Trevians push 6 entries through to state finals

Any part of a high jumper can impact whether the bar is cleared.

That includes the mind.

New Trier junior Serena Bauer knows that too well, and she’s worked on her mental approach just as much as her physical one in the past year.

“I used to get in my head a lot,” Bauer said. “I did a lot of visualization that helped my mental side of it. I knew I was physically capable of (clearing 1.57 meters, or 5 feet 2 inches), but my head gets in the way sometimes. … It’s just drowning out the outside noise and honing in on what I needed to do.”

That approach got it done for Bauer, who was the only competitor to clear the mark during the IHSA Class 3A Deerfield Sectional on Wednesday, giving her a sectional championship and her first state-finals berth.

Bauer, who also achieved a personal-best height, was the Trevians only sectional champ on Wednesday, but the four other New Trier individuals and a relay punched their tickets to the state championships on Thursday-Saturday, May 21-24, in Charleston.

“I didn’t clear (the bar) on my first two, but I think I had a lot of adrenaline (for the third attempt),” she said. “The last jump I just kind of put it everything together.”

Bauer’s result helped pace New Trier (86 points) to a fourth-place team finish, just a point behind Evanston (87). Perennial power Prospect (167) dominated en route to the sectional title, while Hersey (109) claimed the runnerup slot.

Other qualifiers for New Trier were junior Georgia Burne in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, junior Sofia Cotroneo in the triple jump, freshman Jillian Crane in the 3,200, and the 4-by-800 relay team (Alexis Andrus, Isla Kerr, Olivia Levitz and Kayla Ritchie.

Burne came into the sectional with state-qualifying times in both of the hurdle events and was one of the busiest Trevians during Wednesday’s meet. The junior also ran in the 4-by-200 and 4-by-400 relays.

In her solo events, she placed fourth and second, respectively, in the 100 (15.25 seconds) and 300 hurdles (45.3). And she will head to state as a first-time individual qualifier.

“I’m excited and also really nervous about it — but mostly excited,” Burne said.

Crane placed fourth in the 3,200 with a personal-best time of 11 minutes 0.99 seconds, a mark less than a half-second better than the state-qualifying time (11:11.19).

The team’s 4-by-800 relay also qualified by under a second, coming in a 9:38.17. The state standard was 9:39.14.

Cotroneo placed second in the triple jump with her attempt of 11.23 meters. She just missed also qualifying in the long jump, placing fifth with a jump of 5.25 meters — short of the 5.46 standard.

New Trier had plenty of other top-10 finishes on Wednesday, including the third-place 4-by-400 relay (Kerr, Karys Thornton, Alice Frick, Burne); fourth-place 4-by-100 relay (Madison Vint, Isabella Velasquez, Thornton, Burne) and fifth-place 4-by-200 (Vint, Avery Gable, Velasquz, Evey Petitjean).

Additionally, Ritchie nabbed fifth and Andrus sixth in the 1,600; Shale Wozney was fifth in pole vault (2.95 meters); Velasquez was sixth in the 100 (13.1 seconds); Gable was seventh in the long jump; and Holly Hales was eighth in the shot put (9.68, personal best).

Loyola Academy’s best finishes came from Elise Ahern in the 800 (sixth) and Abiela Lewis in the 400 (seventh); while Highland Park’s Annie Vazquez finished sixth in the 200.

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