By Gargoyle sports staff

Posted Friday, May 11, 2007, The OG, girls track & sports

Martin gets ready for an attempt Thursday at

sectionals. (Gargoyle photo) (click to enlarge)

ST. JOSEPH — Uni's track and field postseason got off to a winning start Thursday afternoon as senior Paige Martin earned a Class A sectional championship in the pole vault.

Martin vaulted 9 feet, 9 inches to claim the title.

Sarah Schaefer of Unity placed second with a vault of 9-0.

Both Martin and Schaefer will advance to the IHSA state meet, which will be held May 18-19 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

The automatic Class A state qualifying standard is 8-6.

After clinching the title, Martin tried for a personal record of 10-1 but fell short on three attempts.

Last week Martin set a PR of 10-0 with her first-place performance at the 31st Lady Spartan Classic at St. Joseph-Ogden High School. Her vault tied the meet record.

Martin returned to St. Joseph on Thursday because the site of Uni's sectional, Jamaica High School in Sidell, does not have pole-vaulting facilities.

As a result, the pole-vault portion of the Sidell sectional was held a day before the rest of the competition.

In all, seven athletes competed in Thursday's event.

Martin and her teammates will travel to Sidell for the rest of the 16-team sectional today. With the pole vault out of the way, Martin will be able to concentrate on the triple jump and the 300-meter low hurdles.

Last week at the Lady Spartan Classic, Martin placed second in the triple jump with a distance of 31 feet, 6 inches, an outdoor record for her.

She placed seventh in the 300 hurdles, turning in a personal-best time of 54.32 seconds in that event.

Last year, the Uni girls qualified for state in one event: the 3,200-meter relay. With Martin's sectional title already in hand, the Illineks have an excellent chance of exceeding last year's postseason performance.

To advance to state, athletes must either place in the top two of their events at sectionals or meet the automatic qualifying standards in their events, also at sectionals.

Uni's 4x800 team has broken the automatic qualifying time (10:23.74) twice this spring: at the Monticello Lady Sages Invitational on April 27 (10:15.50) and at the Lady Spartan Classic on May 4 (10:22.01).

2007 GIRLS VARSITY TRACK & FIELD RESULTS (OUTDOOR)

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

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

• STORY: Relay teams run season bests at Indoor Classic (Outdoor results included in story)

• 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

• STORY: Uni athletes take first in three events at county meet

• 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)

• STORY: Uni athletes win 11 events against GCMS, PBL

• 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)

• STORY: Relay teams run seasonal bests at Unity Invite

• 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

April 20: Falcon Invitational (at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 11th (out of 16 teams)

• STORY: Illineks tune up for sectionals with Falcon Invitational

• EVENT RESULTS (top 5 finishes):

— 800: Ruthie Welch (jr), 5th, 2:35.77

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 3rd, 5:46.41; Shivani Khanna (jr), 5th, 5:47.14

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Aria Collopy (sr), Rachel Skoza (so), 5th, 4:37.85

— 4x800 relay: Welch, Collopy, Khanna, Elaine Gu (so), 2nd, 10:31.07

— Distance medley relay: Skoza, Gu, Linda Ly (fr), Katherine Allen (fr), 3rd, 4:56.25

April 24: Unity Dual Meet (at Unity H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 2nd (out of 2 teams)

• STORY: none. In several of the events, Uni faced no competition; in others the competitors were overwhelmingly from Unity High. The meet gave both teams a chance to experiment with different lineups. “The best thing about the meet was we learned how to compete against ourselves — how to push ourselves,” said junior Shivani Khanna.

April 27: Monticello Lady Sages Invitational (at Monticello H.S)

• TEAM FINISH: 14th (out of 21 teams)

• STORY: Martin, 4x800 team excel at Lady Sages Invitational

• EVENT RESULTS (top 15 finishes):

— 200: Rachel Skoza (so), 12th (semifinals heat), 29.79

— 400: Lizzy Warner (so), 10th, 1:05.84; Aria Collopy (sr), 12th, 1:06.55

— 800: Shivani Khanna (jr), 5th, 2:31.17; Ruthie Welch (jr), 7th, 2:33.44

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 5th, 5:49.10; Elaine Gu (so), 7th, 5:51.76

— 300 low hurdles: Paige Martin (sr), 14th, 55.60

— 4x200 relay: Skoza, Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Rachel Harmon (fr), 10th, 2:01.31

— 4x400 relay: Welch, Khanna, Collopy, Warner, 7th, 4:26.79

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Khanna, Gu, Welch, 3rd, 10:15.50

— Triple jump: Martin, 7th, 30-0; Russell, 11th, 28-10.5

— Pole vault: Martin, 2nd, 9-0

May 4: Lady Spartan Classic (at St. Joseph-Ogden H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: 9th (out of 18 teams)

• STORY: Shorthanded Uni turns in strong performance at Lady Spartan Classic

• EVENT RESULTS (top 6 finishes):

— 1,600: Elizabeth Russell (fr), 6th, 5:52.63

— 4x200 relay: Rachel Skoza (so), Katherine Allen (fr), Cheyenne Stewart (fr), Rachel Harmon (fr), 5th, 1:57.11

— 4x400 relay: Skoza, Russell, Aria Collopy (sr), Lizzy Warner (so), 6th (tie with St. Thomas More), 4:31.28

— 4x800 relay: Warner, Shivani Khanna (jr), Collopy, Ruthie Welch (jr), 3rd, 10:22.01

— Triple jump: Paige Martin (sr), 2nd, 31-6

— Pole vault: Martin, 1st, 10-0

May 10: Class A Sidell (Jamaica) Sectional (at St. Joseph-Ogden H.S.)

• TEAM FINISH: not applicable (this was for pole vault only)

• STORY: see above

• EVENT RESULT:

— Pole vault: Paige Martin (sr), 1st, 9-9 (IHSA state qualifier) (automatic state qualifying standard: 8-6)

Remaining meets: see schedule