Moments after the 1600-meter run was completed during Friday night's York Sectional, a small group of Maine West runners gathered around Warriors' junior Liz Meier.
Shouts of congratulations, and hugs, were passed on to Meier, who barely had time to catch her breath before having to compete in the 1600 relay. Meier had good reason to be tired, and her teammates had good reason to cheer, as Meier advanced to the state meet in the 1600 with a second-place time of 5 minutes, 22.80 seconds in sectionals, one year after she qualified in the 800.
West junior Shaneese Nelson joined the celebratory group shortly before the relay started and she, too, was congratulated by her teammates. Nelson qualified for State in both shot put and discus with a pair of second-place finishes. Nelson tossed the shot put a distance of 34 feet, 7 inches -- and threw the discus 104-10.
Meier and Nelson will compete at State -- on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, in Charleston -- Friday and Saturday.
"Liz and Shaneese have been consistently good for us during their three years here. I expect them to do well Downstate and I hope they are able to record their personal-bests," said West head coach Joe LeCastro.
"I am very excited and very happy to make it to State, and I just can't wait to get down there," Nelson said. "I don't know how well I am going to do, but I am going to do my best and I hope I do well."
Maine West finished in fifth-place at York with a total of 54 points. The Warriors had a handful of top-10 individual performances, including a third-place medal for sophomore Janelle Stolz in shot put (34-4.5); third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively, in the pole vault for senior Lindsay Jozefat and sophomore Jessica Fey (both 8-0); a seventh-place throw of 89-11 in discus for sophomore Courtney Insolia; a seventh-place run of 13.70 in the 100 dash by senior Elaina Gallichio; and fourth place in triple jump (32-3.25) for junior Julie Dusckett, who also secured eighth place in long jump (14-8).
LeCastro was also pleased with his team's performance in the relays. The Warriors had two top-5 relay finishes, with the 3200 team of senior Caroline Bednarski, junior Sara Ring, sophomore Angel Parrilli and freshman Taylor Stephenson placing fourth (10:47.2) -- and the 1600 combination of Meier, Ring, Stephenson and junior Shaina Yalda finishing fifth (4:18.70).
The 400 relay (Gallichio, Yalda, sophomore Lauren Lascelles and freshman Karolina Salaiza) recorded a season-best time of 53.8 seconds, good enough to secure seventh place.
"The girls did a nice job overall, and several of them had their best marks of the season," LeCastro said. "I was happy with our 400 relay team, and the 1600 meter relay had their best time of the year. Overall we are happy, and we have definitely made progress from the beginning of the season."
The Warriors will lose several key seniors next season, including Gallichio (100 dash and relay), Jozefat (pole vault) and Mary Kusner (high jump), but they still have the performances of Meier and Nelson to look forward to at State. LeCastro also mentioned that next year's team should be even more competitive, especially with the return of several standouts from this season.
"I think we will be stronger next year and I think we should be able to finish higher in conference," LeCastro said. "Hopefully, we will get more girls Downstate and just be a stronger team."
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