2026 Girls Conference - Wednesday Previews

SPC

There’s plenty to be excited for at the Southwest Prairie Conference this year. In the distance events, Marlie Czarnewski will look to take a big win in the 1600. Czarnewski’s PR of 4:57 is the best in the field, but she’ll see strong competition from Madison King of Joliet Central. King will be doubling in the 800 and the 1600, so Czarnewski should have fresh legs as an advantage there. In the 800, King will be facing off against Natalie Nahs of Minooka, which should be a great matchup. King and Nahs went against each other last year, and King came out on top with a time of 2:18. Since then, both Nahs and King have flattened their PRs, to 2:11 and 2:14 respectively. Will King defend her title? Or will Nahs get the best of her conference rival. In the sprints, it’ll be Plainfield East domination, with Cam Cargo and Briyah Beatty leading both their events. Cargo is expected to get an easy win in the 100 and 200, where she is seeded first in both. Beatty should be towards the front in the 400, but she’ll see competition from Payton Smith of Plainfield South. In the field, Londynn Hendry of Plainfield East is the big name to watch. Hendry was a superstar high jumper in middle school, hitting a colossal mark of 5’ 7.75”. While her season best is only 5’ 4”, she should still clear the competition at SPC.

Southwestern Conference

With a state record holder attending this conference, it’ll be hard to not pay attention. The Southwestern Conference will have some of the best sprint results from this week, the star of the show being Rayna Raglin of Alton. Raglin has put up some of the best sprint marks that we have ever seen, with season bests of 11.27 and 23.18. She is one of the top 200 runners in the country, and she should be taking an easy win here. Belleville East’s squad of sprinters will look to impress as well, with Cassidy Willis and Lyric Jones leading the charge. Willis is geared towards the 100, while Jones should dominate the 400, which harps on Belleville East’s scoring capabilities. The Belleville East relays will also likely find themselves with a gold medal, but they’ll have to compete against Edwardsville and Belleville West. In the field, Edwardsville will look to sweep the throws with Joe Stori and Jayla Gathing. Stori has two of the top marks in the state with a 43’ 9” in the shot put and a 151’ 8” in the discus, so she should be in for two easy wins. Gathing is no slouch either, she’s thrown 38’ 8” and 136’ 9”, which will be good enough for second. In the high jump, Ramiyah Young of Belleville East is looking to take a big win. She hit a huge 5’ 7” last week at the Saint Clair County meet, which matches her PR from last spring. She’s over 5 inches ahead of the competition, so she should be more than good for a win here. 

MSL

The Mid Suburban League will produce some of the fastest marks of the weekend. Barrington brings their star studded distance program, they could be in a position for a sweep. Mia Sirois set a top 3200 time in the country with her 9:55 at DNIP, she will look to take two easy wins in the 3200 and 1600. Anjelica Hil and Victoria Tarara will look to tail Sirois in their respective events, they will be valuable scorers for the Fillies. Meg Peterson will be the main blockade in Barrington’s way, as she is expected to compete for the win in the 1600. With Peterson’s fresh legs versus Sirois’s tired legs, it should be a close race. The sprints will be electric, as Daisha Brunson of Conant will look to take a double win in the 100mH and 200. Brunson is one of the top hurdlers in the country with a PR of 13.60, she should be in her own world here. Prospect will be dominant in the sprint relays, with really strong sprinters in Nikki Niebrugge and Samantha Skowronski. The top field event to watch out for is the pole vault, where Yane Van Rensburg of Barrington will look to defend her MSL title from Patrycja Lewicki of Rolling Meadows. Both girls have vaulted over 12 feet this season, but Van Rensburg has Lewicki in experience. It should be an interesting matchup between the two vaulters. The high jump will feature a strong field as well, with 4 athletes all over 5’ 2”. The favorite is Eva Lapys of Prospect; her PR of 5’ 7” gives her an expansive lead over the rest of the competition. 

NIC 10

NIC-10 features one of the best field event matchups that we will see all weekend. The high jump should make for a great matchup between Jordan Dimke of Hononegah and Jaeda Benford of Rockford Auburn. Dimke is coming off of an incredible indoor season, where she vaulted over a towering 5’ 8” at the NIC-10 conference meet. She actually took second to Zariah Burnett of Guildford, but Burnett has elected to compete in the long jump instead of the high jump. Dimke then went on to win the IIC high jump, with a mark of 5’ 7.75”. She will be facing off against Jaeda Benford, who was one of the top finishers at last year’s state meet. Benford set her PR at the 3A state meet last spring with a huge mark of 5’ 8.75”. She has virtually the same season best as Dimke, with a 5’ 7.75” mark from the Rock Island invitational. These two should both be pushed to new heights with such great competition from each other. In the long jump, you can expect Zariah Burnett and Allison Stibal of Guildford to rock the field. Burnett is one of the best long jumpers in the state, with a PR of 19’ 6” from last spring. This will be her second time competing in long jump this outdoor season, but she should be able to pull off a great finish. Stibal had a stellar indoor season, finishing with a PR of 18’ 8”. As the middle school state champ continues to progress, you can bet that she will put up more astounding marks. On the track, we should see virtual domination from Kylie Simpson. Simpson is taking on as much responsibility as possible, as she’s entered in the 800, 400, 1600, and 4x4. She is expected to win all three of her individual events, so it should mean she scores a ton of points for Hononegah here.