-Way East (54.86), Naomi Bey Osborne of Kankakee (55.09) and freshman Lyric Jones of Belleville East (55.41).

Like Noel, Maljevic also made a move up in her event on the second day of the meet. The ETHS junior only ranked 10th in the shot with a best toss of 11.47 meters (37 feet, 7 inches), but climbed another spot in the field on Saturday at 11.71, or 38 feet, 5 inches.

Maljevic actually tied Hailey Homola of Hampshire for 8th but Homola was awarded that spot by herself when officials broke the tie by considering each athlete’s next best throw.

“After Friday, we told her she had to move up and get someone (finish higher), and she did that,” Gunter praised. “She was too tense yesterday and she was a lot more comfortable out there today (in her first trip to State). She didn’t throw well right and we just had to get her to calm down.

“We told her that her No. 1 job was to qualify and get to the next day. Now, clean up your mess (throw farther) and see if you can get some points. She did her job and got a medal, and that’s so great for her because I know how hard she’s worked this year.

“We felt we could get three people to the finals if everything clicked for us, and we got two. It was a good team effort.”

Senior Stella Davis, who placed 8th at State a year ago in the 1600-meter run, was eliminated Friday with a still solid time of 5 minutes, 3.24 seconds that only ranked 14th in the field. The top 12 times advanced to Saturday and Davis missed out by approximately two seconds.

Nyel Rollins also fell into the “near miss” category with the 11th fastest prelim time in the 300 hurdles of 45.21. She needed to break 45 to keep her season alive to the final day.

Two other ETHS underclassmen, sophomore Ingrid Sylvestre and junior Hunter Vandergriff, also came up short in the prelims. Sylvestre’s 100 hurdle time of 15.46 put her back in the pack and Vandergriff’s 25.64 showing in the open 200 wasn’t quick enough, either.

The Wildkits couldn’t count any relay points, either. The unit of Noel, Vandergriff, Francesca Decastro and Bailey Sterling posted a 48.65 in the 400 relay, and Decastro, Vandergriff, Sterling and freshman Amari Robinson mustered a non-qualifying 1:43.38 in the 800.

Evanston was disqualified in the 1600 relay when Sylvestre turned in what would have been her best split of the season (59.2) but cut into the inside lanes too soon on the second leg of the race.

“We just didn’t have enough bullets in those relays,” Gunter acknowledged. “We ran well but we didn’t have all four run well at the same time. And no one plays around at the state finals. It’s rough trying to beat some of those girls. That 4 x 400 was one hot race. I think we’ve have broken four minutes, but you needed a 3:55 just to qualify for the finals and today the top three teams all ran in the high 3:40s. Wow!”