By Randy Whalen

After qualifying in five events for the Girls' Track and Field State Finals a year ago, Joliet West qualified in one event this season. 

Disappointing? Hardly. 

"I was elated, like a proud coach," Joliet West girls' track and field coach Nate Atkinson said. "My girls achieved 18 personal records and one state qualifier, Ava Offermann, in pole vault. Despite numerous injuries, we had to adapt and focus on rebuilding and development. The young ladies did an outstanding job."

Yes, they did. The Tigers were at the Class 3A Rock Island Sectional on Wednesday, May 14, at Almquist Field.

There, Offermann, a junior, won the pole vault by a good margin, with a vault of 3.34 meters (10 feet 11.5 inches). Lincoln-Way West senior Reese Geiger was second with a mark of 3.20 meters (10 feet 6 inches) and also qualified for state. 

"It was Ava's first time qualifying for state, she just missed it last year (placing 6th at the Minooka Sectional)," Atkinson said. "She was focused and did a great job."

Only four seniors from Joliet West participated in the sectional. One of them, Mariah Crosby, had the other two top finishes. She registered a PR of 10.91 meters (35-feet, 9.5 inches) and a third-place finish in the triple jump, just missing qualifying for state by .05 of a meter. She also placed sixth in the long jump with a distance of exactly 5 meters. 

"Mariah broke her own school record in the triple jump from last year," Atkinson said of the previous mark of 10-7 meters (35-feet, 1.25 inches) which she set at the Southwest Prairie Conference (SPC) meet. She did great, and we only had eight total seniors on the team."

Senior Kailah Murray also just missed in the shot put, having a distance of 11.02 meters to place fourth. The qualifying standard is 11.17 meters. 

Camara Lightfoot and Keziah Russi were also Tiger seniors who participated in the sectional. KaMhary Scott was a senior who expected big things this season. But she hurt her ankle early in the indoor season after hitting PR times in the 55-meter dash of 7.41 seconds and 1:04.98 in the 400-meter dash on Saturday, March 8, at the Raider Invite at Bolingbrook. 

"We started the season with a major blow," Atkinson said of Scott's injury. "So both our distance and sprint crews were freshmen and sophomores. So we have them for another two or three years."

At the SPC meet on Wednesday, May 7, at Minooka, the Tigers had nine varsity finishes in the Top 6 to make All-Conference. Offerman placed third in the pole vault with a mark of 2.90 meters, and sophomore Cassidy Malloy was sixth at 2.45 meters.

Murray was the highest placer, finishing second with a PR of 11.79 meters in the shot put. Also in the event, junior Annamarie Cruz was sixth with a throw of 9.97 meters. In the discus, Cruz placed fourth with a PR toss of 32.90 meters. 

Crosby made All-Conference in two events. She placed third in the triple jump at 10.61 meters and was fifth with a PR of 1.47 meters in the high jump. 

Also, sophomore Heidi Offermann placed sixth with a time of 17.29 seconds in the 33-inch 100-meter hurdles. In the 4x200 relay, the foursome of junior Jera Purchase, freshman Meliya Coble, Lightfoot, and freshman Madison Pork had a time of 1:47.65 to place sixth. 

As a team, Joliet West finished sixth (46 points) out of the 12 teams. Plainfield North (147) points won the conference. 

The State Finals were held between Thursday and Saturday, May 22-24 at Eastern Illinois University. There were 48 girls in the pole vault, and the Top 16 out of the preliminaries made the finals. Ava Offermann had a PR of 3.45 meters (11 feet 3.75 inches) in the preliminaries to place 16th and make the final day. 

There, she placed 15th with a vault of 3.35 meters (10 feet 11.75 inches). Lockport Township senior 

McKena Miglorini won the state championship with a height of 3.85 meters (12 feet 7.5 inches). 

But Offermann hopes to be back in contention in the pole vault next year.

"She's committed and she trains at Rise on her own," Atkinson said of the pole vault academy in Joliet. "She focused and worked on her speed this year. She just put in the extra work and went out and sought out others to help. 

"She's going to be working on her strength this summer."

Atkinson, who runs and is President of Prestige Athletic Club, has a way to motivate Offermann to get stronger this summer.

"I told her she has to put on more muscle," Atkinson said. "Or she'll have to be in the weight room with me."