Plainfield South Invite, Batavia Distance Madness 3.10.2017

Most of our freshmen weren’t born yet when Plainfield South’s field house opened in the 2001-2002 school year.

Minooka has been competing there in an indoor invitational for a long time. In fact, we have run in that indoor meet more than any other in our school’s history.

That long history is something to be acknowledged when you look at one feat that went largely unnoticed during our 7th-place varsity team finish there on Friday.

Our varsity 4x200-meter relay of Aaliyah Young, Cierra Bachmann, Maryam Williams, and Danyelle Myers ran faster than any other Minooka team has in that field house. It was more than a second faster than the previous mark, and it was also our fasted (converted) time of the year.

Young had a good night at the triple jump as well, leading the team with an indoor best. Sydney Andreano and Erin Matthias both had lifetime bests in the sand, too.

Myers ran a lifetime best in the 55-meter dash, as did Kylie Wissel in the 400-meter dash and the 55-meter hurdles. Williams also ran her best indoor 200-meter dash time as a Minooka athlete.

In the distance races, Megan Stevenson posted her best indoor time ever in the 1600-meter run.

Overall, however, the varsity was upstaged by the JV who won the 9-team meet.

Individual JV winners from Minooka were Jenelle Burke in the high jump, Megan Marchio in pole vault, Olenick in the 3200-meter run, Kaylee Ratcliff with a season best in the 800-meter run, and Andreano in the triple jump.

Sydney Forest and Marley Nicoletti posted season bests in the long jump and 400-meter dash, respectively.

About 40 minutes north of Plainfield South, many of our distance runners competed in the Batavia Distance Madness meet.

Emily Shelton was the top finisher for Minooka with 2nd place in the 1600-meter run and a season best time. Mackenzie Callahan, Amanda Wilson, Nina Shanahan, and Angelica Leal all posted season bests, as well, in that event.

Other highlights included Ashley Tutt’s 4th-place finish in the 3200-meter run and Ali Mondrella’s season best in the 800-meter run.

A lot further away out on the East Coast, Madison Thompson competed in the Hershey Youth National Championship where she ran a lifetime best in the 200-meter dash.

Back to that 4x200-meter relay — one of the reasons the accomplishment went unnoticed is because the relay finished 2nd to Plainfield South. Next week we will see South again, along with the rest of the conference teams at the SPC Indoor Championship. We will have all our athletes back under one roof, and I’m excited to see what we can accomplish as a team.

Go Minooka!