Dusk had turned into full-blown night by the time the climactic race of the Class 3A Shepard Sectional commenced, but the brightest moment was yet to come.
The host Astros had yet to win a race. Shepard senior Rajae Stevenson had opened the proceedings by winning the long jump, but her top leap of 18-9.25, the 10th-best in Illinois this year, came in relative secrecy.
It would be Salina Towers, Savannah Conrad, Nadeea Prichard and Makynzee Harris who would combine in the 4×400 relay to bring Shepard its sole track victory of the evening, and by nearly 1.4 seconds over Naperville Central.
“I had a lot of energy,” Harris said. “We had a bad couple of races, so I had to put all that anger into this race.”
The senior had earlier anchored the 4×200 relay, but their third-place time of 1:45.49 was about a second short of automatic qualification to this weekend’s IHSA championship at Eastern Illinois. This was the last shot, and they made it.
“Last year we made it and I wanted to make it again,” Harris said.
Redemption was a theme that ran through the field. Failure hangs on a runner’s shoulders more than it should because of the singular nature of the sport, and runners, unlike goldfish, have memories.
Take junior Lucy Laux of Lyons. She was edged at the wire of the 400 by Lockport sophomore Riley Drew, but 59.30 seconds was both good enough for second and a ticket to the championship at Charleston for the second time in three years. For that, she was grateful.
“I’m so happy; I’d been worried about this all week,” Laux said. “At the starting line, I don’t really think about anything. It’s not much for me to clear it — there’s nothing there! The big thing is the before, hyping yourself up and being in the the head space.
“I was fighting for it at the end. I knew if I didn’t fight for it, I was going to lose it.”
Marist junior Rose Cosme was one of four to advance in the 800, her time of 2:17.85 surpassing the qualifying standard and placing her third after a big push down the stretch.
“I was definitely seeing stars,” said Cosme, who crashed onto the track a step after the finish line, of her final 50 meters. “I wanted to get it done, seal the deal. It’s as hard as I’ve run in a while.”
Cosme thus qualified for the third straight spring.
“It’s awesome,” Cosme said. “It’s so fun to make a PR (at state) and stay up with those top girls. It’s been a rougher year, but I always break through in sectional and set a base for state. The goal was to break 2:19.”
Sandburg’s 4×800 team, anchored by Angelina Arroyo, ran a season-best 9:28.16 in winning that race, the only triumph for the Eagles.
Lyons’ Mia Toulios qualified in the high jump with a leap of 4-11.75.
Shepard’s Nadeea Pritchard advanced in the triple jump via a 38-6.25 effort, eighth best in the state this year. Downers Grove South’s Karen Boakye set the state’s best leap by winning at 40-4.75.
Downers Grove North took the title with 117 points, 38 ahead of runner-up Lockport.