Sore back doesn’t hold Brooks down

Morgan Park's Kirsten Bryant and Kenwood's Alexandria Reed race to the finish in the 400 relay.

(Stacia Timonere/For the Sun-Times)

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Kenwood junior Kawanna Brooks was battling a sore back during the Public League boys and girls track and field championships Saturday at Hanson Stadium.

Even though she was feeling stiff and sore, Brooks was a triple winner by the end of the day.

Brooks won the long and triple jumps and was on the winning 400-meter relay team, which finished in 49.97 seconds. She was also second in the 200 in 26.43.

Brooks was most happy with her long jump results. She jumped a personal best 17 feet, 7.5 inches and triple jumped 36-3.5. But because of her sore back, Brooks did not triple or long jump Saturday. Brooks’ winning jumps were made in the Public League qualifying meet on Tuesday and carried over into the finals.

“I’ve been having back problems, and my back was tightening up on me,” Brooks said. “This year my goal is to make it Downstate [again]. This is my junior year and I have only one more year to improve myself.

“I thought I did real well [in the relay] with the wind blowing at me. It was really hard going into the wind and it made me want to fight and push more.”

Lane swept the boys and girls team championships. The girls scored a whopping 159.5 to Young’s 111 and Kenwood’s 72. The boys won with 124 points, followed by Mather (109) and Morgan Park (107.5).

Senior Tory McAlister was a double winner for Lane’s boys team, taking city titles in the long jump (22-.25) and the 300 low hurdles (40.26).

The double titles were bittersweet. Last week Lane senior Delisia Brown was killed when a truck rammed into the Chinatown CTA station on Cermak. Many of the girls wore yellow sweatbands with Brown’s initials, and some runners from both squads attended Brown’s funeral on Friday.

“A lot of us on the track team wanted to do something to commemorate her,” said Lane senior Morgan Monroe, who won the 100 in 15.57 and 300 hurdles in 45.62, finished second in the 800 and was fourth in the triple jump.

“I used to see her everyday and to lose her all of a sudden is hard. She was close to everybody and had a big influence on our team. She really cared about what everybody else did.”