Schools
Glenbard West's Pickett, Relay Teams Enjoy All-State Finishes
The Glenbard West girls track team finished sixth at the Class 3A state meet thanks to Kathryn Pickett's performances and four all-state relay teams. Glenbard South's Samantha Howard earns all-state in the 2A discus.
Before this season, nobody in Glenbard West girls track history earned more than three career individual all-state medals.
Senior Kathryn Pickett earned three Saturday at the Class 3A state meet at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston—and a fourth for leading off the 400-meter relay.
That was only part of the greatest state meet appearance in the program's history.
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The 3,200, 400, 800 and 1,600 relays also earned all-state honors as the Hilltoppers finished sixth as a team with 31 points, just five points shy of a team trophy for a top-three finish. East St. Louis Senior (46 points) took first, followed by Lincoln-Way East (37 points) and Hoffman Estates (36 points).
Pickett now finds herself on the school's record list for not one, but two events. Pickett placed second in long jump (school record: 18 feet-9 ¼ inches), third in the 300 low hurdles (school record: 43.50 seconds fully-automatic time), and fourth in the 100 high hurdles (14.65).
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Pickett placed second in long jump (school record: 18 feet-9 ¼ inches), third in the 300 low hurdles (school record: 43.50 seconds fully-automatic time), and fourth in the 100 high hurdles (14.65).
Among the Hilltoppers' other all-state performance at the state meet for finishing in at least ninth place:
- Placing 6th, the 3,200 relay of sophomore Emma Reifel, freshman Madeline Perez and juniors Katie Born and Maddie Nagle, clocked in at a season-best 9:22.73.
- Placing 7th, the 800 relay, comprised of sophomore Emma Reifel, juniors Caroline Maloney and Kinn Badger, senior Bridget Flanagan clocked in at 1:42.90.
- Placing 8th, the 400 relay team was able to clock in at 51.50 seconds, even after dropping a baton, (Pickett, Maloney, Badger and Flanagan).
- Placing 9th, the 1,600 relay team finished with the time of 3:57.78, (Reifel, Flanagan, Maloney, Badger).
Still, the Hilltoppers had their eyes set on even more success. Based on results from Friday's preliminaries, they were seeded to score 39 points.
“They absolutely can have a sense of disappointment in how they ran. That’s fine. But they do understand the magnitude of what they accomplished. We’re sixth in the state of the Illinois. That’s really good,” Glenbard West coach Kelly Hass said.
“We’ve been on a mission all year to show everybody how good we are and we definitely showed something. We had four relays all-state. Kathryn Pickett is a huge part of our success but there is a cast of athletes around her that are really good, too. I think we definitely showed that.”
Pickett, who will compete at Western Michigan, graduates with a program-best seven all-state medals. Before Saturday, her individual all-state medals from 2010 and 2009 equaled the three by 1996 graduate Nell Shields, who 3,200 and 1,600 titles as a senior are Glenbard West's only individual state championships.
Pickett nearly had a state title herself in long jump but she was beaten by Homewood-Flossmoor senior and Ohio State-bound Abie Ehimwenman. Ehimwenman snuck past Pickett with a 19-2 ¾ jump to Pickett's school-record of 18-9 1/4, which was the score to beat entering Saturday's finals.
On Saturday, Pickett broke her 300 hurdles record for the third consecutive race, beginning with sections May 12.
At the 2010 state meet, Pickett was sixth in the 100 hurdles (15.03), eighth in the 300 hurdles (45.66), and was fourth in state at the long jump as a sophomore (17-11 1/2).
“As an athlete for Glenbard West, I don’t know if we’ll ever have one like that again,” Hass said with a laugh. “It’s sad, bittersweet, but it was really nice to see her end on such a high note. She matured so much this year and was a much more reliable athlete overall. She really showed up to compete today.”
In Saturday’s state finals, the 3,200 relay just missed the school record of the Hilltoppers' 1987 state championship lineup (9:21.72), by a mere second, clocking in at 9:22.73. Before Saturday, Glenbard West had more than one all-state relay back in 1980, when the school had three in that one year. This past weekend, the 400 and 800 relays also finished in the top nine, making that two all-state performances.
Still, the 400 and 800 relays had hoped to beat school-record times of 48.09 and 1:41.59 from Friday, and the 1,600 relay was the No. 4 seed (3:54.41) after a school-record 3:53.49 at sectionals.
“I didn’t get what I hoped for today, but I can’t dwell on one meet. I have to look at it from a season and four years perspective where I really appreciate all of the opportunities I had and the people I got to run with,” Flanagan said.
“When I was a freshman, it was a huge deal to qualify for state. We kind of grew as a program and this year we expected to qualify for state. It was kind of cool to personally watch the program improve and get better to where we are today and have the best season we’ve had in history.”
The 400, 1,600 and 3,200 relays were all-state for the first times since 1980, 1981 and 1992, respectively. The 800 relay with Maloney, Badger and Flanagan was an all-state ninth last year in a then school-record of 1:43.21.
“Bridget and Kathryn are definitely leaving a legacy behind,” Hass added. “For Kathryn it’s about getting a little bit better every year and having it pay off. With Bridget, that leadership is something that’s going to be really hard to replace—really, really difficult to replace—just because she is one of the mentally toughest competitors I’ve ever had. She showed everybody how to get it done all year long for four years.”
Other finishes at state:
- Badger was 10th in the 100 (12.31), missing finals by .02.
- Senior Sarah Dau tied for 13th in shot put (38-6 ½), 1 ¼ inches shy of the finals
- Nagle was 18th in the 1,600 (5:19.35).
Glenbard South
Glenbard South sophomore Samantha Howard was in a bit of a rush Saturday, but not before she became the program’s first all-stater in discus with a fourth-place 115 feet-5 inches at the Class 2A state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
After receiving her all-state medal for a top-nine finish, Howard was on her way to the school prom. Her mother even found someone downstate to help fix her hair. Howard is the Raiders’ first all-stater in any field event since 2007 and the first in throws since senior Kim Simpson won the 1987 Class AA shot put state title. Howard, who also finished 20th in shot put (32-5 ¾) was 16th in discus at the 2010 state meet (101-1).
Other finishes at state:
- 400-meter relay finished 11th, (49.78 seconds), senior Ashley Ellis, junior Talia Benware, senior Quirstin Snow and freshman Katelynn Hill, missing finals by .21,
- 800-meter relay finished 11th, (1:45.77), junior Talia Benware, senior Sarah Engelhardt, sophomore Kasia Gniatczyk and freshman Katelyn Hill, missing finals by .21.1,
- 600 relay finished 13th, (4:05.50) Benware, Gniatczyk, Engelhardt and Hill and
- Ellis (10-0) tied for 14th and junior Melissa Nelson (9-6) tied for 19th in pole vault (9-6).
