Aiming for more success, HHS girls track stars back
HUNTLEY — The 2022 Huntley girls track-and-field team had a pretty strong resume.
The Red Raiders achieved two events championships by Alex Johnson in the long jump and triple jumps. Sister Dominique Johnson’s runner-up in the triple jump. The 4×200-meter relay squad was seventh and Ally Panzloff ended 10th the discus. All of the above led to a fifth-place team finish at the Class 3A IHSA State Meet. The contingent also won the Fox Valley Conference meet and their Class 3A Sectional Championship.
This season’s indoor track portion of the season is off to a solid start, with the team winning the Fox Valley Conference and Huntley Invitational championships.
“The strength of our team is in our ability to compete in all areas of the sport,” HHS coach Jason Monson said. “We have pretty elite talent at all levels, jumps, throws, sprints and distance. Our depth and youth is developing and we are really excited about the number of freshmen and sophomores we have contributing at the varsity level.”
“Most of our strong leadership comes from our sprint crew, as they make up a good majority of our team,” Monson said. “Alex Johnson, Vicky Evtimov, K’Leigh Saenz, and Sophie Amin are four girls who continuously lead by example and have embraced the leadership role for our younger athletes. They are extremely coachable athletes who bring positivity with them wherever they go.”
Alex Johnson, who also finished ninth in the state 100-meters, sets the pace and the senior hopes to go out with a bang after selecting Arizona State University.
Sister Dominique, a sophomore, plans to vie in the long jump, triple jump as well as sprints. Evtimov, a junior, eyes the sprints as she ran on all three state qualifying events. Amin is back as a returning state qualifier in hurdles.
In addition to Alex Johnson, athletes with college in their future competitions include distance runners Breanna Burak, who selected Illinois State and Brittney Burak, who opted for Indiana State for cross country.
Breanna was 23rd at the 3,200 meter run at IHSA Class 3A State Track-and-Field Meet. Class of 2023 member Panzloff, is a volleyball recruit for Brown University.
The Red Raiders will be well represented at the indoor Top Times Meet, March 24-25 at Bloomington and is a measuring stick for outdoors.
“We’re still waiting on final declarations” Monson said. “We think Alex Johnson and Vicky Evtimov will compete in the 60-meters; Amin will compete in the 60-meter hurdles; Brittney Burak and Breanna Burak will compete in distance; Alex and Dominique Johnson will vie in the long and triple jumps. The 4×200 and 4×400 relays will qualify, but we have to decide whether we can run our four top athletes.”
After Top Times, the focus is on early-season outdoor meets. Huntley is at the Springfield meet April 8.
