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Post date: Apr 14, 2018 9:32:30 PM
Having a fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia.
As the clocked ticked closer to the start of the Minooka Invitational on, yes, Friday, April 13, the weather forecast showed plenty to be afraid of. Rain, wind, lightning, and this spring’s omnipresent cold were all set to join the scheduled party at Minooka’s track and field stadium.
The meet began with rain, but it wasn’t long before it was gone. No thunderstorms arrived, and fortunately, the weather turned out not to be the story of the meet. The story was the girls — the girls who were fearless.
Minooka won both the varsity and JV levels of the 8-team invitational. The weather might have been a factor in the girls’ times and marks, but not their competitiveness. They were smiling in the rain as they were warming up because they were happy to finally have a chance to compete in an outdoor invite. They were smiling in the cold and wind after the meet because they’d won two trophies.
On the varsity level, Minooka won eight events.
Varsity winners included:
- 4x800-meter relay of Emily Shelton, Olivia Krolczyk, Amanda Wilson, and Emily Ellis
- Jenna Roberts in the 100-meter hurdles
- Eryn Renison in the 400-meter dash
- Kylie Wissel in the 300-meter hurdles
- 4x400-meter relay of Cierra Bachmann, Katelyn Gall, Wissel, and Renison
- Sydney Andreano in the discus
- Gall in the pole vault
- Aaliyah Young in the triple jump
The JV did even better. They won 10 events.
JV winners included:
- 4x800-meter relay of Alexis Marti, Olivia Kics, Kaylee Ratcliff, and Mary Rushing
- Jaritzza Zuno in the 100-meter hurdles
- 4x200-meter relay of Kyndall Ross, Brooke McNally, Ariana Coste, and Sophie Darden
- Meg Sukley in the 300-meter hurdles
- Amanda Wilson in the 1600-meter run
- Alexis Mata in the 200-meter dash
- 4x400-meter relay of Emma Wiegmann Abby Rivara, Sukely, and Lauren Widlowski
- Wiegmann in the triple jump
- Meghan Marchio in the pole vault
- Hailey Justak in the shot put
Friday the 13th is known for bad luck. But we often make our own luck. “The harder I practice, the luckier I get,” is often attributed to golfer Gary Player. In the past few weeks, Minooka has had too many practices to count in less than desirable weather conditions. Did those practices help prevent the bad luck voodoo of Friday the 13th from affecting the girls’ performances in a poor weather meet? Absolutely.
In an interesting turn of luck, seven times Minooka girls had just one person preventing them from being a champion on Friday — and that one person was a teammate.
- Alexis Marti finished second to Wilson in the JV 1600-meter run.
- Megan Robson finished second to Marchio in the JV pole vault.
- Ava Bezaire finished second to Gall in the varsity pole vault.
- Brooke McNally finished second to Young in the varsity triple jump.
- And my personal favorite, Erin Matthias finished second to a teammate three times: to Zuno in the JV 100-meter hurdles, to Sukley in the JV 300-meter hurdles, and to Wiegmann in the JV triple jump.
In three other instances, Minooka athletes took what could have been a bad-luck situation and turned it into not just a positive, but a victory.
Wissel bit it hard late in the 100-meter hurdles with an ugly fall. She rolled, popped up and finished. Then she went out later and won the 300s and the 4x4.
Alexis Mata was a last-minute replacement in the JV 200-meter dash. All she did with that opportunity was win the thing.
And Lauren Widlowski ran two 400s in a big meet for the first time in her long career. The second one was as the anchor leg for the winning JV 4x400-meter relay.
There might have been plenty of chances to fear something at the Minooka Invitational, but the girls decided to ignore the date, ignore the weather, and just go out and compete. They were a living, breathing, walking FDR quote: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Go Minooka!
– Coach Thomas
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