Illinois Class A track: Boraas carries 9th-place Sherrard
CHARLESTON, Ill. — She’s only a sophomore, but already Sherrard’s Sarah Boraas is putting the expectations of a team leader on her shoulders.
“I sometimes feel like I carry the emotions of the team with me,” Boraas said. “I’m not just crying for myself, but for the whole team.”
Boraas keenly felt the disappointment of the day Saturday. Though she won four medals — something no other Quad-Cities competitor did this weekend at the Class A state track and field meet at O’Brien Stadium — none of them were gold, or even what she’d hoped for.
Still, the efforts behind those medals were enough to anchor the Tigers to a ninth-place team finish, with 21 points. Just four points separated fifth-place Byron from Sherrard.
The Tigers’ best effort of the day came in their first, the 400 relay. Sherrard held the lead through most of the relay, but strong handoffs and anchor legs from Rushville-Industry and Illini West carried them through, leaving the Tigers third.
“The 4x1 went great. Last year, we had handoff difficulties. Everyone ran their fastest, and I’m really proud of the 4x1,” Boraas said.
She came back to finish sixth in both the 100 and 300 hurdles, and the 800-meter relay team added another sixth. The Tigers were ninth in the 1,600 relay but had to change up their order at the last minute when anchor Shelbie Pettie couldn’t recover from a 1,600 final that left her collapsed on the O’Brien track.
“It is really difficult,” said 400 and 800 anchor Lacey Hainline, who had to take over anchor responsibilities for Pettie, who was replaced by freshman alternate Allie Munday. “She (Munday) really stepped it up, and I tried to finish the race (by catching a couple of runners at the back), but I couldn’t catch up.”
With only a couple of supporting cast members graduating, Sherrard should be back near the top of the points heap in 2009. Hainline and Boraas both admitted it’s going to take some work.
“We did have a lot of younger girls, and we had to go up against juniors and seniors, but we’re ready to come back strong as ever,” Hainline said. “Our younger kids better be ready. We know if we all work together over the summer, we’ll come out stronger next year.”
And Boraas issued a warning.
“This year’s over, but next year, watch out. Sherrard’s coming back,” she said.
Riverdale got two individual medals from Alexa Allen (fifth, 100 hurdles) and Kara Howell (eighth, 800), while Annawan/Wethersfield earned two relay medals (seventh in the 3,200 relay and fourth in the 800 relay).
Amanda Trancoso of Sterling Newman was fifth in the 800, while Karly Johnston of Galva (discus) and the Knoxville 3,200 relay both took sixths. Rockridge’s Chelsey Widdop added a seventh in the 300 hurdles.