David gets book-end career state titles in 2A Girls State Meet

Upon further review, Grayslake Central wins back to back state titles

By Michael Newman

Peoria, Ill – It took three years for Tatum David to “defend” her state title that she won in her 2019 freshman season. COVID took away the 2020 season. David had already moved with her family to Florida so she could attend IMG Academy.

Special things are worth waiting for. It showed last spring when David returned to Olney to go back to Richland County High School. Two state titles came from the past track season. In Saturday’s race, she was already in the lead vowing never to look back.

Results | Videos-Photos

David slugged it out in muddy conditions in the first mile to pass that point in 5:27. Rachel Soukup of Prairie Ridge, Mia Kotler of Latin School, and Becca Heitzig of Lincoln passed 12 seconds later in 5:39.

If you have seen the Richland County senior run, she maintains her pace and dares you to try to catch her. Soukup was making an effort to try to close the gap on David. The gap was still 13 seconds on the two runners with Heitzig and Kotler falling further and further back.

David picked up her pace in the final mile just to make sure no runner would sneak up on her. The margin was 19 seconds as David crossed the line in 17:05. The time was 61 seconds slower than what she ran when she was a freshman. An extremely muddy course had something to do with that.

Soukup has run at the end of the year, and it showed in this race as she ran 17:24 to finish second. Heitzig was another 26 seconds behind as she ran 17:50 to finish third. Kotler, who first raced this year in her regional meet, ran 17:57 to earn all-state honors in placing fourth. Hannah Meiser of Civic Memorial ended an amazing fall season getting herself in position in this race to run 18:10 to finish fifth.

It took a while to determine the team results in this race. The wet conditions caused a little havoc in reading the bib chips. It took close to an hour to figure the final results. Grayslake Central had to wait just to make sure. Anyone that had watched the race could see that the Rams had defended the state title.

It was the same formula that Grayslake Central had used to get a state title as they had used to race all season. The Rams scored 106 points to cement their win ahead of Lakes Community (125 points), and Washington (155 points) with Crystal Lake South missing a trophy by four points.

Grayslake Central placed 4 runners in the top 31 with their fifth runner placing 66th. Three runners earned all-state honors led by Ava Henne who finished seventh overall. Sara Armstrong was the second team runner finishing 16 with freshman Jordan Sutter stepping into all-state territory in finishing 25th. Bella Domier finished 10 seconds behind Sutter finishing 31st. Katie Armstrong was the team’s fifth runner placing 66th. The team’s overall split was 83 seconds. The split on their first four runners was 48 seconds.

The video review that is necessary in a large race like this benefitted Lakes Community in moving up to second. It was a position that the Eagles were used to finishing second behind Grayslake Central in their conference and regional races. Lakes had two all-state runners with Paige-Elicia Caruth (8th) and Becca Runyan (19th). Madison Twarling (34th), Madison Perez (46th), and Hannah Rojas (59th) were the third and fifth runners for Lakes in this race. The team’s top five split was 80 seconds.

Washington emerged this year as a team threat with the addition of four freshman entering their top seven. That addition gave the Panthers a boost as they finished fifth. Sophia Ramirez has experienced success in the front of meets all season that showed in this Detweiller Park race. Ramirez led the team in her first year by finishing 11. A 15 second split separated the next three Washington that included Olivia Nordhielm (29th), Madeleine James (38th), and Jayne Hermann (45th). Sophia Nordheilm was the team’s fifth runner placing 75th.

Crystal Lake South did miss that state trophy. The Gators did run such a great team race with their top five split at just 33 seconds. Isabella Gonzalez again was all-state leading her team in finishing 20th. Then came that second through fifth runner pack that was separated by only six seconds. Olivia Pinta led the pack in 37th with Abby Machesky and Victoria & Gianna Pinta finishing from 47th to 49th.

St. Ignatius Prep finished fifth with 235 points even though their top runner Annika Swan did not finish. The Wolfpack was led by 32nd and 39th place finishes from Courtney Beatty and Haley Fitzgerald.