2026 Girls Conference - Friday Previews

West Suburban Conference Silver

The WSC Silver is the premier distance conference in the state of Illinois, and this year, the distance events will not disappoint. The 1600 is absolutely loaded, with Karlin Janowski of York coming in as the heavy favorite. Janowski is the only athlete who has broken the 5 minute barrier, but she will still get a run for her money from the rest of the field. Macy Ermitage of Downers Grove North is the only athlete who isn’t doubling back from another event, which gives her a huge advantage here. Her PR of 5:03 will likely receive a new look by the end of the night. Alexa Novak of Glenbard West should be up there with the leaders as well. She has the fastest PR in the field of 4:56, but she will be doubling back from the 800. Another runner who will be coming back off of the 800 is Violet Schnizlein, her PR of 5:01 should be good enough to compete with the top names here. The 800 will also see a great matchup between Lily Hodneland of Hinsdale Central and Sophia Galliano Sanchez of York. Hodneland is one of the top 800 runners in the state, with a season best of 2:11 from DNIP. Galliano Sanchez has not ran in a competitive 800 since Oregon Relays, but her season best is a similar 2:13. These two will duke it out for the WSC title. 

Big 12 Conference

We should see some great races at the Big 12 championships. In the sprints, Nina Brown of Champaign Centennial will look to take a double win. Brown is the heavy favorite in both the 100 and 200 with her seed times of 11.78 and 24.57. She will see some competition in the 100 from Jhe’Nya Parker of Danville, who has run sub 12 this season. In the distance events, expect Normal West’s squad to dominate. Julie Bach and Renee Warren are both doubling in hopes to score big points for the Wildcats, Bach and Warren should win their solo events and finish 1-2 in the mile. In the field, the event to watch is the pole vault. Two of the top vaulters in the state will be facing off, it’ll be Claudia Ifft of Bloomington vs Samantha Brown of Danville. Ifft has the top mark in the state with a towering 12’ 7”, but Brown is not far off with her 12’ 4”. It should be a close matchup between these two.