LaFemina runs to pair of solid finishes

Updated: April 25, 2011 6:24AM

Everybody talks about the weather. Tinley Park's Angelica LaFemina pays

absolutely no mind to it.

Despite limited practice and competition time in this cold and wet spring,

LaFemina ran her best time of the season Saturday in winning the 800-meter

run at the Bremen Girls Invitational, and then, despite not feeling great,

gutted out a second-place finish in the 400.

"It's not that tough," LaFemina said of the weather. "We've run in all kinds

of conditions. The key today was to run a consistent time. Place always does

matter, of course, but I want to keep consistent."

She was better than that. LaFemina took the 800 in 2:33.90, improving on her

previous best of 2:37.90. She then rested for a while before punching out a

1:02.91 clocking in the 400.

T.F. North's Tashyana Ford, with an inside lane, just held off LaFemina in

the final 10 meters of the 400, winning in 1:02.67. That helped the Meteors

to a third-place finish in the meet.

"My main goal at the 300-meter mark was to catch them," Ford said of

LaFemina and the other contenders. "I saw a little competition at the end,

so I pushed myself until I couldn't push any more. I wasn't settling for

second place."

Ford hadn't run in competition in more than a week because of rainouts. To

counter that, coach Moses Hulbert put her in the 800 to get her ready for

the 400.

"And (Friday) we didn't have practice, but I think I did pretty good," Ford

said.

Plainfield North dominated the carnival, with Cessily Jones posting

victories in the 100 (12.28) and 200 (26.17). North won six events in all

and scored 136 points en route to a 52-point victory over runner-up Marian

Catholic.

The Spartans' Imani Haynes triumphed in the 100 hurdles, doing so in 16.82,

nearly three seconds off her season-best time, while teammate Taylor Walker

posted a season-best time of 48.75 seconds in taking the 300 hurdles.

Like LaFemina, Walker seemed in midseason form in holding off Bremen's

Courtni Johnson, who was just off Walker's right shoulder until tripping

over the final hurdle.

"I just told myself to go faster and move my arms," said Walker, who also

ran a leg of the 1,600 relay. "It helped me speed up."

Shepard's Alison Szykowny won the discus (106 feet). Marian's Jasmine

Godfrey was first in the shot put (36 feet). T.F. South's Kelli Herlitz took

the triple jump (35-10) and T.F. North's Domonique Jefferson won the long

jump (17-11/2).

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