With her state championship medal in hand, Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Komiyah Martin was realizing that her long-awaited vision was true.
Martin, junior Chisom Nwoko, senior Myia Jones and junior Norma Abdur-Rafia had won the 800-meter relay at the Class 3A girls track and field state finals at Eastern Illinois University in a school-record 1 minute, 39.39 seconds.
“Honestly I always had it in my head but to make it become a reality is a whole other feeling,” Martin said. “It still feels unreal that we just did that, but it’s a good feeling.”
The decisive victory by .84 was the pinnacle of a tremendous meet for the Huskies, who tied for fourth with Metea Valley (29 points each) thanks to four top-nine, all-state performances.
Nwoko, Jones, senior Vanessa Griffin and Abdur-Rafia were third in the 1,600 relay (school-record 3:53.32), Martin, Nwoko, Jones and Abdur-Rafia were fourth in the 400 relay (47.82) and Abdur-Rafia was fourth in the 200 (25.23). Other finalists Saturday were junior and first-year competitor Chardae’ Bennett in shot put (39 feet-3 1/4 inches, 12th) and Nwoko in pole vault (10-6, 13th).
The Huskies were six points – or another fourth-place event finish – from the program’s second top-three state trophy to join the 1975 state champions. Lincoln-Way East (51) won its third straight title and Barrington and Warren (35) shared second.
“This was the best. This was a good team, a good year,” Abdur-Rafia said. “Pretty great overall. I felt good about the places we’ve got.”
The Huskies’ only other state title in the 800 relay was the 1997 Class AA victory in 1:41.05. This also is the first time OPRF has had three all-state relays in one season.
“It was a long time ago so it felt good to bring our school back up. And to give a name for ourselves,” Martin said. “This year it was all about redemption and proving ourselves.”
Abdur-Rafia is OPRF’s first athlete to earn the maximum four all-state medals at one meet and now shares the career lead of six with 2009 graduate Brittany Smith. Jones and Nwoko join Kathryn Gevitz (2004) and Liz Wechter (2003) as three-medal, all-state performers in one year. All of Gevitz’s medals were in individual events.
“It’s because of the team. I can say I won (earned) it for the 200 because that’s a single event, but the relays we all had to work together for those wins,” Abdur-Rafia said.
Abdur-Rafia certainly helped. At the 2014 state meet, Abdur-Rafia was sixth in the 200 (25.15) and the 400 relay with Martin, Nwoko and Abdur-Rafia was seventh (48.66).
But it was the 800 relay that emerged as the Huskies’ best chance to shine this season.
On Saturday, Abdur-Rafia received the baton in a virtual three-way tie for the lead but anchored the Huskies clearly past O’Fallon (1:40.23) and Lincoln-Way East (1:40.96), the 2014 champion in 1:39.71.
“That was a great spot. (I was thinking) that I don’t want to lose – that we’re not going to lose,” Abdur-Rafia said.
“It felt actually pretty good. I don’t even know how to explain it,” Jones said. “This year we took first and it just feels amazing. I felt like we did our job. We did our best. I feel like we really put the pedal to it this year. I couldn’t ask for a better team.”
The Huskies came to state with the fastest sectional time in the 800 relay (1:40.44) and gained further confidence with the fastest time in Friday’s preliminaries (1:39.52) after a school-record 47.61 in the 400 relay.
Nwoko, Martin and Jones also had 800 relay memories of 10th at the 2014 state prelims (1:42.32), only .04 from finals.
“There were a couple of handoff issues and just little issues that could have been ironed out. This year, we got it all together,” Nwoko said. “This year, we wanted it. We were all hungry. We wanted to get down to the (awards) podium in as many events as possible. That kind of gave us the fire to keep running our hardest.”
Just coming off the 200, Abdur-Rafia nearly helped the Huskies pull out the 1,600 relay as well. While 1.06 from first and .26 from second, the Huskies shattered their previous best time by 3.0 seconds.
“It was extremely hard. My muscles started tightening up at this last stretch, but I had to push for the team,” Abdur-Rafia said. “I wanted second, but we still got third.”
One of the team’s most improved runners, Jones will continue track at Northern Illinois and Griffin at Eastern Illinois. Martin is still deciding.
Griffin was a newcomer to the program this year after transferring from Highland Park.
Griffin was on the verge of a great 2014 outdoor track season when she tore her ACL, MCL and meniscus in her knee, requiring surgery. She came back after just five months of rehab for the Huskies’ indoor season. She sat out just before the state series because of a slight meniscus tear.
“(The 1,600 relay) was our last race as high school seniors and I’m just glad I got the opportunity to run,” Griffin said. “I was excited to come and experience state for the first time.”