Girls track: Great finish for Temple, Grant

Her teammates said the look on her face was "scary."

But that quickly turned to a look of joy when Grant senior Roxanne Temple crossed the finish line.

Running anchor in the 1,600-meter relay, Temple caught and took the lead from Lakes and Grayslake North and then was swarmed by her teammates because the Bulldogs won the last race of the Northern Lake County Conference meet at Grayslake Central on Thursday night. Temple's effort secured the conference title on a night that featured one delay because of stormy weather.

"It was a fun kind of scary (look)," Temple joked after she and teammates Alya Rangel, Drue Polka and Tylee Lewis ran a 4:17.78.

Temple plans to run track at Harper College next fall and is looking for her third trip to state this month as part of the same relay.

"We knew we were close (to winning the meet) and I really wanted this for my team," Temple said. "It was mind over matter, and I just raced from the heart."

The Grant 400 relay also won a conference championship when Rangel, Allie Johnson, Tiara Stitts and Ariyona Wallace crossed in 51.27 seconds. The Bulldogs won the meet with 121 points, while Grayslake North was second (108), host Grayslake Central third (89), Lakes fourth (85) and Antioch fifth (62).

Grayslake Central's Cyndie Paul, Lian Boucek, Kaitlyn Coonan and Megan Fletcher won the 800 relay in 1:50.42.

"This is very exciting. One of our best races," said Paul, who heads to Iowa State, where she hopes to track. "Going into the county last week, we were really practicing our handoffs, and it's paying off. And it was really nice to have the conference meet at home for my senior year. Thankfully, we got it in today."

Rams freshman Julia Reglewski was a two-time conference champion in the discus (125-7) and shot put (35-11 ¼). Fletcher, a junior, won the 100 hurdles (16.88).

Lakes senior Taylor Tilmon backed up her county titles from a week ago by taking conference titles in the 100 (12.48), 200 (25.39) and 400 (1:00.32). Sophomore Olivia Schmitt won a title in the 800 (2:21.50) and was part of the first-place 3,200 relay (10:00.99).

Antioch's Noor Abdellatif won conference titles in the pole vault (10-3) and 300 hurdles (48.88). Sequoits coach Dan Oslage happily welcomed back sophomore Ayanna Tommy, who was sidelined over a month with a hamstring injury. Tommy took third in the 100 (13.21) and was on the third-place 400 relay team.

"We were hoping she could run tonight and she did great," Oslage said. "Before her injury, she had met the state indoor qualifying times several times, so this is a real big for the confidence. We're just trying to get her back to that level."

Wauconda junior Lorraine Krawczyk earned a conference title after a triple jump of 32 feet, 6 inches. Junior Grace Daun won the high jump (5-4), as the Bulldogs finished sixth (50).

Grayslake North freshman Abbey Calhoun won the long jump (16-4).

Round Lake had a two-time conference champion, as sophomore Fatima Giron won the 1,600 (5:18.74) and the 3,200 (11:20.10).