By Michael Belmont
Gargoyle sports editor
Posted Monday, April 16, 2007, The OG, girls track & sports

Elizabeth Russell takes the baton from Aria
Collopy in the 4x800 relay at Friday's Unity
Invite. (Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

TOLONO — The girls track team persevered through difficult weather conditions and high-caliber competition to finish 11th out of 21 teams at the Unity Invite on Friday.

Among the competitors were Class A powers Central A&M, Jamaica, and Stanford Olympia, who took first, second, and third at the meet, respectively, as well as local teams such as St. Thomas More (fifth), Monticello (10th), and St. Joseph-Ogden (tied for 12th).

The Illineks finished with 20 points, just one point behind Monticello. Central A&M won decisively with 95 points, far ahead of runner-up Jamaica (61).

The girls 3,200-meter relay of junior Ruthie Welch, senior Aria Collopy, freshman Elizabeth Russell, and sophomore Elaine Gu placed second at the meet despite the absence of junior Shivani Khanna, a regular member.

With a seasonal-best time of 10 minutes, 39.24 seconds, the Illineks fell behind only Central A&M, who finished in 10:19.86, shattering the old meet record of 10:32.46 set last year by Decatur St. Teresa.

The same Central A&M team placed second two weeks earlier at the Illinois Prep Top Times Class A Indoor Classic, the unofficial indoor state championship meet.

Uni's 4x400 relay team of Welch, Russell, Collopy, and sophomore Lizzy Warner placed fifth with a seasonal best of 4:33.48. The team entered the event seeded 11th and proceeded to cut 5 seconds off its previous best time. Pana won with a time of 4:25.05.

Individually, Welch turned in Uni's highest placing. She finished third in the 800, running 2:32.51, the fastest performance by a Uni runner in that event all season. The two competitors ahead of her, Erika Ramos of Hoopeston and Lauren Adcock of Central A&M, each broke meet records with times of 2:27.52 and 2:26.14, respectively.

Gu placed fourth in the 1,600. Her time of 5:55.02 was just 3 seconds behind third-place winner Breanna Ragland of Stanford Olympia. Cara Feeney of St. Thomas More won with a time of 5:36.18.

Other Uni athletes who placed in the top 10 of their events:

— 400: Lizzy Warner (sophomore), eighth place, 1:04.87; Aria Collopy (senior), ninth place, 1:06.17

— long jump: Angie Jin (junior), eighth place, 13-07.25

— triple jump: Elizabeth Russell (freshman), eighth place, 29-07.50

“Overall, everyone did pretty well despite the cold temperature on Friday,” said Gu. “We got 11th place out of 21 teams. Our 4x800 lost to Central A&M, who got second place at IPTT. If Shivani — who was resting for the ACTs — had been there, we probably could've dropped our times a bit more. Nevertheless, we ran a 10:39, our fastest time this outdoor season.”

The girls compete again on Friday at the Gibson City Falcon Invitational. The meet begins at 4:30 p.m.

The boys team will also compete Friday, at the Unity Boys Invitational. That meet begins at 4:30 p.m. as well.

March 29: Gibson City Meet (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 5th (out of 5 teams), 30 pts

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 100: Rachel Skoza (so), 2nd, 14.35

— 3,200: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 3rd, 13:56.7

— 4x200 relay: Skoza, Katherine Allen (fr), Angie Jin (jr), Lizzy Warner (so), 3rd, 2:03.08

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Allen, Russell, Warner, 2nd, 4:41.6

— high jump: Russell, 3rd, 4-8

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 30-0

March 31: Champaign County Meet (at Urbana H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: No overall team standings were compiled

• EVENT RESULTS (top 5 finishes):

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 4th, 1:09.8

— 3,200: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 5th, 14:01

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Warner, 4th, 2:00.1

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Allen, Linda Ly (fr), Warner, 1st, 4:49

— 4x800 relay: Shivani Khanna (jr), Elaine Gu (so), Aria Collopy (sr), Ruthie Welch (jr), 1st, 10:48

— high jump: Russell, 3rd, 4-6

— long jump: Angie Jin (jr), 4th, 14-1

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 29-11

April 10: Gibson City Tri-Meet (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 2nd (out of 3 teams)

• EVENT RESULTS (top 3 finishes):

— 200: Cheyenne Stewart (fr), 2nd, 31.04

— 400: Aria Collopy (sr), 1st, 1:07.41; Ruthie Welch (jr), 2nd, 1:08.6

— 800: Shivani Khanna (jr), 1st, 2:40.1; Elizabeth Russell (fr), 2nd, 2:45.6

— 1,600: Katie Easley (sr), 2nd, 6:56.8

— 3,200: Elaine Gu (so), 2nd, 13:02.6

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Stewart, Lizzy Warner (so), 1st, 2:00.6

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Skoza, Warner, 1st, 4:38.7

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Collopy, Welch, Khanna, 1st, 10:48.9

— long jump: Angela Jin (jr), 3rd, 12-1

— triple jump: Russell, 1st, 28-9

April 13: Unity Girls Invitational (at Unity H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 11th (out of 21 teams)

• EVENT RESULTS (top 10 finishes):

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 8th, 1:04.87; Aria Collopy (sr), 9th, 1:06.17

— 800: Ruthie Welch (jr), 3rd, 2:32.51

— 1,600: Elaine Gu (so), 4th, 5:55.02

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Elizabeth Russell (fr), Collopy, Warner, 5th, 4:33.48

— 4x800 relay: Welch, Collopy, Russell, Gu, 2nd, 10:39.24

— long jump: Angie Jin (jr), 8th, 13-07.25

— triple jump: Russell, 8th, 29-07.50

Remaining meets: see schedule