Loyola Academy Girls Track: Ramblers Enjoy Record Day with Sectional Win

After Michelle Ricolcol scratched on her second triple jump attempt, the Loyola Academy junior knew exactly what adjustment to make. She moved back the starting mark for her final attempt and unleashed a jump of 35-09.

The mark was a personal record, above the IHSA state qualifying standard and good enough for Ricolcol’s first sectional championship.

“I was very nervous,” Ricolcol said. “I’m really sure it was the run I had, it was very aggressive so I had to move back on my third one just as long as I brought the same aggressiveness to the run. “I was convinced it was going to be a good one.”

Ricolcol’s adjustment and subsequent success typified Loyola’s performance on a day when not much went wrong for the Ramblers.

Loyola cruised to the team sectional title with 113 points. Evanston followed with 77 and Niles West was third with 73 points. It was the Ramblers’ first sectional title as a team as Loyola qualified seven individuals and all four relay teams for the state meet next weekend.

“It’s hard to pick one because so many girls had their best performance of their career, which was great,” said Loyola coach ChrisJon Simon when asked which performances stood out on Thursday. “The girls kind of got on a roll and they just kept having great performance after great performance.”

Loyola got off to a hot start by winning the 4x800 relay in the meet’s first event. Dead even with New Trier after the first three legs, anchor leg Jackie McDonnell took back the lead in the first 200 meters and never looked back. The freshman outkicked New Trier and Lane Tech for the sectional championship and a new track record.

Even with 80-plus degree heat, Loyola seemed unaffected by the weather.

“We actually had a plan for the heat which we thought really benefitted ourselves,” said Simon, who had set up two ice baths and laid out cold towels for his team to cool off. “That’s one advantage of being at home. We had a plan and it worked.”

In the 800, Rachel Price and McDonnell went 1-2 in a photo finish. McDonnell beat out Evanston’s Jahnell Horton for second place by .01 seconds.

“I actually ran it smarter than I have been,” Price said. “I listened to my coach and held back a little bit until the last 200, 150 [meters] because I knew I could take [Horton] if I started sprinting and it worked out in the end.”

Katie Simons and Stacey Weaver finished first and second in the pole vault. Simons cleared 9-03 to take first.

Debbie Mokeleba took second in the 200 (26.08) to Niles West’s Kellion Gordon while senior Bridget Doyle cleared 4-11 to finish second in the high jump.

The three other relay teams all took second to Evanston. Price sprinted past New Trier on the final leg to help Loyola finish as the runner-up.

This marks the second straight year Price and sophomore Jenny Franzen qualified for state in the 4x400. Newcomers McDonnell and junior Karlie Slowiak ran the first and third legs of the Ramblers’ mile relay.

“They’re a great addition to the team, they’re so talented,” Price said. “It’s been working out, we had our best time that we’ve had in a couple years.”