By Randy Sharer | rsharer@pantagraph.com
CHARLESTON — Commitment is a necessity to excel in track and field, but it’s a hard thing to assess unless you are Kristin Thompson.
Her commitment is there for all to see on her right ankle in the form of a tattoo she got in March. It shows a winged foot above the words “field and track”.
The Normal Community West High School senior field eventer will take her tattoo into the 38th annual state meet discus final at 2:40 p.m. today hoping for a Class 3A title.
“I’m happy I’m in the finals and hopefully I’ll do better tomorrow,” said the top-seeded Thompson, who threw 142 feet, 3 inches in Friday’s prelims at O’Brien Stadium.
Even though Thompson exceeded her sectional mark of 142-1, she ranks second behind the 143-2 by Jazjuan Wallace-Sipp of Harvey Thornton. Thompson, the 2009 state runner-up, has a chance to rally judging by her school record of 143-4.
“I think I have it in me,” said Thompson, one of three Pantagraph area 3A qualifiers along with teammate Taylor Kirby and Normal Community’s Marie O’Leary.
Thompson planned to spend Friday night visualizing changes she needs to make and reviewing video of her tosses with first-year throws coach Chris Martoglio.
“He came in, wasn’t really familiar with the sport,” Thompson said. “He’s done all kinds of research outside. We are both learning together. He’s able now to watch me very efficiently and tell me specifically what I need to fix. I owe a lot to him.”
O’Leary’s training paid off in the 1,600-meter run with a school-record time of 5 minutes, 4.07 seconds, which ranks 10th in Pantagraph area history and made her the 10th fastest qualifier. Her old record of 5:06.05 came last year.
The Missouri recruit, who will also contest Saturday’s 3,200, finished second in her heat as Melissa Schmidt of Hoffman Estates outkicked her in the final 100 to clock 5:03.57.
“I give myself a B-plus because I should have worked harder the last 100,” O’Leary said. “I think I could have went stronger.”
Normal West’s Kirby, fifth in last year’s pole vault, advanced again by clearing 11-0 along with 13 others. She missed twice at 9-6, once at 10-0 and twice at 10-9 before making 11-0 on her first attempt. She didn’t get off the ground on several of those misses as she ran through the pit.
“It’s a mental problem,” said Kirby, who hopes for cleaner vaulting today and a clearance above her school record of 11-6. “Pole vaulting is so ‘in your head.’ ”
West freshman Emily Brelsfoard nearly ran into the 1,600 final, but her school record of 5:05.46 ranked 14th and narrowly missed the 5:04.79 cutoff. She’ll contest the 3,200 today.
“The 3,200 is my main event so I’m going to try as hard as I can in that one,” she said.
No. 7-seeded NCHS triple jumper Courtney Egts, who set three school records this season, the last at 36-6¾, bounded 35-4¾ and did not advance. It took 36-4 to move on.
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