Indoor Track: H-F Boys, Girls Perform Well at Own Invite

The Homewood-Flossmoor indoor track co-ed invite tends to bring out the best in both the boys and girls teams from H-F.

For the boys, it is all about facing one of their rivals--Thornwood--and feeding off the wild crowd during the final race–the 4x400 relay.

For the girls, competing in the same field house at the same time as the boys always brings out their best.

“It is a fun meet," H-F girls coach Rob Assise said. "The girls really like competing with the guys.  It is a nice transition for us as we prepare to go into the outdoor season.”

The five-team field consisted of H-F, Oak Forest, Richards, Thornton and Thornwood. Both the boys and girls fields were divided into 'A' and 'B' divisions.

On the girls side, the Vikings were impressive winning both divisions. H-F topped Thornwood in the 'A' competition 144-110. H-F downed Thornton 86-50 in the 'B' competition.

“Overall, it was a good day," Assise said. "A lot of girls had their best performances this season."

The Vikings were led by Ohio State recruit Abieya Ehimwenman. She took first in the 400-meter dash in division A, first in the long jump in division A and first in the triple jump division A.

“Overall, I did OK, but I could have done better,” Ehimwenman said. “I just know there are things I could do to get better, like be more aggressive on the runway and getting out of my blocks in my individual races.”

The Vikings also picked up first-place finishes from the 4x160, 4x400, 4x800 relay teams; Leslie Esco in the 55-meter dash A division and in the 400-meter dash B division; Courtney Salley in the 55-meter high hurdles; Taylor Lynch in the 55-meter high hurdles B division; Mickayla Jones in the A division 800-meter run; and Mysha Dozier in the B division 800-meter run.

Also, Katherine Puckett placed first in the 1600 meter run in the B division; Eileen Whited placed first in the 1600 meter run in the A division; Taylor Lynch placed first in the 300-meter dash in the A division; Mandie Green placed first in the shot put in the B division; Christina Patterson placed first in the high jump in the B division; and Natalie Williams placed first in the triple jump in the B division.

The H-F boys’ teams finished in third in both divisions as Thornwood took first in both.

“The meet went pretty well," H-F boys coach Nate Beebe said. "There were some good performances and some mistakes that we didn’t (plan on). In indoor (track), we work on conditioning and technique, getting an idea of who runs what and who should be where.”

The highlight for the H-F boys came in the day’s final event, the 4x400 relay.

With the crowds from both the T-Birds and the Vikings cheering their runners o, it was H-F pulling out the narrow win.

“The 4x400 is the one we try to fall back on as our go-to event,” Beebe said.  “This was the first time I put the best four guys together this year.”

Myles Hendricks led the H-F relay team at the start.

“This is very emotional for us," Hendricks said. "We're always going against Thornwood. They beat us the first time, and we had to come back and show them this is our house. We went out there and ran our butts off."

H-F's coaches told Hendricks it was important that he get off to a good start.

“I was in the fifth lane, so I could get in the cut-in and I just took off,” Hendricks said. “I was hyped for this, the crowd was in it and they pumped me up. I couldn’t let them down.”

Beebe also noted the performances of Josh Nance, Sheldon Jones and Cedric Cheeks.

First-place finishers for the H-F boys included the 4x800 relay team, Danny Sims in 55-meter high hurdles, Ephraim Dorsey in the 800-meter run, Jones in the 300-meter dash in the B division, Cheeks in the triple jump A division, Chris Worman in the pole vault A division and Marcus Hogan in the pole vault B division.