Lady Huskies qualify 1 for state track; Huskies 6th in NIC-10 meet

Harlem’s Lady Huskies won the Regional Championship with a score of 6-1 in seven innings over Dekalb.

By Bob Balgemann

Reporter

Junior Hannah Bilodeau will be representing Harlem in the state track meet this weekend at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. She earned a berth in the 440-meter dash by taking second place in the sectional meet at Antioch, with a time of :59.50 seconds.

This year, fewer student-athletes are being allowed to compete at state. There were  qualifying sectional meets this year, instead of the usual regionals and sectionals, as in the past. Currently, only those taking first or second place in their particular event were allowed qualify, along with those meeting certain designated times, distances or heights.

In Bilodeau’s case, finishing in the 400 resulted in her winning a second trip to state, with her first coming as a freshman. The place made the difference as her time did not meet the qualifying standard of :59.18 seconds. (As an aside, her :59.50 tied the school record in the event that she set in 2019, as a freshman). Senior Miranda Marocco was 15th, in 1:09.82. 

First place went to sophomore Rylee Lydon of Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge, timed at :57.41 seconds.

Team-wise, Harlem was 10th in the 14-team sectional, which was won by rival Hononegah. Another NIC-10 team, Rockford Guilford, took sixth.

Here are Lady Huskies who claimed places in the sprints:

*Bilodeau, fifth in the 100-meter dash, timed at :12.81 seconds. She currently owns the Harlem record at :12.44 seconds. Junior Kaitlynn Zintak was 15th in the 100, at :13.61 seconds.

* Zintak was 11th in the 200-meter dash, in :28.57 seconds; senior Krista Pearson finished 21st, at :30.92 seconds.

In one of the three distance races, the 800 meters, freshman Lauren Johnson (2:52.10) was 20th, with sophomore Cierra Watton (2:52.12) in 22nd.

Senior Faith Procopio came in ninth in the 1,600-meter run, in 5:36.73, while junior Karissa Hernandez was 18th, in 6:11.94. In the 3,200, sophomore Ella Shaw was 12th, timed at 13:44.27; sophomore Katelyn Penning was 15th, at 14:26.27.

In the 100-meter high hurdles, sophomore Gabby Xayasouk came in 10th, timed at :19.13. And in the 300-meter low hurdles, freshman Hannah Ranstead ran :52.25 seconds, which was good for fourth place and represented her personal best time of the season.

In the five relay events, Harlem finished ninth in the 4-by-100-meters, seventh in the 4-by-200; and fifth in the 4-by-800.

Field events

Harlem was a presence in some of the six field events.

Junior Emma Rich took fourth place in the discus, while senior Kaylee Holt was eighth; sophomore Bryana Traveiso finished seventh in the shot put followed closely by Rich in ninth; senior Kaylin Reese tied for third in the high jump, and junior DeYana Franco-Daye tied for fifth; college-bound senior Brynn Schlaht was fifth in the pole vault, while junior Sheryl Wehde was ninth.

Freshman Whitney Schlaht finished sixth in the long jump, while freshman Caitlyn Johns was 15th; Franco-Daye took seventh in the triple jump; Pearson was 12th.

Boys NIC-10

Both the Huskies’ varsity and junior varsity took sixth place in this year’s NIC-10 track meet.

The varsity was led by senior Aiden Gruner who finished second in the 3,200-meter run, clocked at 10:11.09, his personal best time of the season and fourth all-time in Harlem history. He wasn’t far behind conference champion Nick Lenzen of Belvidere, who won in 10:08.20. Gruner then was fifth in the 1,600, at 4:44.89.

In the sprints, junior Ethan Taylor (:11.21 seconds) was eighth in the 100-meter dash and he ran :23.87 seconds, good for seventh in the 200.

Distance events saw senior Nick Greenland take seventh in the 800-meter run, in 2:11.82, while sophomore Tyler Wehde ran 2:17.41, to finish 10th.

Harlem took fourth in the 4-by-100-meter relay race; fourth in the 4-by-200; eighth in the 4-by-400; and sixth in the 4-by-800.

In field events, junior Riley Lundgren led the way with a third in both the shot put and discus. Senior Kaedon Tijerina was 14th in the shot; freshman Sora Anacauskas, eighth, in the discus.

The Singmuoangthong brothers, senior Brandon and sophomore Ean, finished third and fourth in the pole vault by clearing 10.66 feet and 9.68 feet respectively. Senior Alberto Prieto was sixth in the long jump, with junior Lathan Lewis taking fourth in the triple jump.

JV efforts

Top junior varsity efforts were turned in by sophomore Eli Hernandez, seventh in the 3,200-meter run; 4-by-400-meter relay, third place; freshman Santo Salinas, fourth in the shot put and ninth in the discus; junior Devan Ortiz, tied for second in the high jump; junior Julian Lugo, second in the triple jump; freshman Trey Smith, sixth in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump; and junior Adam Gault, seventh in the long jump.