Noel's Come-From-Behind Sprint Delivers Relay Title

CHARLESTON --- Half way through her high school track career, sophomore Brie Noel hasn’t had much experience coming from behind in a race.

But that’s just what made her final race of the 2026 season approach legendary status in the annals of Evanston’s track history here Saturday at the Class 3A Illinois High School Association state track and field finals hosted by Eastern Illinois University.

Noel made up a 15-meter deficit on the anchor leg of the 1600-meter relay and rallied the Wildkit girls to a state championship --- and nearly a state record --- in that race.

The sophomore sensation took advantage of an opening on the inside lane and powered past the field with a dazzling split of 54.4 --- just 60 minutes after placing 3^rd in the open 400 in 54.81 --- and Evanston posted a winning time of 3 minutes, 48.63 seconds.

Noel combined with junior Francesca Decastro, senior Hunter Vandergriff and junior Ingrid Sylvestre to bring home Evanston’s first relay title since 2022, when the Wildkits also won the 4 x 400 in a school record time of 3:47.45.

The victory lifted Evanston to a tie for 13^th place in the team standings with 19 points, same as Conant. Evanston also counted an 8^th place individual finish from senior Lejla Maljevic in the shot put. Edwardsville and Homewood-Flossmoor tied for the team championship with 76 points apiece.

Noel’s refuse-to-lose demeanor once she steps onto any track has produced a dominant start to her race career. During the regular season, she was rarely challenged in open races and head coach Fenny Gunter asked her to run smarter this weekend and to be a little less aggressive competing against the state’s elite runners.

Noel ran smarter --- and faster --- and Gunter didn’t mind seeing that aggressiveness blossom in his rising star just when the Wildkits needed her most.

“Brie ran smart. That was the second race of the day where she listened and followed instructions,” Gunter praised. “We told them all don’t panic --- the first 200 of that race will be a lot quicker than you’ve seen --- and just stay on your (expected) splits. Collectively, they all ran together and did a great job.

“We just had to stay within ourselves and let the race come to us. That’s just what they did.”

Noel accomplished that come-from-behind win in a scenario where she was up against runners from other schools with a lot on the line. The battle for the team title was so close that both Edwardsville and H-F were going all out in their own lanes, while Belleville East --- which was disappointed with a prelim effort on Friday --- was lurking as a challenger, too.

Noel also had to deal with Normal University High anchor Abigail Jackson, who finished 2^nd in the open 400 earlier in 54.53.

The ETHS sophomore was equal to the task. But it wasn’t easy when the Kits dropped into 4^th place after Sylvestre’s No. 3 leg.

“When I got the stick (relay baton) I thought, I know what I have to do, just do the best I can,” Noel said. “I just kept picking up (passing foes), picking up. Coach Gunter had told me that it would come down to the last 300, and that I should stay composed, don’t panic.

“All year I’ve kinda been running by myself, so it really helped me when we had a close race in the prelims, because I wasn’t used to that. Around the 300 (meters left in the race) there were two girls on the inside and they pushed me almost into the rail (lining the track). But I didn’t step on it and I just got inside of them.”

Gunter cringed when he saw what happened from the opposite side of the track. He thought Noel might step into the infield, an automatic disqualification.

“I was saying no, no, don’t go inside, don’t take it because they’ll close the door on you. But she made the right choice,” said the ETHS coach. “They left it open and she took advantage of it.”

The first three Wildkit runners --- Decastro, Vandergriff and Sylvestre --- didn’t doubt that Noel would deliver despite the deficit she faced with the stakes so high.

“It feels amazing to be a state champion. It feels surreal,” Decastro said. “I was still very excited on that last exchange because I knew what Brie could do. If there’s anyone I’d want to have the stick in that situation, it’s Brie. I knew she’d get us where we needed to be.

“I was just OK with the way I ran yesterday (team clocking of 3:50.47, including Decastro’s split of 57.58). It definitely felt like I pushed a lot more today. It was my last race and I had to give it everything. I thought we’d all run better today, with more energy and with more on the line.”

“I was thinking oh, wow, now we’re 4^th after Ingrid’s leg. I hope Brie can get us into the top three,” said Vandergriff. “But omigosh, Brie was really rolling. I think she surprised some people on that leg. Brie really has a good awareness of what to do when she’s out there and she’s grown a lot this year.”

Both Vandergriff and Sylvestre made individual sacrifices to help secure the relay crown. They qualified in the open 400 and 300 hurdles, respectively, coming out of the sectional meet but Gunter decided to scratch them out of the prelims to have them focus on that relay race.

Sylvestre did compete in the 100 hurdle prelims and just missed reaching the finals Saturday with her solid clocking of 14.93. She needed a 14.84 to advance.

“I already knew I wasn’t going to run the 300. It takes a lot out of you, and I wasn’t hurt about it,” Sylvestre said. “It feels so good to win this. It’s like a big weight was lifted off our shoulders. We all just tried our best.”

Vandergriff, a senior, was a little more reluctant to give up her last chance for an individual State medal.

“To be honest, I really didn’t have a choice, and it kinda hurt my feelings,” she admitted. “I didn’t really run relays my first three years and it was a difficult decision for me to accept. But I think it was the right decision for me to switch over.”

Evanston’s winning performance was just three seconds shy of the state record relay run by East St. Louis Lincoln back in 1984. The record of 3:45.14 might be challenged by the Wildkits again next year, with underclassmen Nikki Dandelles, Amari Robinson and Anya Ruhle battling to replace Vandergriff in the lineup.

“I actually thought we were capable of a 3:44 this year, before Hunter (hamstring issues) was hurt so much and didn’t really run much indoors,” Gunter noted. “We ran about eight different girls in that race this year. We won it four years ago and it was very satisfying to be able to develop another cycle of kids who buy into what we’re selling.”

Noel moved up from her 6^th place State finish in the 400 as a freshman, trailing only Maliyah Miller of St. Ignatius (53.95) and Jackson (54.53) with her time of 54.81. That was a PR --- personal record --- for the second-year runner, who has shown a knack for running fast times even without much competition.

“I do feel like I wanted to run a little faster in the 400 today,” Noel shrugged. “I wanted to be in the top three. My Mom (former ETHS state champion Renee Murphy) always tells me to keep envisioning what can happen and I did that. And being here last year, and knowing what it takes to get to the finals, really helped me a lot.”

Noel didn’t advance in her other open event, the 100 dash, where she was timed in 12.55.

Maljevic, meanwhile, discovered that the down side to being the first girl in program history to qualify for State in three different field events meant that she wasn’t able to deliver a peak performance at the end in any single event.

Her best throw in the shot --- 12.38 meters --- came on her third throw of Friday’s prelims and she could only muster tosses of 12.09, 12.24 and 11.89 on Saturday.

She fell short in the discus (30.91) and long jump (5.28), but from the start of her career at ETHS --- she emigrated to the United States from Montenegro as a sophomore --- she’s been focused on laying a foundation for what she believes her future will bring. She’ll compete in the heptathlon at Illinois State University, a choice that meant she couldn’t just focus on one event in high school.

Evanston’s other state qualifier in the field events, junior Ebony Turner, was eliminated in the shot put prelims Friday with a best throw of 11.57.

“I was looking at the bigger picture, rather than one specific event,” said Maljevic. “Yeah, it would have been awesome if I had won today. I am disappointed, but I can accept the results. I’ll get back to work. This is really only the beginning for me.

“I felt good today. I knew a lot of the other people here were ready to peak. You can’t control anything but to give 100 percent, and I did that today. I thought I was going to get better results. It just didn’t happen. But I definitely did better than last year and I saw a lot of positives.”