Illinois girls state track preview

By Shannon Heaton | Saturday, May 17, 2008

Rock Island Alleman junior Kathleen Hogan thought she had prepared in every way possible for last weekend’s Class AA Ottawa Sectional.

Except one.

She’d been spiked going around the second turn of the second lap of the 800 meters but overcame the pain to win by almost 5 seconds. It was a victory that helped overcome the disappointment she felt in not advancing with her Pioneers teammates in the 3,200 relay.

That disappointment turned — for a while — to outright anger after Hogan was disqualified by an IHSA meet official for allegedly cutting in too soon to the first lane while completing the second lap’s second turn.

While her teammates struggled to understand and her coaches fumed, Hogan did the only thing she felt she could — practice her kung fu skills on a defenseless trash can located near the track.

“I didn’t even know (about the disqualification) until after the race. I got spiked, and you’re supposed to get two steps of recovery. They didn’t see me get spiked, they just saw me cross the lane. If he’d been looking at my legs, he would have seen that I was bleeding,” Hogan said, sporting an ugly gash on her right shin.

“It’s my battle wound. I’ll look down at it any time I need some motivation.”

Fellow competitor Aisha Praught of Moline — who would be battling Hogan later in the 1,600 — didn’t see anything unusual in Hogan’s slight drift.

“We’d been standing right by where they were supposed to cut in. We saw it (the events leading to the DQ) and we were really confused. I didn’t notice everything that went on, but it wasn’t really a good call. She won by 5 seconds but made one step across an alley after she was boxed (in) and spiked,” Praught said.

“That wasn’t a very good call.”

Hogan didn’t have much time to recover after the physical pain of the spiking and the emotional trauma of the DQ. While teammates held her hand in the Pioneers tent, helping her get her focus back, inside her mind burned with a cold fury.

“I used that as vengeance. I couldn’t imagine not going to state at all,” Hogan said, citing her qualification in both 2006 and 2007 as a freshman and sophomore, respectively.

“(In the 1,600 it was) simply run behind the leader, just go until I couldn’t, kick when I could, and make it to state. I have gone every year since my freshman year, and not making it would be devastating.”

Hogan had a familiar — and powerful — new friend in that race. She put herself on Praught’s left shoulder for most of the mile and rarely, if ever, looked back to see who was in third. Hogan finished second behind Praught to earn her state berth.

“We talked when we both checked in, and this time it was more of a friendly race. We’ve run a lot of races together, and this one wasn’t so competitive, because of what happened,” Praught said. “Our schools are big rivals, but when it comes to something like this, we can unite. My coaches wanted to make it right, so I’m not surprised that they were yelling for her (on the race’s final lap).”

Speaking of rivals, the Ottawa announcer noted that she was from “Rock Island” in announcing the 1,600 results. “That was quite funny,” Hogan said.

Making sure this time

Last year’s Class A sectional meet was one of almosts and what-ifs for Morrison jumper Erin Carney.

Carney had come up 3 inches short of qualifying for the 2007 state meet in the triple jump. She was a second slow in the 800 meters. Her Fillies 1,600 relay team was a second off as well.

This year, armed with a new arsenal of events, Carney was determined to make sure. She succeeded —mostly. In the long jump, an event she hadn’t tried before this season, Carney made state based on performance, jumping 4 inches beyond the state standard. She finished second, so would have gone either way.

In the triple jump, where she’d had previous experience, she needed every millimeter to qualify on distance, just a half-inch beyond the 33-foot, 5-inch standard.

“I’d done triple jump for the past two years, and my dad said why not try the long jump. The very first time that I did long jump I got 16-1,” Carney said. “So 16-8 (her runner-up mark at sectionals) was quite an improvement, 7 inches farther than I’ve ever done.”

As for the triple jump, Carney admitted that more was on the line. “I really put pressure on myself to make it, since I was short last year,” she said. “I was just scared about the whole thing.”