OP_051619

OPPrairie.com sports
the orland park prairie | May 16, 2019 | 43
POSTSEASON ROUNDUP
Sophomore runners and a boatload of fishermen prepare for state tournaments
JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor
A pair of Sandburg
sophomores broke a fiveyear
skid in girls track and
field.
Ella Jeffries won the
3,200-meter run, and Brielle
Morris followed suit
by winning the 800 at the
Class 3A Homewood-
Flossmoor Sectional on
Friday, May 10. They became
the first sectional
champs at Sandburg since
Carly Krull won the 3,200
in 2013.
The two sophomores
broke up a couple of other
bad streaks.
They were also the first
females from the Orland
Park school to qualify for
the Illinois High School
Association State Track
and Field meet since the
800 relay team qualified in
2017. They were the first
individuals to qualify since
2016, when Chibueze
Obia qualified for the long
jump, and the first individual
runners to qualify
since 2015, when Renee
Letz qualified in the 800.
Jeffries is getting used to
snapping skids.
In November, she became
the first Sandburg
female runner since 2014
to qualify for the Illinois
High School Association
state cross country meet.
At Flossmoor, Jeffries
ran the 3,200 event in 11
minutes, 26.14 seconds to
nudge out Lincoln-Way
Central sophomore Merrigan
Allen (11:27.80).
In the 800, Morris ran a
2:22.83 to beat out Lockport’s
Madison Polinski
(2:23.97).
The state meet opens
Friday, May 17, at Eastern
Illinois University in
Charleston.
Since the 3,200 event
takes place on Saturday,
May 18, Jeffries is guaranteed
to run on the second
day of the meet. The field
will include one of the best
distance runners in the
country, Glenbard West junior
Katelynne Hart, who
ran a 10:18.41 at the Naperville
North sectional.
Orland Park’s Teresa
Topolski, a sophomore at
Providence Catholic High
School, joined Sarah Kerfin,
Kate Steed and Samantha
Spencer in qualifying
for state in the 400 relay,
and joined Kerfin, Spencer
and Kendall Dickason in
800 relay at the Class 2A
LaSalle-Peru Sectional.
The 400 finished first in
:50.44, and the 800 also
won the sectional championship
with a clocking of
1:46.45.
Last year, Toploski
was on the 800 team that
turned in a 1:45.45 at state,
which broke a 40-year-old
school record.
Bass fishing
Sandburg’s bass fishing
team is returning to the
IHSA state meet for the
first time since 2011, after
claiming the final spot at
the Joliet Central Sectional
on May 6.
The Eagles No. 2 boat
— of Jason Sokol, Chris
Slechta and Leo Glynn
— took third place at the
sectional event at the Big
Basin Marina on the Des
Plaines River. Their haul
was eight pounds, 3.4
ounces. The driver of the
boat was assistant coach
Scott Plaisier, and the head
coach is Jim Corcoran.
Providence (13-7.2) and
Marist (12-1.4) finished
first and second, and Providence’s
No. 2 boat (8-2.2)
just missed the cut and was
named as the alternate.
This is the fourth time
Sophomore Brielle Morris is a sectional champion and
will compete in the IHSA state meet in Charleston.
the Eagles qualified for
state. They qualified the
first three years that the
activity was sanctioned by
the IHSA.
They won a sectional
in 2009 and finished 25th.
They finished 46th in 2010
as one of six schools to not
catch a fish in 2011.
The state meet is scheduled
to be held Friday, May
17, and Saturday, May 18,
at downstate Carlyle Lake.
Badminton
Sandburg’s doubles
team of Kate Hudson-Brittany
Higgins won its first
match Friday, May 10, at
the IHSA state tournament
in Charleston with a
21-13, 21-13 over District
230 rivals Elizabeth Mc-
Dougall-Anna Gawron but
lost its next two matches to
finish 1-2.
Two-time state qualifier
Kaylynn Murray lost
a pair of three-set battles
to Maine South’s Gianna
Faraci and Downers Grove
South’s Giana Fallara.
Boys water polo
Sixth-seeded Sandburg
beat 11th-seeded
St. Charles East 17-6 in
the opening round of the
Neuqua Valley Sectional
on May 7 but dropped a
10-6 decision in the quarterfinals
to third-seeded
Naperville North two
nights later. Mike Rzeszowicz
scored four goals in
the quarterfinal loss.
The Eagles finished 16-
12.
Girls water polo
Fifth-seeded Sandburg
knocked off fourth-seeded
Bradley Bourbonnais, 7-6,
in the quarterfinals of the
Lincoln-Way West Sectionals
on May 8 and two
nights later dropped a 17-7
contest to top-seeded Lincoln-Way
Central.
Sandburg’s Ella Jeffries won a sectional title and is
heading to state in the 3,200-meter run.
Sandburg’s bass fishing state finalists are (left to right)
Leo Glynn, Chris Slechta, Jason Sokol and assistant
coach Scott Plaisier, who was the driver during
sectional competition. PHOTOS SUBMITTED
In the Bradley victory,
the Eagles were down 5-2
and scored five straight
goals and hung on to win.
Nicole Devine scored what
turned out to be the winning
goal with 3 minutes,
56 seconds, and goalie Alison
Nykaza made several
saves down the stretch to
preserve the win.
Boys gymnastics
The District 230 coop
team received good
news when senior Sawyer
Mackovitch earned a state
at-large bid in the floor
exercise event, and he finished
47th with a score of
8.3 on Saturday, May 11,
at Hoffman Estates High
School.