The Belleville West girls track team finished the 2011 season on a positive note, but coach Paul James expects even more from the Maroons in 2012.
West placed 10th with 22.5 points at the Class 3A state meet, held May 20-21 in Charleston. Freshman Claudette Day finished fifth in the long jump (18-0 1/4) and fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (14.66). In the 1,600 relay, Day and junior Jessica Oranika combined with seniors Rani Akins and Candice Brooks-Hill to finish fourth in 3:53.61. In the 800 relay, Oranika, Brooks-Hill, senior Ashley Wilson and sophomore Kristyon Tolliver placed fifth in 1:42.50.
Two years ago, behind senior Yolanda Suggs, West won the team championship. Last year, the Maroons qualified in eight events but didn't reach the finals in any of them. This year, West qualified in eight events, reached the finals in six and placed in five.
"The only disappointments for the weekend were that Oranika didn't qualify (for the finals) in the 400 and Day didn't qualify in the 300 hurdles," James said. "She hit a hurdle and ended up placing 10th, but she could easily been in the finals. We gambled by using Oranika in the 4x200, and she just didn't have the recovery time that she needed. The only plus is that two kids got medals in the 4x200 that wouldn't have gotten them otherwise.
"(Oranika and Day) redeemed themselves by coming back in the 4x400. I think we were the seventh seed coming in, so to get fourth in a strong field is a great accomplishment. The kids all ran personal bests, and we broke a school record by running four seconds faster than we did on Friday."
While Oranika was a proven commodity, Day lived up to the preseason hype which put her among the area's top freshmen.
"She has high expectations of getting a medal in four events the next three years," James said. "She takes it pretty seriously and works pretty hard, so you have to think she'll continue to improve."
In the 300 hurdle prelims, Day tripped on the third-to-last hurdle. Her time was 45.25 – good for second place in her heat but not good enough to quality for the finals.
"I was pretty upset, but I got over it because I knew I tried my best," Day said. "In the long jump, I know I could have done much better, but I'm still kind of happy about it.
"The 100 hurdles are my favorite event. Everybody think it's so hard to do, but it's running and then jumping. You have so much adrenaline, and it's really fun. You see the person in front of you and you just want to catch them."
Expectations for Day were high even before her first meet this season, but she wasn't bothered by the pressure.
"It wasn't intimidating because I'm used to it," she said. "I set my goals, but I haven't reached all of them yet. In the 100 hurdles, I want to get down to 13 seconds by my senior year. In the long jump, I want to be at least 21 feet."
Day was a track standout at Emge School in Belleville, but she credits most of her success to competing for the East St. Louis Dashers in the summer.
"The Dashers were initially a boys team, and I was the first girl to run for them," said Day, who was 7 at the time. "David Searcy is an awesome coach, and I learned a lot from him. I also play basketball and volleyball, but track is my No. 1 sport."
Oranika, meanwhile, fell short in the 400 but still came home with a pair of medals.
"Getting to the finals of the 400 had been one of my goals all year, but I had to run the 4x200 to help my team," Oranika said. "Camelia Nicholson was on that relay and she got hurt, and they had somebody else replace her and she got hurt too. I had only run it once or twice this year, but it was worth because (Akins and Brooks-Hill) are seniors and this was their last state meet."
Like James, Oranika was surprised by West's success in the 1,600 relay.
"We didn't know who was running because the same person that got hurt in the 4x200 also runs the 4x400," Oranika said. "We did OK the first day, but we had a great day in the finals. It was a nice way to finish the meet."
A state title in the 400 is among Oranika's goals for next season.
"Next year I want to do the 400 and the 800," she said. "There's not much time in between them, but there's more time than between the 4x200 and the 400."
