Crete-Monee looking to add next chapter to success story

Aside from girls bowling, no sport at Crete-Monee has enjoyed as much success as girls track and field.

Since the IHSA instituted girls sports in the early 1970s, the Warriors' girls track team has posted six top-seven finishes in the state finals and collected a quintet of sectional titles to boot.

There may be a sixth sectional crown in the Warriors' future. So far this season, Crete-Monee has positioned itself for success thanks to a quartet of star performers.

Margo Bailey is undefeated in the 55-meter hurdles this season, according to longtime head girls track coach Willie Cole. Shanikka Vance is among the area leaders in both the long jump and triple jump. Jessica Morris is right with her in those field events. And Jessica's twin sister Jasmine has most of the Southland chasing her in the 300-meter dash.

"This season is better than last season," Vance said. "I'm more motivated, more focused than I was in my sophomore year."

Vance's new focus paid off recently with victories. She scored back-to-back triple jump wins in meets at Joliet Township and Lemont last week, with a season-best of 36 feet, 5 1 / 2 inches at Joliet. That's close to her best mark of last spring's outdoor season, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that she surpasses 37 feet this time. If that's the case, she'll be back in the state finals, where last year she failed to advance to the final day.

"Shanikka can place in state in both the triple and long jump," Cole said.

Morris edged Vance in the long jump at Lemont, with a jump of 16-8, but Vance's 17-3 1 / 2 in Joliet is the third-best leap in the Southland this season, behind only Thornton's Ashley Stacey (18- 1 / 4 ) and T.F. North's Dominique Jefferson (17-8 1 / 2 ).

As so often happens in track, the sport runs in Vance's family. Her older sister Wanikka captured the Class AA 100 and 200 dashes in the 1998 state finals and is the most recent of a trio of state champs to wear the Warriors uniform.

Whether anyone from the current team makes this year's finals, there's no doubt the Warriors will be in the thick of it in the final year of SICA South. Crete-Monee has won three straight conference outdoor titles and 14 of the last 15.

"The three most important things in track are conference, sectional and state," Cole said.

That's why Cole will have his whole team at the Bloom Trail fieldhouse on Saturday for the SICA South indoor meet. That means Vance, Morris and the unbeaten Bailey won't be in the invitation-only Prep Top Times state meet in Bloomington, but the Warriors will be the team to beat in Chicago Heights.

The week ahead

Last year, the SICA South indoor meets were held the weekend before the Prep Top Times indoor meet, but this year's calendar finds everything on the same weekend. The SICA South boys will gather at Bloom's Nelson Fieldhouse at 9 a.m. Saturday, with the girls at Bloom Trail.

Today, both the boys and girls teams from Crete-Monee and Beecher are at a quadrangular, along with Peotone, at Bishop McNamara in Kankakee.

Tim Cronin can be reached at tcronin@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5948.