Off and running: Local standouts star in prelims

CHARLESTON, Ill. — Grant senior Bailey Wagner wanted a few things going into the Class AA girls state track preliminaries Friday at O’Brien Stadium. One was a state record in the shot put and discus and another was vindication.

She pretty much got all three.

Wagner, the two-time defending state champion in the shot put who was suspended for five weeks earlier this season, broke the state record in the discus with a throw of 157-feet, 8-inches. Wagner broke the old mark of 155-5 on her last throw.

“I’ve been very inconsistent in discus,” Wagner said. “I knew what I had to get done and it felt like I was going to fall out [of the circle] because I stumbled. I was getting a little frustrated because I had thrown two 148s and I was hitting a wall. I knew I had to get that record today.”

Wagner had a feeling she might do well in the discus. She entered the preliminaries with the state’s second best throw of 145-1, behind teammate Tori Zigler’s 146-1. Wagner has already thrown 163 feet at a meet in Vernon Hills last month.

The discus record makes up for what happened in the shot put. Wagner traded state records with Mahomet-Seymour’s Daniella Bunch. On her first throw, Bunch threw a state record 48-feet, 5.75 inches. That broke the 29-year old record of 48-1/2.

Less than five minutes later, Wagner threw a 48-11.5. Ten minutes after that, Bunch reclaimed the record with a 49-1.5.

“My goal was to hit 50 [feet] and to break the state record. I had it for 10 minutes and it felt good,” Wagner said. “I like going back and forth with Daniella because it is a crowd pleaser.”

What Wagner really wants is a third state shot put title to close out a stellar career that also saw her star on Grant’s girls basketball team.

“I just want to win it so bad,” she said.

Despite the forced five weeks off for violating team rules, Wagner continued to train in both shot and discus. The Georgia Tech recruit has something to prove.

“I wanted to be looked at as a thrower,” Wagner said. “We all make mistakes and I made mine. I came back mentally stronger because I knew everyone would be looking at me.”

Everyone was also looking at Waubonsie Valley junior Shakeia Pinnick and Conant senior Toni Graham.

Graham qualified for today’s finals in four events and Pinnick will race in two.

Graham got things started in the 400-meter relay, running the anchor leg and pushing the Cougars into the finals with a heat winning time of 47.40 seconds. Graham’s team of seniors Briana Millar, Emily Quinones and Destiny Arps posted the fastest 400 relay time of the day.

Then Graham won her heat of the 100 in 12.01, another top preliminary time.

In Saturday's finals, Graham should be running in the lane next to East St. Louis’ Ronecia Nash, who won the 100 last year by less than a second ahead of Graham. There will also be a rematch in the 200 between the two.

“I guess a lot of people are looking forward to it, and I’m looking forward to it,” Graham said. “It’s going to be a showdown. Hopefully, I can change some of that [past] luck.”

Running the anchor leg again, Graham boosted the Cougars to another top time in the 800 relay, notching a 1:40.05. Millar, Quinones and Arps were also on that relay.

“We’ll be nervous but we hope to pull out a sub 1:40,” Graham said. “We’ll be in there with East St. Louis and they don’t play. We’ll be in it to win it.”

Pinnick decided to scratch from the 800 so she could save her energy for the 300 low hurdles, which seemed to work out well since she ran the fastest preliminary time of 42.77 and won her heat. But Pinnick was not pleased.

“That was a horrible race,” Pinnick said. “I wanted to go into this fresh. I was stuttering [the steps] and it was upsetting. I know I can improve a lot. I was trying to go for the record.”

Pinnick also qualified in the 100 high hurdles with a 14.35.

“I was really focused [in the 100] and I hit the second hurdle hard and I fell behind,” Pinnick said.

But Pinnick didn’t advance in the 200 dash, clocking in at 25.49 to finish third in her heat.

East St. Louis qualified nine entries for today’s finals. Defending state champion Barrington qualified six entries.

Class A: Chicago Christian's 3,200 relay team (Kirsten Harms, Alli Stoub, Abbey Wise and Jodi Hoekstra) qualified for today’s finals with the fastest preliminary time of 9:57.65. Hoekstra also advanced in the 1,600.

St. Gregory junior Regina George advanced in four events: 200, 400, 800 and high jump.

George ran the second fastest preliminary times in the 400 (57.42) and 800 (2:17.90) and won her heat in the 200 (25.82). George’s high jump leap was 5-2.

“It was tiring, but it was worth it to qualify,” George said of doing four events. “I just went all out. I was happy that I came in with a 57 [in the 400] and I feel stronger. I’m doing the 800 for endurance. I just started to high jump and my best was 5-7.”

Walther Lutheran’s 400 and 800 relays also advanced.