Griffins’ Brown stars in sprints

Updated: May 13, 2011 11:12PM

Thanks to thunderstorms, it was 21 hours between the moment the field for the 100-meter final warmed up at Homewood-Flossmoor and when the gun for the race in the Class 3A sectional finally fired.

What went through the mind of the favorite, Aaliyah Brown, in that time?

“It was kinda tough getting back into the mind-set I was in (Thursday),” Brown said after racing to the finish line first, in 11.96 seconds. “But I’ve been though stuff like this, so it was pretty easy to pop back into my focus and get a good time.”

Brown’s exploits Friday were not limited to that race. She also won the 200 in 24.21 seconds — that’s the race from which she was disqualified at state last year because of a false start in the qualifying round — and anchored the Griffins to a dazzling finish of 3 minutes, 58.28 seconds in the 1,600-meter relay.

“We were trying to get under four minutes, and we did. I’m so proud of them,” said Brown, who also anchored the Griffins in Thursday’s successful 400 relay.

She had company in getting remotivated for the 100, the first race when the sectional resumed Friday. Tayler Whittler of Crete-Monee was in the same situation.

“It sorta messed up my concentration,” Whittler said. “I was very, very surprised (to qualify). That’s actually my toughest race, and to qualify with the time (12.43 seconds, one-hundredth of a second under the automatic standard), that was a good accomplishment for myself.”

Crete-Monee moved up to 3A this season after spending the past two years in 2A, but Whittler also qualified in the 200 and the 400, the latter by winning it in a career-best 58.08.

“The sprinting competition definitely increased from last year,” Whittler said. “So that was good motivation for everybody.”

The goal of a return trip to Charleston motivated Providence’s Mandy Coglianese to a career-best time of 45.55 seconds in her 300-meter hurdles win. Then came a bonus: Coglianese anchored the Celtics to a second-place finish and state qualification in the 1,600 relay, overhauling Andrew, which qualified on time, in the final 120 meters.

“It’ll be great to go downstate with friends,” Coglianese said. “I was so nervous coming into the hurdles. But you’ve got to run your race and run it against the clock.”

Friday’s biggest surprise came in the 800, where Lincoln-Way North senior Mobola Rotibi (2:19.30), improving her season-best time by almost eight seconds, edged Lincoln-Way East’s Nicole Nepote (2:20.58) for the win.

Depth propelled the host Vikings to the sectional title for the first time since 2005, with 95.33 points to Lincoln-Way East’s 85. Jumper Abieyawa Ehimwenman added the triple jump to Thursday’s long jump win, and also took second to Brown in the 200. The Vikings won the 800 relay, while Leslie Esco, who anchored that effort, finished second in the 100.

“It’s been a long time,” H-F coach Rob Assisi said. “We’ve been second the past five years. We focus on getting to the next week, so we don’t load up to get the team points, but it’s nice to get one. If you can have two people score in an event, that’s huge, and we did that in a few things.”

The Vikings had two people score points in the 200 and the triple jump, scoring 28 of their points in those two events. They’ll have nine entrants in seven events in the 3A championship, compared with Lincoln-Way East’s seven.

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