Wildkit Girls Building With Split Squad Approach

Entering his third decade as the Evanston girls track head coach, Fenny Gunter has never wavered from a philosophy that attempts to build a foundation for postseason success every year.

That foundation is laid during summer workouts and indoors during March and April when runners, jumpers and throwers are presented with the chance to succeed and improve on a weekly basis.

Opportunity is knocking again for the Wildkits during the current indoor campaign, but with a different look to the schedule. In an effort to give both returning veterans and newcomers to the program the maximum number of opportunities to get better, Gunter and his staff are using a “split squad” approach and entering 2 invitationals on the same day each Saturday until the outdoor season starts.

The results have been mixed on the scoreboard, but winning team championships at various indoor meets isn’t the way success is measured at ETHS.

Gunter believes the “split squad” approach will add to the competitive resumes of all of the Wildkit hopefuls and could lead to a bid for a top 10 team finish outdoors at the Illinois High School Association state finals in May.

Evanston earned the team title last Saturday at the 10th annual Proviso East Lady Pirates Invitational even though the champs only entered 11 of the 14 events offered. The Kits piled up 90 points to 80 for second place Chicago Kenwood for their first invite title of the season after previously placing 3rd at both Lakes and Rockford Auburn.

“We haven’t had this many seniors for awhile, and we need to reward the younger girls by giving them more chances to compete,” Gunter explained. “Because if they don’t get the experience this year --- good or bad --- they won’t know how to react next year when those other girls are gone.

“It’s been a long time since we had a group with this little experience at state calibre type meets. Part of that is because of COVID-19 and part is because of injuries that have kept them out. That’s the hand they’ve been dealt over the last 1 ½ years. We’ve got to get them all on the track, and get them some experience.

“You only get experience when you’re on the job, and they’ve made the most of their opportunities so far.”

Evanston scored individual victories in the shotput (Olivia Whatley), 3200-meter run (Margaret Gass), 1600 (Lauren Dain), 55 dash (Jasmine Wright) and 200 (Jacklynn Okereke) at the invite held at the Proviso West fieldhouse.

Whatley, a senior, proved again that she has joined the ranks of the elite female throwers in the state of Illinois with a winning throw of 39 feet, 11 inches to easily claim the gold medal in the shot. Her personal best effort topped the second place finisher by a staggering 4 feet.

“I’m happy that I overcame the 38s (previous best range of throws). 40 feet would have been nice, but I’ll get it next time,” Whatley said. “I’ve been doing it in practice. I just need to do it in a meet.

“It felt great to get that throw today. I got my feet (set) underneath me, kept my head back, and I was able to get the maximum torque that I needed.”

Gass scored her third win of the short indoor campaign in the 3200, with a winning time of 11 minutes, 54.68 seconds, more than a minute quicker than runnerup Ella Powell of Plainfield North. And Dain went shoulder to shoulder with Barrington’s Kari Drage almost every step of the 1600 race, fighting her off to win with a time of 5:28.71 to Drage’s 5:29.36.

Both distance winners have come over to the track program for the first time following successful cross country campaigns. And both have scored significant time drops every week while adjusting to different (shorter) distances from the 3-mile cross country competitions.

“They had big time drops again this week, and I think they’re getting more acclimated to the workouts and listening to Coach (Jesse) Sibert,” praised Gunter.

The fencing program’s loss is track’s gain when it comes to Dain’s addition to the lineup. Usually she’d transition from cross country to the fencing season, but the pandemic wiped out that sport last winter and Dain decided to try something new this winter.

So far, so good.

“This seemed like a natural for me,” she said. “I understand there’s been a disconnect lately between the two (cross country and track) programs and I wanted to help build more of a bridge with some of the other girls.

“I got another PR today and that’s exciting. My background has been purely in cross country and running these races is completely different. It’s more about pacing and, because all of the tracks are similar, you can calculate it by how you feel on every lap. Today, I just had the mentality that I wasn’t going to let her (Drage) pass me by. The race got crowded and close a few times, but I wasn’t going to let her pass me.

“This is very different from the 2 mile --- and I still want to try the 2 mile --- but I like the back and forth of it. It goes so fast, but I really like it.”

Wright blazed her way to a first place finish in the 55, in 7.27 seconds, and Okereke’s only competition in the 200 came from teammates Rikki Gray, as the duo placed 1-2 in 26.17 and 26.48, respectively.

Madison Hardamon added a 2nd in the open 400, in 1:00.38, and Michelle Ogungbemi contributed 3rds in both the triple jump (9.96 meters) and long jump (4.76).