New Trier Girls Track: Jessica Ackerman Completes Distance Double

Jessica Ackerman hadn’t run the distance double – 1600 and 3200 meter runs – in the same meet all season. And she did it only once as a freshman.

But Ackerman battled the heat and pulled through to win both races in the IHSA Class 3A Wilmette Sectional at Loyola Academy on Thursday afternoon.

“That was my first time doubling and it was definitely challenging,” said Ackerman, who advanced in both events last season. “I think mostly because of the heat.”

 Ackerman was part of a group of New Trier’s long-distance runners that led the Trevians to a fifth-place finish with 59 team points. Julie Jackson was the only other individual state qualifier for New Trier. The junior finished third in the 1600, behind Ackerman and Lane Tech’s Joanna Podosek, but ran .5 seconds below the IHSA qualifying time at 5:14.72.

“We had some sprint relays that we thought were very close, unfortunately we had a couple bad handoffs that cost us some time,” New Trier coach Bob Spagnoli said of his 4x100 and 4x200 relays, which both finished in fourth place. “I don’t know if that was the difference between us qualifying and not qualifying, but I know we would’ve run faster.”

There were no handoff troubles for New Trier in the middle-distance relays as the Trevians qualified in both the 4x400 and 4x800 relays.

Sam Wade, Ellie Pearlman, Julie Jackson and Anna Berglund started the meet with a third-place run in a very competitive 4x800 relay (9:34.96), but were almost four seconds under the IHSA qualifying time.

Spagnoli said New Trier might change the 4x800 lineup for the state meet. Sophomores Kathleen Keene and Kacie Swierk, who finished sixth and seventh respectively in the 800 on Thursday, would be in the running for a spot.

As a natural bookend, the 4x400 relay team of Dana Lewis, Steph Wynn, Ellie Pearlman, Jillian Murray matched the two-mile relay team with a third-place finish, but qualified with a time of 4:02.46 in the last event of the meet.

Ackerman set the pace and led the entire way in both of her races. Normally pushed by her twin sister, Courtney, Jessica pulled away from the competition on the final lap of the 1600 and 3200.

Courtney, who also advanced to the state championships last season in the mile and two mile, missed the CSL and Sectional championships because of a stress reaction on her left femur.

“I feel absolutely heartbroken for Courtney. She’s a very dedicated athlete to our program,” Spagnoli said. “To have to talk to her and watch tears roll down her cheek that she can’t run, the only thing I could tell her is four weeks is better than six months.”

Senior Pilar Cisneros jumped 33-05.75 in the triple jump to take fourth place. Junior Alexa Putnam was fifth in the 200 (27.71) while sophomore Mel Thompson was also fifth in the 400 (1:03.44).

“Overall, we put some younger kids in some of the open sprint events to get them experienced in a bigger meet and I think the younger kids we put in ran some personal bests,” Spagnoli said. “That’s all you can ask from a younger kid when you bring them in the sectional meet.”