Cool Rack twice gains all-state honors

Brian Valentin\Staff Photographer Oak Park-River Forest's Katherine Rack competes in the 1600-meter run at the 2008 Girls Track and Field State Finals at O'Brien Stadium at Eastern Illinois University.

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The picture taken of the Class AA all-state runners after the 3200-meter event on Saturday at Eastern Illinois University was missing one person.

Oak Park-River Forest sophomore Katherine Rack had something a little more important on her mind at the time than having her picture taken with eight other athletes.

Rack quickly exited the track after the 3200 event was completed and jumped into an ice bath.

Every moment was crucial at that point with Rack having only 90 minutes to get her body ready to compete in the 1600 run.

The preparation helped Rack complete the grueling double with an eighth-place finish in the 1600 in 5 minutes, 5.88 seconds.

The finish earned Rack all-state honors in the 1600 for a second straight year. She finished ninth in the event in 2007.

"She was real nervous before the race," OPRF coach Sarah McCabe said. "Her goal was to medal and she put her entire heart into this race. She already had a picture taken from the 3200. She didn't want to be in the sun for a moment longer than she had to."

Rack had some very anxious moments on Friday, waiting to see if she would advance past the preliminaries in the 1600.

It turned out to be very close with Rack advancing as the 12th and final individual in the 1600 with a time of 5:03.03.

"She needed to run the race of her life to qualify and she did it," McCabe said. "She put herself in an excellent position throughout the race. She's a very alert runner and knows what is going on around her."

The person left out of the finals was Kristina Aubert of Crystal Lake South, who was 13th in 5:04.45.

Rack earned all-state recognition for a second-year year in the 3200 as well, placing eighth in a school-record time of 10:59.14 She finished ninth in the race last spring.

OPRF junior Brittany Smith earned all-state honors in a pair of field events.

Smith finished fifth in the discus with a school record mark of 143 feet, 2 inches in her final attempt. She was eighth in the shot put at 41-3/4.

Kaniece Pitts advanced to the finals of the long jump and finished 12th with a mark of 17-9 3/4.

"She jumped well, but didn't have the meet she hoped for," McCabe said.

The Huskies were 14th in the 400 relay in 49.02 seconds with Pitts, Raven Adams, Tejuanna Williams and Kristen Kwakwa. The same four runners were 22nd in the 800 relay in 1:45.03.

"Both of the relays ran season-best times," McCabe said.

Kristen Weismantle cleared a personal best 10-6 in the pole vault, but didn't advance past the prelims and Lauren Yeske cleared 9-6.

Rachel Waterford had a time of 16.39 in the 100 hurdles in the prelims.