L-W team finds success at JO's

The Lincoln-Way area was well-represented last month in the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics, as Flight Track Club's 1,600-meter relay team took sixth in the nation.

Eileen Moran, a recent Providence Catholic graduate, Lincoln-Way East's Joyce Otuwa, Molly Chlum and Jerika Lewis finished with a time of 3 minutes, 49.15 seconds Sunday, July 27 after they travelled to Omaha, Neb. for the four-day competition. The team advanced to the finals after running a 3:51.9, and Moran also competed in the 100-meter dash but her time of 12.58 seconds wasn't enough to qualify for the finals. Coached by East track coach Chidi Enyia, the Flight team knocked more than two seconds off its preliminary time, and less than a month ago the team was running the relay in more than 4 minutes.

Chlum, of Andrew, led off. She will be attending Carthage College in the fall. Rich South senior Jerika was second, followed by Princeton-bound Moran. Otuwa, who is headed to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, anchored the team.

"This is a super group of girls," Enyia said. "They all have talent, but they are also very dedicated and competitive. A lot of teenagers want to take the summer off, but these girls practice every day, trying to become the best athletes they can be."

Flight also had their boys 400-meter relay team qualify for the Junior Olympics, but had to withdraw because of injuries. The team consisted of Providence's Sean Lindbloom, East's Nick Neuman and Godwill Nwokocha, and Rich South's Dallas Crain. Lindbloom will run track at Notre Dame in the fall.

East's Megan Weller also tied for 18th in the pole vault with a height of 10-4.

Mokena's Kayla Faurie finished tied for 21st in the high jump with a 4-9. She will be a freshman at Lincoln-Way East, whose current school record is just 5 inches higher, at 5-2.