Senior ends debut season on high note

After three years of playing soccer at Bartlett, Becca Cronin decided to go out for the track team this spring. Little did she know just how good that decision would turn out to be.

The senior capped off an outstanding campaign with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump at the Class 3A state meet, held over the weekend at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Cronin pulled off a leap of 37 feet, 2-1/2 inches, leaving her just five inches out of the top five.

“I was pretty excited just getting here,” said Cronin, who will continue doing track at Northern Michigan. “Getting a medal is awesome. This was my first year of track. Getting down here was huge and I just wanted to do my best.”

Cronin also qualified for the state meet in the 300 low hurdles but did not advance to the finals after registering a time of 46.72 in Friday's prelims.

“I wanted to try something new,” she said, “and I guess it is good. I picked up a lot of the events rather easily and I also was doing pretty good in the triple jump. I worked on that event a little bit more. I loved track. It was a great experience and I wish I would have done it all four years.”

Cronin's best jump actually came in the preliminaries and was more than a foot longer than her mark of 36 1-1/2 at the sectional.

“After my first few jumps,” she said, “I thought I had a chance of getting some kind of medal. I am happy with sixth.”

Sophomore Alyssa Schneider also had an outstanding performance at the state meet, placing fifth in the 1,600 with a clocking of 5:01.04. She finished just ahead of Britten Petrey of Schaumburg (5:01.66).

“I am so happy,” Schneider said. “I was happy to just get a medal. Fifth is amazing and I couldn’t be happier. I knew it would be a fast race. I mentally prepared myself for a fast race and it was a fast race.

“I wanted to get around fifth, somewhere from fifth to eighth. Fifth feels great, I’m so happy.”

Schneider will now have two years to improve on her standing, with three of the top four runners ahead of her all seniors.

“I am going to come back and try as hard as I can,” she said, “and see if we can move up. But it is tough competition every year.”