PREP GIRLS TRACK: Danville girls take third in Big 12 meet

Marvin Holman, Commercial-News, Danville, Ill.
·6 min read

May 7—DANVILLE — Track athletes can complete in many different events, but there are some combinations that are interesting.

Recently, Danville High School senior Lynae Ward has had a combination like that. Ward has added the shot put along with running and field events like the triple jump.

"It is weird, because when I wanted to do it, coaches were like 'You can throw as well as jump?'" Ward said. "It is time-consuming as well because you are throwing and then they call for heats at the other event and I have two throws left. It is a lot of back and forth and I make it work because I would be in a different flight, so it works out."

Ward was third in both the shot put (9.66m) and the triple jump (9.85m) in Friday's Big 12 Conference meet at the Wayland-Young Athletic Complex as the Vikings took third as a team.

"Lynae has done a great job and is a great leader," Danville girls track coach Tyler Arnholt said. "We found out she can throw this year and she has the potential to even throw discus next year in college. She might be a multi-athlete in college but that will be up to what a coach in college will think."

The Vikings had first place finishes from freshman Nickiya Shields, who had personal bests in winning 100 (15.88 seconds) and 300 (47.31) hurdles, Karena Mayfield had a PR in winning the discus (32.19m) and Mariyah Brown won the high jump (1.47m).

"We are doing great. There were a lot of PR's and a lot of good attitudes even in this weather and I am happy about that. Every single girls was in this meet and we talked about the weather and that we have to be prepared for anything and they have responded.

"I felt I could have done better with better conditions, but being involved in track since sixth grade and running in the summer, you have to get used to all kinds of weather," Ward said. "I have run in rainy weather, real hot weather and windy weather, so you hate it but, you get used to it."

Ward and Mayfield are the only seniors on the team and Arnholt said they were leaders as the Vikings built up for the future.

"We had 11 girls last year and we had 30-35 this year tryout, so we had a big influx of girls," Arnholt said. "We had a ton of freshmen and sophomores that are fighting to get to that next level next season and there are some freshmen that are already there like Nickiya and Allison Thompson was third in the 2-mile. The future is pretty bright for us. We are going to lose Lynae and Mayfield and they are great leaders, but the girls are learning from them now and it is fun to see how it will help in the future."

"It's not so bad, we have a handful of girls that know what they have to do and do it because Nickiya is a freshman and has gotten better as the season has gone on," Ward said. "It's nice to be with her and run with her because once you leave, you know they are going to be behind and continue how you do it. It is a blessing because you see who is going to give their all when they do get older."

The Vikings will host a Class 3A sectional at Wayland-Young on Thursday and the weather will be a little better this time around.

"Sectionals is going to be a lot of hard work," Ward said. "I know I can jump and qualify for state. It is going to be much better weather, but we have to work."

PREP GIRLS TRACK

At Wayland-Young Athletic Complex

Big 12 Girls Meet

Team results — 1. Normal Community 134, 2. Peoria Richwoods 84, 3. Danville 74.5, 4. Bloomington 55, 5. Peoria Notre Dame 46, 6. Champaign Centennial 44. 7. Normal West 24, 8. Champaign Central 23.5, 9. Urbana 17, 10. Peoria Manual 14, 11. Peoria High 11

Individual results

High jump — 1. Mariyah Brown (D) 1.47m, 2. Sifa Mondika (Centennial) 1.47m, 3. A'Mia Gordon (PH) 1.47m

Long jump — 1. Noelle Hunt (Centennial) 5.01m, 2. Makaya Phillps (B) 4.95m, 3. Braelyn Alexander (Central) 4.84m, 12. Abby Decker (D) 4.10m

Triple jump — 1. Marissa Sager (PR) 10.07m, 2. Brown 9.86m, 3. Lynae Ward (D) 9.85m, 3. Mariah Cade (PR) 9.85m

Shot Put — 1. Ruth Oliveros-Gallardo (NC) 10.87m, 2. Maddison Hopkins (B) 9.68m, 3. Ward 9.66m

Discus — 1. Karena Mayfield (D) 32.19m, 2. Aurora Kiamana (NC) 30.90m, 3. Addison Zwanzig (B) 29.37m

100 meters — 1. Lena Jackson (PR) 12.58, 2. Jazmin West (NC) 12.70, 3. Brenna Huff (PR) 12.74, 9. Chazari Cooks (D) 13.74

200 meters — 1. Jackson 26.06, 2. Camiya Williams (PM) 26.76, 3. West 27.12, 6. Nickiya Shields (D) 28.25

400 meters — 1. Allison Ince (NC) 57.40, 2. Abigail Ziemer (NC) 1:02.35, 3. Alondra Ortiz-Silva (B) 1:03.63

800 meters — 1. Ince 2:21.80, 2. Darielle Saintilus (PR) 2:29.88, 3. Megan Metz (NC) 2:35.16

100 hurdles — 1. Shields 15.88, 2. Tania Boombo (B) 16.35, 3. Sydney Chong (NC) 16.96, 4. Neveah Jones (D) 17.34

300 hurdles — 1. Shields 47.31, 2. Queen-Patricia Lebala (NC) 49.23, 3. Chong 51.10

1,600 — 1. Ince 5:18.29, 2. Teagan Cover (PND) 5:21.68, 3. Olivia Hartke (NC) 5:33.77, 5. Allison Thompson (D) 5:48.53

3,200 — 1. Hartke 11:39, 2. Celia Barbieri (U) 11:50.93, 3. Thompson 12:03

400 relay — 1. Peoria Richwoods 50.40, 2. Central 51.71, 3. Bloomington 52.10, 7. Danville (Amyah Laws, Shields, Diamond Landfair, Cooks) 53.92

800 relay — 1. Peoria Richwoods 1:48.35, 2. Centennial 1:48.63, 3. Peoria Notre Dame 1:49.51, 8. Danville (Laws, Landfair, Cooks, Olivia Williams) 1:57.63

1,600 relay — 1. Normal Community 4:13.57, 2. Peoria Notre Dame 4:17.81, 3. Centennial 4:22.31

3,200 relay — 1. Peoria Notre Dame 10:36.88, 2. Normal West 10:42.65, 3. Normal Community 10:57.61, 6. Danville (Sarah Kagels, Jennifer Shearer, Rosa Vasquez, Anna Gonzalez) 12:06.69