By Michael Newman, ILXCTF.com Editor

[email protected]

Wheaton – It was anti-climactic as the Naperville North Girls Track & Field team waited for the final team scores to be announced. Everyone else at Wheaton-Warrenville’s Red Grange Field knew that the Lady Huskies had won. The team just wanted to make sure. It was a year ago at this same venue that a win in the 1600 Meter Relay by Neuqua Valley that gave them the team championship just ahead of Naperville North.

The Huskies took care of business on the track scoring 38 points in the first three running events and then 36 points in the final three events to close out the meet. Naperville North won the conference championship with 139 points. Lake Park finished second with 91 points followed by Wheaton-Warrenville South (86 points) and Glenbard North (80 points). It gives Naperville North momentum heading into their sectional qualifying meet next week at Ottawa. They do have the pieces to challenge for a state trophy.

The key to Naperville North’s success in this meet was taking the top two spots in each of the three distance events as well as winning the 3200 Meter Relay to start off the meet. It was done moving around those athletes to different distance evens displaying their depth. It was close for the first two legs of the relay with Naperville North and Wheaton-Warrenville South battling for the lead. Sarah Schmitt, who usually runs the 3200 Meter Run, took the baton for the third leg and broke the race wide open with a 2:19.8 split. Naperville North went on to run 9:33.6 for the win almost 21 seconds ahead of Naperville Central and Wheaton-Warrenville South.

The 1-2’s started in the 3200 Meter Run when Alex Morris and Hannah Ricci broke away from Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Allison McGrath just after 1200-meters. Morris broke away from her teammate in the final two laps to take the win (10:42.96). Ricci was next improving her on her personal best by 17 seconds (10:46.98).

Then followed Claire Hamilton and Claire Hill in the 800 Meter Run. Hamilton took the lead right at the start with Hill following on her shoulder. The duo had he lead by almost three seconds after the first lap. It looked like Hamilton would get the win, but Hill eased by her in the final 15-meters for the win (2:19.81) just ahead of Hamilton (2:19.98). Hamilton was back on the track 45 minutes later to compete in the 1600 Meter Run. Hamilton and Sarah Schmitt broke away from the rest of the pack 350-meters into the race. Schmitt took the lead with almost 600-meters left in the race. She went on to run 5:02.62 for the win. Hamilton was next running 5:07.01 completing a tough double with success. Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Sara Adkins finished third (5:11.68).

The Huskies almost had a sweep in the relays. After their win in the 3200 Meter Relay, they followed up with a come from behind win in the 400 Meter Relay. Allison Grady passed Waubonsie Valley’s Cami Robinson just at the line for the win by five hundredths of a second (49.78 – 49.83). It looked like they had the win in the 800 Meter Relay crossing in 1:45.1. They, however, were disqualified due to an exchange out of zone. Wheaton-Warrenville South was credited with the win (1:46.60). In the 1600 Meter Relay, Glenbard North and Naperville North traded the lead for the first three legs. A strong anchor leg by Jillian Fitz gave Naperville North the win (4:04.37) just ahead of Glenbard North (4:05.52).

Naperville North’s other event win came in the 300 Meter Hurdles. Halle Bieber made up the stagger on the rest of the field in her section by 200-meters. She went on to win (46.69) almost a second ahead of Lake Park’s Natalie Zolkos (47.41).

Meet Notes

Weather did play a role in this meet. Meet management decided on Wednesday to move the meet up to start at 4:00 PM after forecasts called for rain and cold to hit the area. Luckily, the rain stayed to the south of the area. The cold and the wind did not as temperatures hovered near 50 degrees with winds from the north at 10 to 15 mph gusting to 20. It did affect some of the sprint races. It was close in the 100 Meter Dash as the top three finishers crossed the line within two hundredths of a second of each other. Ricki Stevenson of Waubonsie Valley and Naperville North’s Annie Bieber both crossed the line in 12.93 with Stevenson getting the win. Oluwakemi Sodipe of Neuqua Valley ran 12.95 to finish third.

Neuqua Valley controlled the 400 Meter Dash taking the top two spots with Mikenna Robison winning (58.20) ahead of teammate Lizzie McCadd (58.90). Naomi Egharevba of Naperville Central exploded off the curve and pulled away to win the 200 Meter Dash (26.50) ahead of Naperville North’s Allison Grady (27.25).

Lake Park took the top two spots in the 100 Meter Hurdles as Allison Mack won (16.39) just nine hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Andelyn Granskog (16.48).

Meet organizers also made the decision on Wednesday to move the High Jump and Pole Vault indoors. Micah Brady of Wheaton North and Kelli Zehnder of Lake Park cleared 11-0 in the Pole Vault. Brady won the event on fewer height misses. Glenbard North’s Lauren Mahoney, Lake Park’s Andelyn Granskog, and Melissa Marcheschi of Wheaton-Warrenville South all cleared 5-1 in the High Jump. It was Mahoney that won on fewer misses with Granskog and Marcheschi tying for second.

~~~

Brooklynne Wilson of Waubonsie Valley threw 133-1 in her first preliminary throw of the Discus competition. That is all she needed on this day as she won the event ahead of Courtney Morgan of Metea Valley (126-2). That order was flipped in the Shot Put as Morgan’s 44-0.5 throw was five feet better than that of Wilson (39-3) and her second-place finish.

~~~

Isabelle Kennedy of Lake Park was the only double winner in this meet in the horizontal jumps. The junior started with a personal best of 17-11 to win the Long Jump. Her 37-8 effort was enough to win the Triple Jump more than a foot ahead of DVC Indoor champion in the event Cami Robinson of Waubonsie Valley (36-6.75).

~~~

How deep and good is Naperville North’s distance squad that won the 3A state cross country championship last fall? Kayla Glowacki led from the start of the Junior Varsity 3200 Meter Run. The senior ran 11:22.02 to win the race by 23 seconds. If she had run in the varsity race, Glowacki would have finished fourth with her time.