Sports
Track: North's Jones Stars At Sectional
Plainfield North junior Cessily Jones raced to the win in the 200 meters and also qualified in the 100 meters Friday.
NAPERVILLE – In a spring that has not been conductive to great track and field results, Friday’s Class 3A Naperville North Sectional provided similar conditions to the ones seen by girls all spring.
With temperatures in the low 50s and a competitors forced to run into a stiff breeze, the amount of qualifiers to the state meet at Eastern Illinois University next weekend were cut down significantly, with only eight at-large qualifiers the entire night moving on. The top two in each event automatically advance.
That even tripped up several of the meet’s stars. Neuqua Valley sophomore Savannah Carson missed qualifying in the 100 meters by 0.1 seconds, but managed to advance in the 200, finishing second to Plainfield North junior Cessily Jones.
Find out what's happening in Plainfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
But Jones’ big win denied Waubonsie Valley junior Morolake Akinosun a chance to advance in the 200. She finished third.
Akinosun’s win in the 100, with Jones following her, denied her Aurora Flyers teammate, Carson, a chance to advance.
Find out what's happening in Plainfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“It’s kind of been a rough night in general,” Akinosun admitted. “I’m happy that I qualified in the 100 and the 400. I’m more upset that Savannah didn’t make it in the 100 than I am that I didn’t make it in the 200. I would have given anything to see Savannah next to me in the state finals. She’s definitely a teammate before a rival school. She made it in the 200, so she’s doing that for me.”
Akinosun won the fast heat of the 400, but wound up second overall. Plainfield Central junior Jenna Moody topped her time of 59.17 by winning the fourth of the five heats in 58.78, squeezing Naperville Central’s Jenny Alberts out of a trip to state in the process.
It was that kind of night all night in just about every event, which is why Carson took no chances in the 200. Facing the prospect of not advancing to the state meet in any event, she made sure she advanced in the 200.
“I was just kind of running for my life, because I was scared out of my mind,” Carson said. “I’m not going to lie. I needed to make it to state in something.”
Jones was one of the meet’s stars. She finished second in the 100 to Akinosun by 0.14 seconds, but rebounded out of lane seven in the 200 for the win.
“I knew that I was running into the wind and it was cold and I was in lane seven, so I knew I had to start off strong because if I didn’t, I was going to get beat,” Jones said of the 200. “I know we haven’t had good weather, but I’m hoping that when I get downstate it will be a better performance for everyone across the board.”
While Jones was the story for Plainfield North, several other competitors from Plainfield advanced to state.
Plainfield South senior Erin Fitzgerald won the 800 in 2:19.55. Monique Lincoln (high jump) and Savannah Emmrich (pole vault) also moved on for the Cougars. Jaclyn Aremka won the high jump for Plainfield North with a jump of 5-5. Plainfield Central senior Jazmyne Brown advanced in the discus. Plainfield East had no state qualifiers.
