Wildkit Girls Send 6 Individuals, 3 Relays To State

While the other runners entered in the final heat of the 400-meter dash sprinted or jogged toward the starting line, Brie Noel took her time.

Noel’s demeanor reflected the regal stroll of a queen about to be crowned.

The Evanston freshman raced into the history book of the fabled girls track program, clocked in a personal best time of 56.45 seconds as she ruled her event Wednesday at the Class 3A Glenbrook South Sectional meet.

Already established as one of the fastest quarter-milers in Illinois in her first year of competition, Noel added a sectional championship to her still developing track resume and punched a ticket to the state finals set for May 23-24 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

She joined shot put champion Lejla Maljevic as Evanston’s only two individual champs. The pair set the qualifying pace for the Wildkits and led them to second place in the team standings with 70 points, behind only Prospect (171) in the 16-team field.

Overall, Evanston advanced six individuals and three relay teams to the Class 3A state finals. The top two finishers in each event automatically qualified, along with anyone who equaled or better the IHSA qualifying standards.

Seniors Stella Davis (1600-meter run) and Nyel Rollins (300 hurdles) earned repeat trips to State in their respective events, and Evanston’s other individual qualifiers were Ingrid Sylvestre in the 100 hurdles and Hunter Vandergriff in the 200. Evanston will also be represented at Charleston in the 400, 800 and 1600 relay races.

Noel, who also contributed a leg for the runner-up 1600 relay team, has some royal lineage already. She is the daughter of ETHS Hall of Famer Renee Murphy, who won state hurdles titles back in 1990 and 1991, and head coach Fenny Gunter has known her since she was a toddler.

And it didn’t take the veteran coach long to recognize that he could trust in the rookie runner in open races right from the start, the exact opposite of the pattern he usually follows with incoming freshmen. Typically, Gunter will bring young competitors along slowly --- usually only in relays if they’re fast enough to crack the lineup at the varsity level --- to help them develop into elite runners over time.

Noel’s already there.

“I’ve known her since she was a little kid. We’re fortunate because we have connections with aunties or mothers or even grandmothers who ran for us,” Gunter said. “When Brie started out, she was involved in gymnastics and some other activities and she really didn’t start to run until she was in seventh grade. Her mother let us do what we do here, and the kid trusted us to do what we do, too.

“We didn’t want to rush anything with Brie. But she’s one of the few freshmen to run individual events for us and the other two were (past state champions) Shalina Clarke and Traci Ann Henry. So she’s in some rare company.

“Brie was able to manage running two open quarters today for the first time and she looked comfortable doing what she did. She’s a good kid who wants to do well, and she hates to lose. She’s so competitive --- she gets that from her Mama --- and she just has to be patient and channel it. There’s a lot of upside to her.”

Noel said she used that stroll prior to her victory to make sure she had the right mindset in place for her race.

“It was the first time I’ve ever been in a meet like this, and I just wanted to make sure I was ready for the race and that I wasn’t wasting any energy (getting to the starting line),” said Noel.

“It really feels good to win the sectional. I’ve been working hard in practice. I knew I really wanted to PR today and do the best I can do. I did great today, but I just want to keep working and keep improving.”

In the 1600 relay, Noel teamed up with Francesca Decastro, Amari Robinson and Sylvestre for a second place time of 4 minutes, .18 seconds. Prospect ran away with that race in a sizzling 3:50.37.

Maljevic’s title in the shot, with a best throw of 12.03 meters (or about 39 feet, 6 inches), was part of a mixed bag for the Wildkit junior. She failed to qualify in her favorite event, the long jump, and also fell short in the discus where she placed a non-qualifying fifth.

A two and a half year layoff from training in the long jump proved too much for Maljevic to overcome and that realization weighed heavily on her for awhile Wednesday.

She didn’t jump in her first year at ETHS after emigrating from her native Montenegro because she was developing (or had developed) shin splints. But when she was finally permitted to compete in the event during the 2024 indoor campaign, she really believed she could make up for lost time this year.

Her best effort on Wednesday --- 5.28 meters in the preliminaries --- earned the last qualifying spot for the finals, but she couldn’t improve on it and finished 9th.

“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. That’s OK,” Maljevic said. “I just came to the realization today that even though I was getting all kinds of PRs during the indoor season --- I thought maybe one season was enough to make up for it --- I didn’t have enough experience or confidence yet in the long jump.

“My body has changed (grown) a lot in the past two and a half years so coming back to the long jump was like starting all over again after the injury. At the beginning of the year, I wasn’t thinking about (going to) State in the shot. But after I hit the qualifying mark in the first meet I kinda expected it.

“I have a lot more work to do now in the long jump. It’s meant to be next season.”

Davis almost pulled off an upset win in the 1600, but settled for second place with a time of 5:01.78 to 5:01.63 for Prospect senior Veronica Znajda. With that effort Davis, a University of Illinois recruit, became the first distance runner in program history to reach the IHSA state finals for three years in a row.

Now she has an opportunity to improve on last year’s 8th place finish at State in the 1600.

“I didn’t know I made history. That’s special,” Davis said. “It shows the strength of the coaches here at ETHS, the trust I’ve been able to put in the training and the fact that I didn’t have any (major) injuries --- knock on wood.

“I’m a little sad that this is our last meet together (as seniors) and super excited to be going Downstate again. I’m proud of the way I kicked today and now I know I have that in me for next Friday (preliminaries at State). Did I kick too early? I don’t know, but I did get excited when I first passed her (Znajda) and I kinda petered out a little after that. My legs were burning so bad.”

Rollins ran fourth in the 300 hurdles in a time of 45.97, easily beating the qualifying time of 46.88 in a race that was won by Palatine’s Aisha Kazeem in a quick 43.28. Vandergriff placed fourth in the 200 in 25.23, just off her season best performance of 25.27.

Sylvestre, a sophomore, sprinted home third in the 100 hurdles (in 15.41) and contributed a gutsy leg on the second place 800 relay team. She followed teammates Decastro, Vandergriff and Bailey Sterling and fought off a late charge from Glenbrook South’s anchor runner to claim the automatic qualifying spot in 1:42.29 to 1:42.44 for the Titans. Prospect won the race in 1:40.45.

Noel, Vandergriff, Decastro and Sterling put together a clocking of 48.46 that was good for third place behind Prospect (46.36) and Hersey (48.39) in the 400 relay.