1 - The Distance Triples in Class 1A Girls

By Michael Newman

Photo: Kennady Anderson and Grace Erb at last November’s Class 1A State Cross Country Meet (Kevin Dorsey Photo)

I know the IHSA State Meet does not take place until the end of May in Charleston. Even though we are only at the beginning of January and practice does not begin for another week, it might be a good thing to start to look at what this season could bring for us.

The one advantage that distance runners have in Class 1A over the other two classes in the IHSA is that they run their preliminary heats on Thursday and have Friday off before again taking to the track for State Finals Saturday.

Three runners stepped up in 2022 in the return to the normal state program that avoided all athletes in 2021 to qualify for the finals in the three Class 1A Distance events. You won’t see that in Class 2A and Class 3A since those two classes run their preliminary heats on Friday.

Carly Manchester of IC Catholic Prep qualified in all three events earning all-state honors in the 3200 Meter Run and the 800 Meter Run. She was not able to run the 1600 Meter Run at the end of the meet due to a weather day. She chose attending her high school graduation instead of running one more race.

There are two runners back from last year’s state meet that were all-state in all three distance events. Both Ahry Comer of Pope County and Kennady Anderson of Kewanee Wethersfield will be going after state championships in multiple events after successful cross country seasons last fall.

Both runners enter this season as juniors. Both Anderson and Comer finished in the top 10 last November in the mud at Detweiller Park with Anderson finishing fourth and Comer finishing eighth.

Comer is now all-state twice in Cross Country also finishing seventh as a sophomore in 2021. Her performance in the three final races last May in Charleston opened a lot of eyes. Consider the fact that last spring was her first year of high school track running.

Her races in the prelims on Thursday were performances to shake your head at. She won each of her prelim races in the 800 Meter Run and the 1600 Meter Run with the fastest times in both events.

Her Saturday started by running a personal best of 10:57.60 to finish second in the 3200 Meter Run. It was only her fourth time running that distance. She had a short rest before running against a strong field in the 800 Meter Run. She pulled away towards the end of the race to claim the state title with a 2:16.07 time. It was two seconds slower than her prelim time but consider the fact she had run in the 3200 Meter Run.

Comer’s final race in Charleston, the 1600 Meter Run, gave her third all-state performance of the day in finishing ninth. It was quite a day of racing for this “new-bee” who could step into the national spotlight this spring.

Anderson’s triple was just as impressive as she earned all-state honors in all three distance events. She finished just nine hundredth of a second behind Comer in finishing third in the 3200 Meter Run also with a 10:57 time. Anderson was two seconds behind Comer’s win in the 800 Meter Run finishing sixth. The Wethersfield runner came back to run 5:12.23 to finish fourth in the 1600 Meter Run. Anderson’s performance last fall at Detweiller was impressive pointing her in another step up on the success mountain for the 2023 season.

End of an era at Winnebago

Grace Erb has stamped her legacy entering her final season at Winnebago High School. She has earned 10 all-state medals for both cross country and track. The emphasis for her and fellow senior teammates Marissa Roggensack and Kaylee Woolery has been the success of the team.

Erb was all-state all four of high school in cross-country including at ShaZam XC Club Championships in 2020 when COVID prevented a regular state meet. She helped her team win an IHSA State Title in 2019 and then again at ShaZam in 2020. The Warriors finished second in 2021 and then fourth last fall.

The future student/athlete at Illinois State University this fall has earned six state medals on the track. Four of those medals have been in relays helping her team win a state championship in the 4x800m Relay in 2021 and 2022 and also in the 4x400m Relay finishing second in 2021 and third last May.

She missed the state championship individually on the Big Blue Oval in Charleston. A title in the 800 Meter Run this spring could be in her reach after finishing fifth as a sophomore and then second last year as a junior. She will have to get by defending champion Ahry Comer to get to the top of the mountain.

The three Winnebago seniors dominated the 4x8 last spring easily winning back to back state championships. Just like cross-country last fall, they will need to find a fourth runner to step in. Woolery and Roggensack were all-state in the 4x4 and also in the 1600 Meter Run where Woolery finished third and Roggensack finished fifth. Either of those runners could claim state titles in their final meet wearing the Winnebago singlet.

1A Girls Notes / Thoughts

Two of the three individual distance events in Class 1A have returning state champions. Elana Rybak of Father McGivney was the other athlete besides Ahry Comer to claim a state title with her title coming in the 1600 Meter Run. Her first Finals Saturday was a memorable won starting in the 4x800m Relay. Rybak anchored her team to second-place in the event. She received the baton in fourth-place and took off running a 2:11.7 split, the fastest of all runners on that day, to get her team that finish.

There was no question for Rybak in the 1600 Meter Run also. She only had a two second lead on Kate Ahmari of Urbana University halfway through the finals. She negative split the race (2:31.17 / 2:28.65) to end up running 4:59.82 to win ahead of Ahmari by 11 seconds.

Rybak did not finish strongly last fall at state placing 35 overall. It will not surprise me to see this sophomore bounce back in a big way on the track.

The 1600 should be loaded this spring with only two seniors in last year’s state final. It is a similar feeling in the 3200 Meter Run but without a returning state champion since 2022 champion Anna Perry has graduated. Comer, Anderson, and Ahmari are close to 20 seconds ahead of the rest of last year’s returning field.

There were a number of talented freshman last fall that made their presence known on the cross country. We will look at them in a future article about this talented group.