Date posted online

Date posted online: Saturday, May 19, 2007
Marian's Gergel looking to be pole vault champ

BY MIKE NIETO
mnieto@nwitimes.com
219.933.3232

GIRLS TRACK | STATE FINALS NOTEBOOK

CHARLESTON | After battling bad weather and a bad upper right leg most of this season, Marian Catholic senior pole vaulter Melissa Gergel had a good day Friday at the IHSA Class AA meet at O'Brien Stadium.

Gergel, who was second last year, went 10 feet, 9 inches, which was the qualifying height. Twelve girls cleared the height.

Still, Gergel played coy when asked if she could win state.

"I am definitely looking to get a P.R. (personal record)," Gergel said. "I am just going to do my best."

She said she was at ease and does not feel any pressure.

"I feel real comfortable and it just feels real good," Gergel said. "We didn't get a lot of meets this year because of the weather and I didn't compete in a lot because of my leg."

Gergel is the lone Marian qualifier, and if she wins the pole vault, she would be the school's fist champ since Casey Taylor three-peated in the triple jump from 2003-2005.

"It is lonely down here. I don't like being the only one," Gergel said. "I wish a few more of my teammates would have qualified."

Shining Crystal: Illiana Christian junior triple jumper Crystal Vander Zee, who was ninth in Class AA last year, just qualified for today's finals in that event. She went 36-3 1/4 on her last jump.

"My plan is to make it to (today) and I have a chance to do better," Vander Zee said. "My goal today was 36-plus and I am just happy to make it to the finals."

Vander Zee has been hampered all season by a sore left calf muscle, which she injured in basketball.

Good day for DeYoung: Illiana Christian's Lynne DeYoung did not qualify for the finals of the 300 hurdles, but she did set a school record. She went 47.5 seconds, breaking her mark of 48.1.

"I felt I could have run faster, believe it or not," DeYoung said. "Beautiful day, beautiful track, what more can you ask for?"

Double qualifier: Thornwood's Dana LaRue qualified for the finals in the shot put (40-1) and the discus (122-1).

Thornridge's Geneva McCall qualified in the discus (135-5).

A quick makeover: Homewood-Flossmoor's Jasmine Clark qualified for the long jump (17-9 1/4), but she and her teammates have prom tonight. How do they handle it?

"Run fast and keep running into the car and get home," Clark said. "I'm not gona miss state, but I want to go to prom."

A first De La Salle: Sophomore Angela Sell did not qualify for today's finals in the 400, but she made history by becoming the first female track athlete from the former all-male school to qualify for the state meet.