WW South squeezes out share of title

Sara Atkins barreled past York junior Elziabeth Hagstrom after an inspired plea from her Wheaton Warrenville South girls track and field coach Friday night at the Tigers' annual invite.

"In the last 200 meters (of the 1,600-meter run), I got boxed in," Atkins said. "My coach (Rob Harvey) was yelling the whole race. I don't know what he was saying. Something along of the lines of, 'Get out of there.'"

Atkins did just that, splitting Hagstrom and Naperville North freshman sensation Sarah Schmitt; the Tigers' sophomore eased past Hagstrom with 150 meters left and held off a late Schmitt charge to win in 5 minutes, 8.73 seconds.

"I believed in my legs," Atkins said. "I am so excited about my time, a new PR."

Wheaton Warrenville South needed every point it could muster in the 19-team field.

Oswego had a major surge behind three-event champion Princess Shodipo, and the schools ultimately ended up sharing the team title with 95 points.

The Tigers were the four-time defending champions entering the meet in Wheaton.

Downers Grove South was third, followed by Oak Park-River Forest, Naperville North, Bolingbrook and Rockton Hononegah.

Hinsdale Central, Naperville Central, Schaumburg, Glenbard West, York, Wheaton North, Moline, Hinsdale South, Glenbard South, St. Ignatius and Proviso West rounded out the field.

The Tigers' two senior leaders, Heidi Nassos and Alex Enright, accounted for three combined victories.

Both athletes have incongruous events sequences as the former won the pole vault and triple jump with respective marks of 11 feet and 35-4.

Enright won the high jump, placed in the 300 hurdles and also performed in the shot put.

"This meet usually brings a ton of really good girls," said Enright, who won the high jump on criteria at 5-1. "I didn't have a great jumping day. But the fact that I won is a great accomplishment."

"This is a meet where our kids have realized that they can compete," Harvey said. "This meet helps us every year by having the best teams we can get."

Even with defending Class 3A 1,600 champion Anne Zaher of Hinsdale Central and reigning cross country champion Lindsay Graham of Glenbard West out, there were plenty of distance stars on display.

Michaela Hackbart, the Downers South runner-up at 800 meters, had a classic showdown with Naperville North stars Claire Hamilton and Judy Pendergast.

The latter passed Hackbart with 300 meters to go, only to see the Mustangs' standout regain the lead and hold off Schmitt in 2:13.95.

"Whatever you have left, bring it out," Schmitt said her mindset down the stretch.

Glenbard South junior Mercedes Whitaker remained undefeated in the shot put with a 37-3.75 effort.