Many congratulations are on the way for the Northside track team as many of the competitors placed in several competitions during Wednesday’s (06/02) meet, some of who will be moving on to state competitions. 

To kick things off, Northside scored 66 points during the meet, in which all 16 athletes participated, leaving them in second place behind Latin. Some of the highest scorers include Elia Ton-That (scoring 10), Tessa Myatt (scoring 10), Arianna Holbrook (scoring 9.5), and Rita Joseph (scoring 8). For clarification, scoring only happens when an athlete places in the top 6 of all athletes in a competition, the points going from 10-1 in descending order.

Rita Joseph amazed the Mustangs in her performance of the triple jump, after fouling the first 2 and leading in her third attempt (leaping 9.20 m (30’-2.25”)) and placing her in second place. With her placing second, Joseph will be moving on to the state meet, with her placing 6th in Northside’s all time scoring and the best since 2013. 

Tessa Myatt, one of the two top placing athletes of the meet, placed not in one but three events, including: the 100-m hurdles (3rd), 300-m hurdles (5th), and the discus throw (5th). Myatt only just missed moving on to state in the 100-m hurdles after making her way to second place, but then after hitting the last hurdle, she was able to pick herself up to place third in the competition. 

Elia Ton-That, the second of the top two placing athletes of the meet, had come into the meet already placing second in the 2a division in the 1600-m run, falling narrowly behind Ava Parek of Latin High School, who she faced in the sectional meet Wednesday. Because the star athlete placed second in the sectional meet, Ton-That will be advancing to the state meet, which will be held at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. 

Arianna Holbrook also placed in multiple events, including the 400-m dash (3rd), 4×400 m relay (2nd), and 4×800 m relay (3rd), leaving her 0.5 points behind Joseph and Myatt. Holbrook ran a split time of 2:40 (PR) in the 4×800-m relay and ran a time of 1:06.99 (PR) in the 400-m dash.

Congratulations are also warranted to our relay teams who brought in a whole 22 points out of the 66 point total, a third of the total points. The relay team who ran the 4×400-m relay made a season record time of 4:22.02, bringing them to second place and moving on to state. The three relay teams were the 4×200-m relay team (which placed third), consisting of Kathryn Solatka (Fr.), Leah Petersen, Rena Manching (Fr.), and Hana James (So.), the 4×800-m relay team (which also placed third), consisting of Arianna Holbrook, Nora Hill (Jr.), Annika Nelson (So.), and Alli Feeney, and the 4×100-m relay team (placing fifth), consisting of Kathryn Solatka, Lauren Hollis (Sr.), Leah Petersen, and Hana James.

Other notable mentions include: Nora Hill who placed fifth (PR 2:51.07) and Emily Reen (2:52.73 PR) who placed sixth in the 800-m run, Sophia Steck who placed fourth in the 3200-m run, Oliwia Mucha (3.86 m / 12’-8” PR)  who placed fifth in the long jump, Cecilia Brasseur who placed 6th in the 300-m hurdles, and Lauren Hollis who placed 5th in the triple jump. 

Congratulations to all the athletes on the Track and Field team!

The last meet of the Mustang Track and Field season will be the 2a state sectional that will be hosted at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.