Photo: Homewood-Flossmoor has the talent to challenge for the 3A Boys title this May. They started their season with some great performances last Saturday on their home track (Rob Assise Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Snow in the Chicago area slowed down some of the track action this weekend as several schools were forced to cancel their meets due to the weather. There were some meets that took place on Saturday. You can read about these meets in the highlights below.

This weekend starts to increase as the meets start to get bigger. Troy Triad hosts their invitational Saturday at Principia College outside of St. Louis. Rockford Auburn and Plainfield South host Boys meets on Saturday. The Greg Foster Invitational also will take place Saturday in Hillside. York will host their first Girls meet of the year with teams like Barrington and Hinsdale Central heading to Elmhurst. Wheaton-Warrenville South hosts another Girls Invitational on Saturday with 3A State Cross Champions Naperville North competing.

Marcellus Moore, Katelynne Hart, and Madison Marasco will head an Illinois contingent down to Kentucky on Saturday to compete in the University of Kentucky High School Invitational.

Homewood-Flossmoor Girls Quad

Olivia Oliver of Homewood-Flossmoor was in the spotlight in this meet winning two events and almost capturing a third. She started out in the Long Jump with an indoor personal best mark of 18-3.50 (IL #3) to win the event less than three inches ahead of Whitney Young’s Lovie Annafi (18-0.75). Oliver was impressive in the 200 Meter Dash (25.89) ahead of Bolingbrook’s Kayla Perry (26.45) and Katelyn Johnson (26.98).

Two-time state champion Amira Young of Whitney Young had the upper hand ahead of Oliver in the 60 Meter Dash. Young’s winning time of 7.71 was 11 hundredths of a second ahead of that of Oliver (7.82).

Lincoln-Way East’s Taylor Wright was just as impressive in winning the 400 Meter Dash. Her time of 1:00.45 was four seconds ahead of Bolingbrook’s Isabelle Crespo.

Madison Myrick of Homewood-Flossmoor is an athlete to watch this spring in the High Jump. She cleared a personal best of 5-6 to win the event on Friday night. The junior’s previous best was when she cleared 5-3 in 2017.

Homewood-Flossmoor Boys Quad

It was the Boys turn on the fast Homewood-Flossmoor track on Saturday. The host Vikings showed in this low-keyed quad that they will be a team to watch by the time we get to the state series in May.

Matthew Lewis-Banks led Homewood-Flossmoor with wins in the 60 Meter Hurdles and the 200 Meter Dash. He ran 8.49 (IL #3) to win the 60 Meter Hurdles ahead of teammate Daylin Williams (8.87). Lewis-Banks came back to run 23.29 to win the 200 Meter Dash with Bolingbrook’s Jordan Pringle finishing second (23.64).

It was closer for Pringle in the 60 Meter Dash. Homewood-Flossmoor’s Joshua Bridges edged him by three hundredths of a second. Bridges winning tie was 6.97 (IL #3).

EJ Burruss of Homewood-Flossmoor was in control of the Long Jump. The senior achieved an indoor personal best off 22-8 (IL #3) to win the event.

The potential of Homewood-Flossmoor’s 3200 Meter Relay showed in this meet with four of their runners under 1:29 in the 600 Meter Run. Tyler Roberson led the four Viking runners crossing the line in a winning 1:27.55.

Rockford Auburn Girls Invitational

Machesney Park Harlem prevailed in this 11-team invitational winning 93-92 ahead of Huntley. DeKalb scored 81 points to finish third.

Sydney Dumas won two events to lead DeKalb. Her time of 8.15 won the 60 Meter Dash was just two hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Sierra Long. Dumas also won the 200 Meter Dash (27.56). Long became the fourth Illinois Girls runner to run under 60-seconds this winter in the 400 Meter Dash. The senior’s time of 59.21 won the event by more than four seconds. Long was also a part of DeKalb’s winning 1600 Meter Relay (4:15.39, IL #3) that finished ten seconds ahead of Machesney Park Harlem (4:25.38).

The difference in Harlem’s team win came in the field events where they finished in the top two spots in the Long Jump and the Pole Vault. Kahleea Washington jumped 17-3.75 to win the Long Jump while Reagan Cejka cleared 8-6 to win the Pole Vault.

Wheaton-Warrenville South Girls Invitational #1

The performance of the day in this small five team meet came from Glenbrook South’s Raelyn Roberson in the Long Jump. Robinson entered the meet with a 17-11 personal best from her sectional win last May. She surpassed that in this meet with the state’s best mark (18-7) to win the event by three feet.

Robinson also looked good in the sprints finishing second in the 55 Meter Dash (7.41) just behind Prospect’s Annie Walsh (7.38) by three hundredths of a second. Walsh came back to win the 200 Meter Dash (27.25) as Robinson finished sixth.

Minooka started off the action on the track winning the 3200 Meter Relay (10:03.83) finishing ahead of host Wheaton-Warrenville South (10:07.64). The two teams produced the second and third fastest times in the state in this event this season. The top two times in the state happened in the 1600 Meter Run as Emily Shelton ran 5:18.10 to win the race holding off Wheaton-Warrenville South freshmen Samantha Poglitsch (5:18.66).

Valentine Day Relays

The performance of this meet Saturday in Hillside came in the Girls 3200 Meter Relay. It was a close battle for the first two legs of the race as Vernon Hills held an early lead as Lauren Katz led off her team with a 2:21.1 opening leg. Both of Evanston’s teams along with Schaumburg held close.

It was the third leg from Evanston’s Enyaeva Michelin that broke the race wide open. Michelin, who finished second in last fall’s 3A State Cross Country Meet, ran 2:17.1 to give the Lady Wildkits an insurmountable lead. Evanston ran a state leading 9:46.83 to win ahead of their second team (10:09.48). Schaumburg moved up to a third-place finish (10:17.13) behind Madison Marasco’s swift 2:20.4 anchor leg.

Host Proviso West won the other two Girls relay events contested in this meet. The 800 Meter Relay produced the top three time in the state early in this season as Proviso West (1:45.03) finished ahead of Kenwood Academy (1:47.70) and Lindblom Academy (1:47.87). The Lady Panthers also ran a state seasonal best of 4:06.34 to easily win the 1600 Meter Relay ahead of Evanston (4:13.37) and Schaumburg (4:16.80).

Proviso West controlled the 800 Meter Relay pulling away from Romeoville to win by more than a second (1:34.98, IL #2 – 1:36.25, IL #4). West Chicago, who won the fourth section of six in this event, ran 1:37.76 (IL #7) to finish third.

Metea Valley pulled away during the third leg of their race to win the 3200 Meter Relay (8:17.14, IL #2) ahead of Lyons Township (8:30.96) and Marmion Academy (8:36.20).

Payton Prep won the 1600 Meter Relay (3:34.45) holding off Lyons Township and Metea Valley who both ran 3:36.55.