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Girls Track and Field
May 18, 2007
A Historic Opportunity
 
“My goal is to go 44 (seconds) or lower and maybe get top three in state,"
Morgan Monroe, Girls Track Team member on her outlook for the 300 meter low hurdles event that she will run at this weekend’s girl’s state track meet.
 
Morgan Monroe, said the above words after qualifying for the state meet last week. Those are bold words and ambitious words for the talented Lane Tech junior. But if anyone can do it, it would have to be Morgan Monroe. Monroe, holds most of the top times ever run by a Lane Tech girl in the hurdles. She is not only one of Lane’s top hurdlers ever, but also one of the city’s top hurdlers. At the city championship two weeks ago she broke the all-time Public League record in the girls 300 meter low hurdles previously set by Morgan Park’s Lee-Po hall in 1995.
  
This weekend is the Girls state track meet at Eastern Illinois University. Individuals qualify for the state meet by either meeting state qualifying times or finishing in the top two at last weeks state sectional meet. The state meet is broken up in two days. State Preliminaries are on Friday, May 18th and state finals are on Saturday, May 19th.  Individuals that survive the State Prelims run on Saturday for the finals.  At the Fenwick sectional Lane Tech qualified 6 individuals and one relay for the state meet. See the following table:
 
Lane Tech girls track qualifiers for the state prelims
 
Name
Event
Place
Time
8th Place time from state meet in 2006
Morgan Monroe(jr)
100 meter high hurdles
2nd
15.47
15.10
Morgan Monroe (jr)
300 meter low hurdles
1st
47.10
46.24
Nia Muhammad(sr)
100 meter high hurdles
1st
15.04
15.12
Margie Zimoch(sr)
Long Jump
1st
17'-05"
17’8.25”
Shanita Polk (jr)
Discus
2nd
85'-09"
127’06”
Shanita Polk (jr)
Shot Put
2nd
31'-08"
39’06.75”
 
4x400 relay
1st
4:01.74
4:01.96
 
Only the top 8 score points for the team.
The times that are colored red indicate times that have beaten last year’s 8th place time from the 2006 state meet.
 
So, Lane had two times that beat the 8th place time form last year. This means, that Lane actually has a chance to score points at this year’s state meet.
 
Lane has the best chance to score points in up to 5 events: Morgan Monroe in the 100 and 300 meter hurdles, Nia Muhammad in the 100 meter hurdles, Margie Zimoch in the Long Jump, and the 4x400 meter relay. If Lane can somehow muster up the ability to score in several events, they have an opportunity to break some of the existing school records in the state meet for girls track. See table below:
 
Lane Tech girls track state meet records
 
Type of record
Actual record
Event
Year
Highest finish by an individual
Michelle Giampapa -2nd place
1600 meter run
1985
Highest finish by a  relay
3rd place
4x100 meter relay
2005
Highest finish by a  relay
3rd place
800 meter medley relay
1987
Most number of individuals and qualifiers scoring points with a top 8 finish
3
200meter dash, 4x100 meter relay, 4x200 meter relay
2005
Most team points
15
 
2005
Highest team place
14th place
 
2005
 
In short, this is a potentially historic weekend for Lane Tech girls track. It will require a tremendous effort, but if all the pieces fall in place, we may need to rewrite some of the above table.

 

Shanita Polk (jr) of Lane Tech shown here with the shot put by her foot waits her turn to throw the ball during this year's city championship. She is the shot put and discus city champion and qualified for state in both. www.LaneTechFan.com photo