Kaneland sweeps conference track titles

Kaneland swept the boys and girls championships Saturday at the Northern Illinois Big 12 indoor track meets at the Westwood Sports Center in Sterling.

The Knights boys' 130 points nearly doubled the 68 of runner-up Dixon. The girls' contest was tightly contested, the Knights holding off Yorkville 108-102.

The clincher for Kaneland's girls championship came in the 200-meter dash where the 1-2 finish of senior Lauren Zick and freshman Nicole Sreenan earned 18 points. Those two also finished 1-3 in the 60-meter dash, while Sreenan won the 400 by more than three seconds.

Kaneland, which won the 800 relay, also went 1-2 with in pole vault with the duo of senior Christina Delach and freshman Lexie Guerra. Delach won by more than two feet at 10-feet even.

Knights sophomore Brianna Bower finished third in the 3,200 run, junior Elle Tattoni fourth in shot put.

The Kaneland boys swept the relays, winning the 200, 800 and 3,200 distances, and dominated field events with senior strength.

In shot put, Nate Dyer won that event with a throw of 55 feet, 5 inches. Dalvell Triplett followed suit in triple jump and junior Ben Barnes won long jumper, with both Triplett and Barnes scoring in both horizontal jumps. Senior pole vaulters Dylan Kuipers and Dan Evers went 1-2.

On the track, the Knights got victories by Kyle Carter and Nathaniel Kucera in the 400 and 800, respectively, while fellow seniors Dylan Nauert and Brock Robertson went 2-3 in the 60 hurdles. Kaneland added fourth-place finishes by senior Brandon Bishop in the 60 dash and sophomore Austin Kintz in the 800.