Stagg sophomore Elaina Yasin is quickly making her mark as a three-sport athlete.
She was on the District 230 gymnastics team that qualified for the state meet in her freshman and sophomore seasons.
Yasin also earned a spot as a libero on the Chargers’ varsity volleyball team.
And, as a track athlete, she is coming off a freshman season in which she qualified for state individually and is eyeing a return to Charleston next month.
She has been very good at sports and sports have been very good to her.
“I just love how I met all my friends and my coaches through sports,” she said. “I’ve met the best people and I’m grateful that I could do all of this.”
Yasin is focusing on making it to the IHSA state track and field meet for the second time. She finished 28th in the Class 3A 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.68 seconds and was the third fastest freshman.
Now she is branching out to other events and showing promise.
At the third Stagg Coed meet on April 11, she won the 300 hurdles in :49.94 and joined Lia Dinlasen, Khloe Flynn and Emily Pocica in placing seventh in the 4×400 relay with a 4:41.86.
At the Naperville North Gus Scott Invitational, she won the 400 with a 1:02.33 and the 100 hurdles with a :16.88.
Yasin said she never did the hurdle events until she got into high school. Stagg coach Mary Gaido, who was a hurdler at Nequa Valley, admires how quickly she picked it up. Gaido was also impressed how how Yasin handled the pressure at her first state meet in Charleston.
“It’s an intimidating event and she just has so much poise,” she said. “You see kids go to state for the first time and they fall apart a little bit.
“But she ran her second fastest time at the state meet as a freshman and to do that in that environment is quite incredible.”
Gaido said that gymnastics has helped Yasin become a strong hurdler.
“You can tell by watching her run that she has no fear,” Gaido said. “We call her ‘one speed Elaina.’ She just goes and it’s quite incredible and fun to watch.
“She has that speed and fearlessness in droves.”
Yasin believes each sport complements the others.
“I think I’m the best at volleyball, but I try to push myself to be the best in all of the sports,” Yasin said. “Since I started gymnastics, it helped me with everything else. It helped me with track and volleyball.
“It gave me the strength to do everything else.”
Gaido is excited to see how far Yasin can go in track.
“Her stats were incredible as a freshman and I can’t wait to see where the future takes her, for sure,” she said.