Personal records are always a plus for athletes competing at the end of a high school track season, and Evanston’s young team chalked up more PRs than you could count Wednesday at the Class 3A Deerfield Sectional girls meet.
As head coach Fenny Gunter pointed out, all those PRs led to plenty of smiling faces.
But no one wore a bigger smile than Nyel Rollins.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Just two short months after she started training in the 300-meter hurdle event for the first time, the Evanston junior scored a 3rd place finish and posted a state qualifying time for the second week in a row to earn a trip to the Illinois High School Association state finals May 17-18 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
Rollins also led the all-underclass 400-meter and 800-meter relays to qualifying berths, and classmate Stella Davis advanced with a runnerup individual finish in the 1600. All those PRS added up to a 4th place finish in the team standings with 49 points in the 16-team field.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Prospect ran away with the team title, piling up 186 points to 103.5 for second place New Trier.
Rollins will actually be making a return trip to the state finals after helping ETHS to a 7th place finish in the 1600 relay last spring. But an influx of new sprinters left Rollins uncertain as to just what her role would be in the 2024 campaign.
Little did she know that the switch to a new event --- with a new coach --- would put her on the path back to Charleston.
Rollins actually ran under the IHSA state qualifying standard at the CSL South division meet, lowering her PR a full two seconds, and did it again Wednesday with an effort of 45.93 seconds that trailed only Amina Hadziahmetovic of Prospect (44.71) and Claudia Sepko of Hersey (45.42).
She also teamed with freshman Bailey Sterling, freshman Francesca Decastro and sophomore Hunter Vandergriff for second place performances in the 400 relay (48.43) and 800 relay (1:42.30).
“I’ve only been hurdling for two months, and I’m not just surprised, I’m super surprised,” said Rollins. “This is only the 5th time I’ve ever even run this race. I’m proud of myself --- and I’m shocked, too.
“This year has been a really difficult year for me in a lot of ways. Track has always been an outlet for me, but it was difficult for me to find my spot on the team. I felt like I should know that since it’s my junior year now. I felt like they just put me in the hurdles because they didn’t know where else to put me.”
Rollins knew from past experience that Gunter and the rest of the ETHS staff expect more independence, and sometimes more leadership, once athletes in the program become juniors and seniors. And the focus on so many freshmen and sophomores just learning their way around the sport this spring at ETHS left Rollins feeling somewhat overlooked.
But working with new hurdles coach Jorge Perez, who joined the program this year after previously guiding multiple male hurdlers to State during his tenure at Niles West, provided just the spark and knowledge that Rollins needed.
“Coach Perez has been my rock,” said the ETHS junior. “I felt pushed back at first, but Coach Perez gave me the attention I needed. I love the race now and I know I can do it.
“At the beginning, it was a hard adjustment and I know it’s a race I’ll never master. At the conference meet I went over the first hurdle on the wrong leg, and messed up my steps. So I had to make an adjustment and still got a PR.
“Today, when I hit that last hurdle, I didn’t think I’d qualify. But I got another PR. It’s so easy to mess up in the hurdles, but my mindset is different now. Next week I’m going to try to drop (time) again, like to the low 45s or maybe even a 44, and once I get that first hurdle right, I think I can do it.”
Gunter noted that he’s only ever asked one other Kit runner to compete in the 300 hurdles and the 800 relay in the same championship meet --- former star Natasha Foreman --- because of the short rest time between races and the strength required to attempt that “double.” And even Foreman wasn’t asked to tackle that task until her senior year.
“That shows that Nyel is stronger than she thinks she is,” Gunter said. “It was just a matter of if she’d make the decision to just get out there and run. Once she made up her mind to do that, it was easier for her to go faster. She doesn’t have that flat speed, really, but she’s a pretty determined girl.
“Last week (at the CSL meet) she was all over the place. Once she cleans up those first three hurdles, she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
Davis punched a return ticket to Charleston and hopes to challenge the state’s elite milers after briefly weighing (along with the coaching staff) opportunities to run the half mile and two mile.
She wasn’t about to second guess her decision Wednesday and is determined to wipe out the memory of last year’s State trip. On the first lap of the 1600 in the prelims last year, she stepped on the inside rail and badly sprained her ankle, thwarting her chances to make the finals even though she did manage to finish the race.
“My goal next week is NOT to trip on the rail,” Davis grinned. “Last year was a learning experience. This year I feel like I’m in a lot better shape and I’ll be a lot more competitive down there.”
The 1600 champion, Prospect junior Veronica Znajda, pulled away from Davis on the final lap to win in 4:59.36. Davis settled for second in 5:03.26.
“I didn’t run my best today, but that’s OK,’ Davis said. “Maybe I took the lead a little too early in the race and I felt like I was slowing down over the last two laps. I need to work on my finishing this week. My finishes have usually been pretty strong this year but it’s very important for State, because a lot of the girls there will have strong kicks.”
Among Evanston’s non-qualifiers, Vandergriff came closest to keeping her season alive in the open 200. But after a false start by another runner in her heat, the sophomore sprinter was clocked in 25.99, good for 3rd place in the race but just off the state qualifying standard of 25.75.
“My wife (positioned near the start of the race) said that Hunter had a perfect start,” Gunter said. “I don’t think she’s ever been in a race with a false start before. It was a good lesson for her.”
Sophomore Lejla Maljevic bounced back from a disappointing showing in the discus --- she couldn’t muster a legal throw in 3 tries --- to capture 3rd in the shot put. She had throws that were PRs on 3 different tries and finished with a best of 10.70 meters.
