Kendal Rush Wins State Title in the Triple Jump!!!!!!!!!!
Rush Sets New State Record!!!!!!!
by Erik Hall News Tribune
May 23, 2009
Hall senior Kendall Rush really wanted a state title.
The reasoning was selfless. She started to really want it Nov. 1,
2008.
That day she was a cheerleader at Hall’s first-round playoff
football game in Amboy. She saw Amboy-LaMoille’s 60-yard touchdown
pass to beat Hall with 52 seconds remaining. Hall lost 28-25, and
it was the final football game coached by Hall head football coach
Gary Vicini before his retirement. “I felt so bad for them when
(Amboy-LaMoille) made that throw and (Hall) lost,” Rush said of
Hall’s football loss at Amboy. “Then my mom told me, ‘Now Kendall,
it’s up to you.’ ”
It was up to Rush to give Vicini a first-rate sendoff.
Vicini, also retiring as Hall’s head girls track coach, got the
best sendoff possible from Rush.
Rush won the Class 1A triple jump state title at Saturday’s IHSA
Girls State Track Meet at Eastern Illinois University in
Charleston. Her state-record triple jump of 39 feet, 3 ¼ inches
carried over from Thursday’s preliminaries, and that was her
winning jump.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Rush said immediately after the
competition. “I just remember sophomore year, (Hall track
assistant) coach (Nick) Hanck being happy when I got 33 (feet). I
don’t know what to say. I just remember last year staring at the
first place and wanting to be up there so bad and looking up to
(Benton’s 2008 triple jump state champion) Leah Orley. The fact
that I jumped farther than she did last year, I would have never
imagined.”
Rush’s state title is the school’s first girls track and field
state title, and it gives Vicini his third state title as a head
coach. He won football state titles in 1995 and 2001.
“Kendall is a great competitor,” Vicini said. “It’s great when you
have talent because that talent can do so many different things,
and you just don’t want to mess it up. Don’t get in the way of it
sometimes. It’s great, and I’ve enjoyed it. I’m happy for Kendall
and her family. She deserves it.”
Rush added a sixth place in the long jump to her triple jump
state title. Her two top-nine finishes produced 14 points, which
placed Hall 18th in the team standings.
It was the highest finish by an area team this year, and those 14
points Rush produced are by far the most points ever scored by a
Hall girls track team at the state meet. “It was a great weekend
for her,” Hanck said.
Rush had her best long and triple jumps of the weekend Thursday.
Her best long jump Saturday was 16-8. Her best triple jump Saturday
was 37-10. Her long jump of 17-9 from Thursday was what put her in
sixth place. “I’m happy,” Rush said of long jump. “I wanted to
prove to my coaches and everyone that I could place in long. …
People didn’t think I could do it so I’m excited I did.”
This is the first year Rush has placed in long jump. This is the
third consecutive year Rush has placed in triple jump. She earned
fifth place as a sophomore and third place as a junior in triple
jump before winning the state title this year. “I’m just proud of
her,” Hanck said. “It’s a great accomplishment for her with all the
hard work that she’s put into that event for three years. She put
it all together her last weekend of high school track and went out
on top.”
Rush’s jump of 39-3 ¼ was the third best jump in the entire state
this weekend. She would have finished third in Class 2A, and she
would have won Class 3A.
Winning Class 1A and being Hall’s first girls track and field state
champ was plenty for Rush to accomplish in her final weekend of
high school track. “It’s something I’m definitely going to remember
forever,” Rush said. “I hope someone else from Hall can experience
it because it’s awesome.”
Click on the following link to see the girls state track and field final results.
http://www.ihsa.org/activity/trg/2008-09/1result2.htm
