By Michael Newman

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Naperville, Ill --- When I contacted Prospect Coach Dave Wurster last August to see if Christina Santiago would be running cross country that season, he told me “No, she will be playing tennis again this fall. But I bet you she will be the fastest tennis player in the state in the mile.”

Wurster, in his final season of coaching at Prospect, may have been right when he said that. Santiago is having a great season so far this indoor season. It was capped off by a pair of great races at the Mid Suburban League Invitational Saturday afternoon at North Central College.

She started off with the 800 Meter Run. Most of the top competitors were coming back from running in the 4 x 800 Meter relay. It gave Santiago a big advantage. One that she really did not need. She took the lead towards the end of the first lap. Only Cassidy McPherson (Palatine HS) was close. The rest of the pack was starting to separate from Santiago’s lead. Santiago passed the 400 in 66.7 with McPherson starting to fade. She looked effortless as she crossed the line with the second fastest time in the state (2:16.1). McPherson was four seconds back in second place.

If there was a marquee event in the Girls portion of the meet, it would have been the 1600 Meter Run. It was a chance to test and see what fitness level Santiago was at coming back to race in a short amount of time (55 minutes). It was obvious since she ran 10:59 a week before on a small track at Glenbard North.

She would have company at the start. Meagan Biddle (Hoffman Estates HS) was coming back from the 4x8 relay along with Liz Cox and Kelly O’Brien (Palatine HS), and Ayako Higuchi (Fremd HS, Palatine). The pack was a fast one as a pack of seven went by the first 400 in 71.9 seconds. Biddle was taking the pace with Santiago right by her side.

The pack started to bunch up on the front two as the next 200 was covering in a slow 40 seconds. Santiago could feel the pack crunching down on her. She decided it was time take started to force the pace issue. Biddle went with the idea and took the lead. The rest of the pack was falling behind as Santiago/Biddle crossed the line at 2:30. Right on pace for a 5:00 minute mile.

The next 2 laps stayed at that 78 pace, but the pack was finding a second wind and coming closer to the lead two. Vanessa Sanchez (Rolling Meadows HS) was leading the charge. They passed the 1200 in 3:48.3. Santiago took three steps and started to bolt away from Biddle. It was supposed to be a defining move, but Biddle refused to go. The clock hit 4:24 and Santiago moved again. There was some separation but ever so slight. Santiago crossed the line in 4:59 flat. Biddle was just 1.3 seconds back. O’Brien established a PR running 5:06.7.

Palatine had not been on a big track all year to run a fast 4 x 800 relay. It was their last indoor meet, so Coach Joe Parks wanted to see how fast his quartet could go. It was Hoffman Estates who had the lead as they were ready to pass the baton. Solome Haile moved away from Palatine’s Liz Cox in the last 200 to gain that advantage. The race changed to Palatine’s favor good during the second leg. All-State cross country runner Kelly O’Brien opened up a seven second lead on Hoffman Estates. The race for all purposes was done at that point. Cassidy McPherson extended that lead to close to 12 seconds. Palatine, with Kara Burton anchoring, brought the baton home in a state leading 9:21.6. Hoffman Estates, with a 2:19.4 anchor from Meagan Biddle, finished second with a season’s best (9:32.8).

Palatine – Cox 2:22.6 – O’Brien 2:16.6 – McPherson 2:21.0 – Burton 2:21.3 = 9:21.6

Hof Est – S Haile 2:21.0 – E Haile 2:25.2 – Aguirre 2:26.9 – Biddle 2:19.4 = 9:32.8

Fremd’s Nick Vucovich broke away from the pack at the end of the first leg of the 4 x 800 Meter Relay. Their lead opened up to five seconds entering the final 800 meters over Hersey. Kevin Kovach, the anchor for Hersey, caught Fremd’s anchor Anders Dinterman in the first 400. Kovach moved on to a win giving his team a 158.7 anchor split and an overall time of 8:01.2. Fremd finished three seconds back (8:04.5)

Hersey – Von der lippe 2:00.9 – Philipose 2:01.3 – Ziegenhorn 2:00.1 – Kovach 1:58.7 = 8:01.2

Fremd – Vucovich 1:58.1 – Macius 1:59.9 – Winter 1:59.4 – Dinterman 2:06.9 = 8:04.2

Zach Dale (Conant HS, Hoffman Estates) and Graham Brown (Palatine HS) brokered a deal for the 3200 Meter Race. Both athletes wanted a fast time. It would be easier for the two to trade off pacing duties to keep the pace honest and near the 9:10 that both athletes wanted.

It worked like clockwork for the first eight laps as the two runners traded the lead every 400 meters. The dynamics changed between the 1600 and 2000. Brown had the lead but the 70’s that they were trying to hit started to suffer. Dale took the lead. He looked around trying to find Brown but the Palatine junior was starting to feel the effects of the early fast pace. Dale continued picking the pace up every lap. He got the result that he wanted. His 9:10.2 time is the second fastest currently in the state. David Rodriguez (Hersey, Arlington Heights) who seemed to be way off of the pace finished only nine seconds behind Dale with a 13 second indoor personal best.

Dale Splits: 66.4 – 2:13.6 – 3:23.9 – 4:35.6 – 5:45.9 – 6:56.1 – 8:06.1 – 9:10.2

There were problems with the timing system that forced the meet organizers to go to hand timed. It was too bad because there were some good sprint performances. Paul Ifianyi (Elk Grove HS) is a 400 Meter athlete that people do not mention when elite athletes are talked about for this event. They should pay more attention. Ifianyi took out the first 200 in 23.5 then cruised in to win the race 50.4 over a second ahead of Jawan Gaines (Fremd HS, Palatine). Gaines exacted some revenge in the 4 x 400 Meter Relay when Fremd had a sizeable lead over Elk Grove when Gaines took the baton for the final leg. Ifianyi made up some ground with the 49.6 split that he ran though it was not enough. Fremd won running a seasonal best time (3:29.5).

Scott Miller (Barrington HS) was a double winner winning the 55 Meter Dash (6.2h), then coming back to win the 200 Meter Dash (22.8h).

Stacey Smith (Schaumburg HS) could be one of the most unheralded horizontal jumper in the state. He took advantage of the Carius Track fast runways with an IL #2 23-4 winning jump. Smith back in the Triple Jump and produced a 45-8 winning jump. Adam Poklop (Palatine HS) cleared 6-7 a couple weeks ago at a meet at Proviso West. He backed that performance by winning Saturday over a good field. Poklop cleared 6-6 for the win. Parker DeLoye (Barrington HS) finished second.

The Girls High Jump is starting to heat up across the state with the clearances in meets continuing to climb. Jess Skudlarek (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) cleared 5-6 to win Saturday’s event. Her performance puts her #7 in the state. Banke Oginni (Hoffman Estates HS) continued her dominance in the Shot Put. Her put Saturday was 44-10, three feet under her seasonal best, but good enough to win in the meet. Jennifer Donnell (Conant HS, Hoffman Estates) pushed Oginni placing second with a seasonal best put of 42-4 (IL #7).

The conference team titles stayed in Palatine. Fremd captured the Boys team championship with 101 points. Barrington was next with 64 points. Palatine easily won the Girls team championship with 123 points. Prospect was next with 70.