Kankakee girls win All-City track and field meet

KANKAKEE – Kankakee track and field coach Marques Lowe has only been a Kay for seven years, but over that time he’s not only gotten to understand the Kankakee community, but also love it.

That’s why he was so pleased with the competitive spirit of this year’s All-City track and field meet that the Kays hosted at Jess E. Gathing Track and Field on Monday, one that saw the host Kays win the girls side with 87 points, besting Bradley-Bourbonnais (52) and Bishop McNamara (23) by winning 12 of the 17 events.

“I really liked the energy of the meet,” Lowe said. “I don’t like the crazy stuff that comes with it, but I love how all the teams come out and compete for the city because that’s what it’s all about. My team did what we needed to do today. We hit some big marks, dropped some big times, and that’s what we need to do in this championship peak season.”

There’s perhaps no sprinter to ever grace a local track with more championship pedigree than seven-time individual/relay state champ and two-time team state champion Naomi Bey-Osborne, who won the 200 meters (25.26 s) and was joined by DaMariana Tooles, Essence Bell and Trinity Noble on the blazing fast 4x100 relay (46.85).

Bey-Osborne, a University of Illinois commit, said that while she stayed locked in on the track and in the classroom, “life was lifing” and tested her with a difficult path through her personal life this school year. And while the All-American is setting the track ablaze, she’s been able to find solace.

“I might come to the track with an attitude, and by the end of the day I’m happy again,” Bey-Osborne said. “It’s like peace came from being out there. I used to tell people track’s not an escape, until I had to realize track is an escape.”

Bey-Osborne was one of 12 seniors honored after the meet for the Kays’ senior night. She was joined by another then-freshman on the school’s first team state champion of any sport, the 2022 Class 2A State champion girls track and field team, senior TaLeah Turner.

Turner won the high jump (1.39 m) and the triple jump (10.66), with teammate Shania Johnson (5.37) the only one to best her in the long jump. The senior also was on the first-place 4x200 team with Bell, Jasiah Hawkins and Jemya Williams (1:45.73), and said that when she heard Lowe use the PA microphone to tell the crowd to cheer for Turner as she finished the last leg of her last relay at home, she had no choice but to turn it on.

“When he said that in the last 100, I was like, ‘I’ve gotta go get it,’ ” Turner said. “I was so happy. The last 100 was killing me, but I got it.”

The Kays also scored wins from Noble in the 100 (12.94), Jamya McMurtry in the 400 (59.2), Riley Braddy in the 800 (2:44.24), Tooles in the 300 hurdles (48.08) and Braddy, Juliana Gomez, Jazmeera King-Franks and Syniah Williams in the 4x800 (11:33.43).

Bradley-Bourbonnais swept the shot put (Natalie Gross, 9.45) and discus (Kelsi Bade, 34.01) and also saw Meara Pizur win the 100 hurdles (18.60).

Bishop McNamara’s Ana Franceschini swept the distance races on the girls side, winning both the 1,600 (6:27.61) and 3,200 (13:48.10).

Franceschini, who said she felt like she was “running on fire” on the warmest day of the season so far, was the top finishing girl in a 3,200 that was run in a co-ed manner. As someone who practices with her boy teammates, the motivation she gets from running with the boys was nothing new Monday, but her speed was.

“I always like to keep up,” Franceschini said. “I actually practice a lot of my runs with the boys, so it’s not really different. … It was my second race with the boys, but the first one I was that close. It really motivated me to keep up with them."