Girls track: Knights race into 3,200 final

Chicago Christian junior Kirsten Harms competes in an 800-meter run prelim.
(Tim Cronin/SouthtownStar)

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CHARLESTON — The biggest favorite in the Class 1A girls track and field state meet more than lived up to expectation Thursday. Chicago Christian’s 3,200-meter relay team also enhanced its legend.

The quartet not only won its qualifying heat, it clipped more than eight seconds off its season best, with a time of 9 minutes, 36.96 seconds, the best in the small-school class this season.

Last year, the Knights took third in Class A. That memory stuck in the craw of this year’s team, including sophomore Stacey Kamp, who didn’t run in last year’s race.

“We really wanted to focus on the 4-by-8 and get a really good time,” said Kamp, charged with running the anchor leg. “We had high hopes for what we could do. We knew we could come down here and dominate.”

Junior Kirsten Harms led off for the Knights, and had company in Amy Yeoman, a freshman from Petersburg’s PORTA High. Yeoman hung off Harms’ right shoulder like a shadow for the first 700 meters.

“She really pushed me,” Harms said. “That was good.”

Freshman Julie Kamp and senior Abbey Wise expanded the lead Harms established. Then Stacey Kamp, Julie’s older sister, brought it home, wowing the early arrivals at O’Brien Field.

She credited the improvement from their previous best of 9:45.07 partly to the atmosphere at Eastern Illinois. There were about 8,000 people on hand, not including the athletes.

“The fans, the intensity of it is really nice,” Stacey Kamp said.

The buzz couldn’t boost Harms’ chance in the individual 800 meters. She finished 10th in her heat.

“I didn’t have enough time for myself between the relay and the race,” Harms said. “It was rough, but I was concentrating on the 4-by-8 today. It was kind of, whatever happened in the 800, I’d give it my all and see what turned out.”

The Knights, with Harms and Wise in the 3,200 relay lineup, ran last year’s final in 9:48.12. Not only has this year’s foursome already beaten that twice, Thursday’s time would have won last year’s final.

Seton Academy advanced to a pair of relay finals, making the 400 relay final by winning its qualifying heat in 50.37 seconds, and making the 200 relay final with a time of 1:48.21.

That means seniors Erica Young and Anisha Johnson, who teamed up with freshman Taylor Farley and Dejanae Terry in both races, will miss the school’s graduation ceremony. Johnson is also in the final of the 100-meter dash, winning her heat in 12.74 seconds. She was edged for a spot in the 200 final.

The Class 1A field takes today off, while the 2A and 3A qualifying sessions are held. Finals in all three classes are scheduled for Saturday.

“On back-to-back days, you don’t have a lot of time for your body to fully recover,” Seton’s Camille Smith said. “It recovers, but it’s, ‘Hey, I just ran yesterday!’ Everybody will be up to par on Saturday.”

Unfortunately, Smith’s time in the 400 (59.49 seconds) wasn’t fast enough to make the finals.

“I think it’s going to be nice to rest up and really be fresh for the finals,” Stacey Kamp said.

“You get another day to rest your legs, because they really burn after you run,” Harms said. “It’ll be a team bonding experience, too.”