Zion-Benton’s Maxey may be a year ahead of schedule

Updated: May 10, 2011 7:28PM

Zion-Benton assistant girls track coach Kim George is certain of one thing as the Zee-Bees prepare for Friday’s IHSA Class 3A (big schools) sectional meet at Buffalo Grove.

Zee-Bee senior Chelsea Maxey is going to be a better hurdler in college than she is in high school.

“If Illinois ran the 400 (meter) hurdles, she’d win it,” said George, referring to the collegiate race that is not contested at Illinois prep meets.

Instead, Illinois prep events include the 100 intermediate hurdles and the 300 low hurdles.

Those events do not play to Maxey’s strength, which is her ability to power her way around the track. That will serve her well at the next level, but doesn’t necessarily translate to championships at the high-school level.

“Right now, we have to work on making sure she’s lower out of the blocks and over the hurdles, making sure her body is straight and she attacks the hurdles the way she needs to,” said George, who was a state champ in the long jump and a state qualifier in the 400 dash during the mid-1980’s at Waukegan East High. “The other thing is to make sure she runs her own race. When the hurdles are close together, it’s easy to get distracted, especially if there’s not a consistent flow to the race.”

Maxey won the 300 hurdles and was second in the 100 hurdles at the Lake County meet, but didn’t record a victory in the 300 at the North Suburban Conference meet as footwork woes led to her having to clear hurdles with the wrong foot forward.

“I messed up on the second hurdle,” Maxey said. “My lead leg is my right leg and I ended up leading with my left.

“I was beaten by myself,” she said after acknowledging a rivalry between her and Lake Zurich’s Amy Polhemus, who won the 300 hurdles but finished second to Maxey at the Lake County meet. “(At sectionals), it doesn’t matter. If I run my race, the time will take care of itself.”

This is just her second year at Zion-Benton High, as her family moved here from Des Moines, Iowa. Her first two years of high school, she was a state qualifier from Roosevelt High in the 100 hurdles.

Maxey said she got interested in hurdling while just a kid.

“I don’t remember where I saw hurdling the first time, but I think sometime around 2003-2004 I saw a race and said, ‘Hey, I think I can do that.’ I’ve always been able to mimic things I see pretty well, so that’s how I got my start.

“My freshman year (at Roosevelt High), Lolo Jones (a 2008 U.S. Olympic hurdler and Roosevelt High grad) came to our school and gave all of us on the track team a pair of shoes. She watched me run the hurdles at practice and gave me some advice. It meant a lot that she saw enough potential to spend some time working with me.”

Now that she’s at Zion, George has worked with her on the high-school team and also during the summer with the Zion-based North Shore Breeze youth track team.

“I’m very fortunate,” said Maxey. “I’ve had great coaches since I came to Zion.”

The all-important sectional is just days away, and Maxey knows she has to better the qualifying standards on Friday night to qualify for state.

Those standards are 15.34 in the 100 hurdles and 46.94 in the 300.

At the county meet, Chelsea ran 15.44 and 46.24, so she’s right there.

And next year, she’ll be even MORE right there.

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