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Girls Track: McCoy earns league 300-meter hurdles title
Fenwicks' Erin McCoy won the 300-meter hurdles title at the East Suburban Catholic Conference meet May 2. | James C. Svehla~for Sun-Times Media
Updated: June 11, 2012 8:45AM
Fenwick senior Erin McCoy had truly turned the tables on her indomitable foe from Marian Catholic in the 300-meter hurdles during the East Suburban Catholic Conference girls track championships at Benedictine University, in Lisle, on May 2.
“It’s always been a battle,” McCoy said of her many showdowns with Marian’s Imani Haynes.
But McCoy, who finished behind Haynes in the 100 hurdles earlier in the evening, reversed the results in the longer hurdles event.
McCoy, who finished fifth in the 300 hurdles at the IHSA Class 3A state finals last May, is a leading contender for a state championship in her specialty event this year — especially with the Friars being reclassified to the middle tier of the three-class state meet this spring.
The Missouri-bound McCoy overcame Haynes’ quickness and speed to earn the conference championship by nearly a second over the Marian junior, finishing in 44.98 seconds.
“It was easy for me to switch gears and finish strong,” said McCoy, a converted 800 runner who also ran a leg on the Friars’ runner-up 3200 relay. It’s never easy getting beat. The more distance I have to run, the better I do. The extra distance really helps.”
Added Fenwick coach Dale Heidloff: “The 300 is a better race for Erin. She gets better as the race goes on. The 100 is almost too short for her.”
In the final event of the night — the 1600 relay — McCoy was poised to run the anchor leg.
Sarah Pezza, a junior, gave the Friars’ senior and fellow Elmhurst resident a narrow lead with her blistering third leg. McCoy proceeded to only lengthen the lead as the Friars’ quartet, which also included Megan Cahill and Megan Lawlor, out-raced the Marian quartet by almost four seconds, finishing in 4:09.10.
Benet won its sixth consecutive conference championship with 116 points; the Friars had 84 points to tie Carmel for third place.
“That’s our highest finish ever,” said Heidloff. “We were really pleased.”
McCoy and her teammates will now switch their attention to the state series, which begins with Fenwick hosting a Class 2A sectional at Concordia University today. Thursday. There will also be a simultaneous 3A sectional at the River Grove campus.
“I think it’s a great benefit for the athletes,” Heidloff said. “It will be very similar to how the state meet is run.”
McCoy will drop out of the Friars’ 3200 relay to concentrate on the two hurdles events and the 1600 relay, and Heidloff is confident McCoy is up to the task.
“She will go hard the whole time,” Heidloff said of his senior leader.
