Rookie Thrower Rules At CSL South Meet

European runners, jumpers and throwers are renowned in the track and field world for their aggressive approach to the sport.

Lejla (pronounced Lay-la) Maljevic brought that attitude with her from her native Montenegro when she moved to Evanston last summer and it was up to ETHS head girls track coach Fenny Gunter to slow her roll.

Noting that leg problems including shin splints could have led Maljevic to a more serious injury if she kept running, Gunter pointed the sophomore in a different direction.

The result? Maljevic emerged as an unlikely two-time champion Wednesday at the Central Suburban League South division meet at Glenbrook South. She captured gold medals in both the shot put and discus throw as the Wildkits earned five first place finishes overall, their best showing at the conference meet since 2015.

Another sophomore, Hunter Vandergriff, surprised the field with a victory in the 200-meter dash and Evanston also ruled the 400 and 800 relay races on their way to an overall 4th place team finish.

Evanston’s Stella Davis actually won the 800 with a personal best time, only to be disqualified later by meet officials. That DQ, and the fact that Evanston didn’t enter any varsity competitors in the pole vault, 400, 1600, 3200, 100 hurdles, 3200 relay or high jump, enabled Glenbrook North to edge out ETHS for 3rd place by a margin of 78-77 in the point standings.

New Trier won the team title with 183.5 points to 125 for runnerup Maine South.

The fact that Maljevic chalked up personal bests in the shot (10.24 meters, or 33 feet, 6 inches) and discus (32.69 meters, or about 107 feet) wasn’t a surprise considering that she’s still so new to that aspect of the sport.

She moved to the United States in order to pursue her goal of competing in the Olympic Games some day in the future --- but as a runner or a jumper, not a thrower.

“When we saw her running (in preseason fall workouts) we told her we think you’ve got some damage in your legs, and you need to get that checked out with an MRI,” Gunter recalled. “We knew she could run, but with the history of leg problems we told her she needed to do something that would put less wear and tear on her legs and where she could still be successful.

“I think what she really wants is to get back to jumping. But she’s a young kid and she’s got to have time to mature.”

The veteran coach also explained to the newcomer to the program how Dawson Wright embarked on a similar path last year, taking up the throws for the first time as a senior with leg difficulties, and wound up as the first Evanston girl to win the Illinois High School Association state championship in the shot.

“Coach Gunter saved me, because I am a person who always just wants to go, go, go,” Maljevic said. “My favorite race is the 200 and I’ve always had a real passion for the long jump, too. But that MRI showed I was close to a stress fracture, so I thought I’d try throwing and at least get something out of this season. Coach Fenny gave me some advice --- but it was my decision.

“My plan was to find a better future for myself by coming here. I figured I could do better here than at home, where we don’t even have a (track) stadium. Coach Fenny and Coach G (throws coach George Woolridge) have really helped me with how to deal with everything here.”

Maljevic made the move to a new country joining her older brother, who is a soccer player at Judson College in Elgin. The siblings live with an aunt and uncle in Evanston and the lanky sophomore admitted the decision to emigrate to the U.S. wasn’t easy for her or the parents she left behind.

“I had been here a couple of times to visit and I didn’t like it. I thought it was boring, and I didn’t think I’d ever want to live here,” she said. “I don’t really know what changed for me. But my parents said they would support me no matter what I decided, although I could see it was really hard on them. They were scared for me. But they believe in me, and they know that this is better for me.

“I’ve been so competitive since I was little and I’ve always wanted to be the best --- or nothing. Coach Gunter and Coach G have helped me stay calm, and positive, instead of putting pressure on myself, and they’ve helped me enjoy throwing. I’m doing this because I love it. I know that if I give 100 percent and have fun, then step by step it’s starting to feel like I’m on the right track.”

Maljevic isn’t the only Wildkit on the right track. Vandergriff, a second-year runner, finally put together strong showings in a relay race and the open 200 at the same meet, winning that race in a personal best time of 26.26 seconds after earlier teaming up with Nyel Rollins, Francesca Decastro and Camille Calixte to take top honors in the 800 relay in a swift 1:44.23.

Vandergriff’s big win took awhile to sink in.

“I’m a champion? I’m a champion?” asked the exhausted sophomore. “All I know is that I’ve been having kind of a rough season so far. I knew today I had to have a better mindset and put my all into it.

“I’ve been in a rut on the track. I wasn’t really getting the improvement that I wanted to see and I was getting very self-critical. My PR last year was a 26.32, but I’ve just had 27s this year. This is my first PR of the season.”

There are more on the way, according to Gunter.

“Lejla and Hunter took big steps today,” the coach said. “Hunter finally believed in herself coming off of that turn, and she ran determined. She’s been a tremendous girl for us on the relays but she’s still gaining confidence in the individual races. Usually she runs well in the relays, then takes four or five steps back when she doesn’t run well in the open races.

“We weren’t even going to run her in the 200 tonight because we didn’t want her to keep taking steps back. I’m glad to see her with a smile on her face now.”

In the 400 relay, the quartet of Bailey Sterling, Honor Michelin, Decastro and Rollins raced to a winning time of 49.47. The state qualifying standard in that race is 49.34.

Davis’ mishap in the 800, a race she entered mostly to add speed work to her training regimen for the postseason, was partly due to her inexperience at that distance. Meet officials claimed Davis, competing in the 800 for just the second time this outdoor season, cut in too soon after starting the race in the outside lane.

The Evanston junior wasn’t sure. But she knows the time she ran --- 2:17 plus --- will rank among the state’s best and could cause Davis and the ETHS coaching staff to do some serious thinking as to which race --- 800, 1600 or 3200 --- she’ll focus on at the Class 3A sectional at Deerfield next week.

“I had no idea where I was supposed to cut in. Usually there are little orange cones on the track that tell you where to cut in. Today there was just one cone on the side, and I don’t usually look there (at the start of a race),” she said.

“I celebrated for about five minutes after the race, then I found out about the DQ and I was crying. But it’s OK. I’m really happy because I didn’t know I had that in me. Now I know I can do it, and it’s better for this to happen today than at the sectional or State.

“My favorite race is still the mile, but I like running the 800 and the 3200, too. We’ll look at it and see just where I have the best chance of getting a medal at State.”

Also scoring individual top 5 finishes for the Wildkits Wednesday were Sterling, 2nd in the 100 at 12.74 and 4th in the 200 at 27.01; Rollins, 2nd in the 300 hurdles at 46.97; and Marie Honor, 5th in the discus at 28.33 meters.