‘Amazing’ Lily Bosnich breaks records, qualifies for state in four events

TAYLOR RIDGE - After the 200-meter dash Wednesday, a runner from Fulton came over to congratulate St. Bede‘s Lily Bosnich.

“You’re amazing,” she said to the Bruin junior.

That pretty well summed up Bosnich at the Class 1A Rockridge Sectional.

Bosnich blew away the field in the hurdle events - setting the area record in both - and also qualified for state in the 100 and 200.

“It boosts my confidence,” Bosnich said. “I know my place now and I knew I could do it.”

Bosnich is one of six area individuals to advance to state along with teammate Kijah Lucas (high jump), Bureau Valley‘s Maddie Wetzell (3,200 meters), Elise House (400) and Mya Shipp (400) and Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio’s Maddie Althaus (400). The Storm also qualified their 4x800 relay for state.

Bosnich has been getting better and better as the season goes on.

On May 6, she broke the NewsTribune area record in the 100 hurdles at 14.84 seconds then lowered it May 12 and again Wednesday.

At the sectional, Bosnich set a new area standard in the 300 hurdles at 44.27 seconds, eclipsing the old record of 44.34 set by Marquette’s Lindsey Homfeldt in 2005.

“It’s just confidence and knowing I can always get better,” Bosnich said. “I don’t like to settle. I like to PR every single race, which I have been doing for a while now.”

Bosnich won the 100 hurdles by 1.36 seconds and the 300 hurdles by 5.08 seconds.

“I’ve been focusing on my arms a lot, keeping them tucked in and straight,” Bosnich said about what she’s done to keep lowering her times.

After easily winning the 100 hurdles, Bosnich went back to the starting line for a quick turnaround before the 100 in which she placed third in a personal best 12.49 seconds.

Bosnich capped her night with a second-place finish in the 200 in 26.33 seconds.

Newman sophomore Elaina Allen won both sprints with a 12.3 in the 100 and 25.81 in the 200.

“It’s good to see new faces and have quicker races,” Bosnich said. “I think it really pushed me. I’m happy about them.”

Lucas will join Bosnich at state after recently picking up high jump.

The freshman first competed in high jump on April 25. She entered with a PR of 1.47 meters, which is under the state standard of 1.52.

Lucas cleared 1.52 at the sectional to tie for third.

“It’s really exciting because I just started high jump five meets ago,” Lucas said. “I was really trying at practice and at meets I didn’t get down on myself if I didn’t make it on my first attempt.

“(Teammate Kate Duncan), she’s really good. She helped me throughout my first meet doing it. She’s really helped me a lot.”

Bureau Valley’s 4x800 of Emma Mussche, Gemma Moore, Wetzell and House ran in a fast field in which all six finalists qualified for state.

The Storm clocked a 10:25.08 to place fourth and beat the state standard of 10:35.51.

“I’m so proud,” Wetzell said. “If you would have asked me a couple years ago (if our 4x800 would qualify for state), I probably would have laughed. With the 4x8, we had fun with it. This year, we put in a bunch of people who are super competitive and like to have fun. It’s an honor to get to go down and represent our school. It’s been a while since we got to do that with a 4x8.”

Wetzell came back later in the meet to win the 3,200 in 13:09.04.

She quickly jumped ahead and put some distance between her and Orion’s Abi Kayser, but Kayser later closed the gap and stayed on Wetzell’s shoulder for much of the race.

Toward the end of the backstretch on the final lap, Wetzell started her kick and pulled away, beating Kayser by 6.23 seconds.

“I was a little scared going into it after running the 4x8 before,” said Wetzell, who also won a sectional title in the event last year. “I just started off strong. I could hear them telling (Kayser) to go (toward the end). I’m very competitive. I don’t like to lose. So I figured that was my time to go. I just put it in full gear and went.

“When I don’t think I can do any more, my adrenaline just kicks in and tells me I can, so I just go as fast as I’m able to.”

House and Shipp finished one-two in the 400 with House clocking a 1:01.49 and Shipp finishing in 1:01.82. Amboy’s Maddie Althaus ran a personal best 1:01.91 to narrowly beat the state standard of 1:01.94.

“It was hard, that’s for sure, but it felt good,” House said.

House said her and Shipp have helped each other.

“We’re definitely off and on with winning,” House said. “It’s nice to have someone close to you. We definitely push each other. We stay pretty much together in practice.”

The Storm finished third in the team standings with 69 points behind Fulton (124) and Cambridge (72). St. Bede (59) placed fifth, Amboy (36) was 11th and Hall (7) tied for 13th.