No shortage of track talent in SWSC Blue

Updated: March 31, 2011 4:02PM

This is shaping up to be the year of the women in Southland track.

While Hillcrest's boys team has the potential to collect a third straight Class 2A boys title and Crete-Monee's Lexus Jackson proved at Saturday's Prep Top Times meet that he'll do damage in Class 3A, the women's competition could be memorable.

It starts in the SouthWest Suburban Blue, where the top four 55-meter sprinters reside. Aaliyah Brown, the sophomore from Lincoln-Way East, recorded the ninth-best 55 in the country indoors this season, Saturday's 6.95 clocking at Prep Top Times - and lost to a 6.90, the fifth-best time in the U.S., posted by Waubonsie Valley junior Mirolake Akinosun.

Brown, also edged by Akinosun in the 200, is still the fastest in the Southland, but three Homewood-Flossmoor girls, Taylor Lynch (6.96 hand-timed), Abieyawa Ehimwenman (7.14 hand-timed) and Leslie Esco (7.15), are right behind Brown in our list.

All of this is seriously fast and should carry over to outdoor competition, which begins this week.

Ehimwenman earned the Prep Top Times co-athlete of the meet honors for 3A girls with a bravura performance. The Ohio State-bound senior won the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 2 inches, took second in the triple jump (38-10¾), fouling on an even longer attempt that could have brought her that title, was fifth in the 200 and anchored the Vikings' victory in the 800-meter relay, beating Lincoln-Way East to the line by more than three seconds.

That sets up a SWSC Blue showdown between the Vikings and Griffins. But wait, there's more. Don't forget Lockport, where the strength is in distance races (Megan O'Brien and Stephanie Sanders lead the way), plus Krista Naiseda's pole vault expertise. Then there's Sandburg, which usually makes noise in several categories.

If it seems too early to think about the May 6 conference meet, it's not. Once outdoor track begins, coaches point to the conference meet and the following week's IHSA sectional (May 13 at H-F for the Vikings, Griffins and Eagles, the same day at Naperville North for Lockport). Everything else is preparation, from who runs at what distance to the roster and batting order for relays. The next five weeks are about solving the puzzle.

For instance, will Brown continue to run in two relays (the 400 and 800) in big meets? She might have won the 200 at Prep Top Times if she hadn't participated in the 800 relay, which followed the 55 dash final. Akinosun wasn't in the relay and was that much fresher in the 200. Figuring that out might keep Griffins coach Caroline Cunningham up at night.

Likewise, Lockport's Joe Kravitz gets to decide whether Sanders should run in the 1,600 and O'Brien in the 3,200, or vice versa. And Rob Assise, in charge at H-F, has to decide if Lynch, a hurdles specialist who may be faster than Ehimwenman over 100 yards, can dabble in the 100 in a meet or two.

Cunningham, Kravitz and Assise are lucky. These are worse problems for a track coach to have.

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