Girls track and field: Batavia claims its own invite title
Tori Ortiz has literally been an anchor for the Batavia sprint relays during her four-year girls track and field career.
Thursday evening in Batavia, the Illinois State University-bound senior sprinter had a fitting go-away party at her home invitational, the Carlson-Anderson Classic.
Ortiz established a career-best in the 100-meter dash in claiming the first of two sprint titles in 12.28 seconds.
In the penultimate race, Ortiz added the 200 in 25.91 seconds.
Ortiz earlier teamed with Davinia Wilson, Sabrina Schlenker, Anna Knutson and Symone Houston-Davis to earn one-sided wins in the 400 and 800 relays.
Batavia cruised to the six-team title with a 185-139 victory over Glenbard North.
St. Charles North had the only other individual two-event winner in Audrey Ernst, the reigning high school girls national champion in the triathlon, to finish third with 95.5 points.
Plainfield South (75.5), Bartlett (29) and East Aurora (23) rounded out the field.
"It's definitely sad being a senior," Ortiz said.
Ortiz was gassed by the end of the evening.
"I am tired," Ortiz said. "That was probably the first time since sophomore year that I did four events. I wasn't the happiest with my 200 time, but I will take it."
Schlenker, a returning state qualifier in the 300 hurdles, won her specialty event with room to spare (47.67) while also energizing the victorious sprint relays.
"I didn't run the time (in the hurdles) that I wanted," Schlenker said. "I want to be in the 45s. I am just glad that I won it. I want to be top four or five in the state."
Another Division-I recruit for Batavia, Marygrace Golden, completely dominated the 800 field to win 2:28.61.
Golden has signed with Loyola.
Alex Andrews, Jenna Schifferer, Mia Wells and Erika Mansfield collaborated on the third relay title for the Bulldogs at 3,200 meters (10:06.4).
In the field, Kyra Swims and Mandy Saucedo swept the triple jump for the Bulldogs.
Ernst is a past elite distance runner with multiple all-state awards in both cross-country and track.
Ernst is looking to rebound after missing her senior year in cross-country after an admittedly lackluster junior year in track. She was a near-solitary figure in authoring definitive wins in the 3,200 and 1,600 runs in respective times of 11:13.19 and 5:20.03.
"The 32 and mile is always a tough double," Ernst said. "I want to go out there and challenge myself. There's always a challenge out there. I am really happy to be out here, running track. It's my senior year. The pressure is off. I know where I am going (to college)."
Ernst, who will look to defend her national title in Alabama next week, will continue her triathlon career at Arizona State.
Aly Suyak (400, 800) and Natalie Galvan (3,200) combined for three runner-up finishes for the North Stars.