Fillies, Graham rise to the top
Barrington's girls track team and Conant senior Toni Graham put on an encore performance at the 76th annual Palatine Relays on Saturday.
As a chilly west wind howled across Chic Anderson Field, the Fillies and Graham roared to some impressive marks.
Barrington won five events in capturing its third straight relay title with 129 points, followed by Palatine (112 points), Conant (60 points), and Hoffman Estates (51 points).
The rest of the team standings were: Peoria Richwoods 45.5, Sandburg 42, Bolingbrook 40, Mahomet-Seymour 32.5, Lane Tech 28, Wheeling 25, St. Francis 24, Fremd 22, Prairie Ridge 16, Bloomington 10, Jacobs 9, Mundelein 4.
"The competition was great," said Barrington coach Jody Gitelis of the 16-team field. "The weather dealt all of us a difficult hand, but you have to do what you have to do."
And Graham did what she had to do in breezing to victories in the 100 dash (12.0) and 200 dash (24.7). The Alabama-bound senior also anchored the winning the 400 relay (48.5) and 800 relay (1:41.8) in securing her second straight Gerald McElroy Award for the meet's most outstanding female athlete.
"I'm a pretty happy kid," said Graham, who hit a personal best in the 200. "It's senior year so we're looking to bring home some gold medals."
Barrington knows all about gold medals after securing the Class AA state title last year and the Fillies don't seem to be in any hurry to give up that title.
Starting with senior Molly Glantz, who came from behind in the 300 low hurdles, the opening event of the day, powering down the final 100 meters to secure the victory and set a school record (43.7).
Glantz also combined with Rebecca Tracy, Amanda Schnack, and Kayla Bingham to win the distance medley (12:37.3).
The senior finished her day by combining with Bingham, Mel Brindise, and Samantha Learch to bring home the victory in the 3,200 relay (9:33.5).
"We don't have anything to chase, we're already in front," said Glantz of defending the state title. "We just have to watch our backs, but we can do that. I think we're trying to prove to ourselves we're still Barrington and we can still do great things."
And that's what Barrington did, as Learch combined with Jayne Jaderholm, Amanda Schnack and Jorie Frey in leading the Fillies to a victory in the meet-ending 1,600 relay (4:03.3).
"I think as team we do better when we don't think or don't worry about anything," said Learch, who also finished an impressive second (2:15.9) to a state-best effort so far from Bloomington's Ashely Verplank (2:11.3). "I think we still have some things to work on, but it's coming."
Tracy added a victory in the 1,600 (5:16.6) for the Fillies, who are ready to strut their stuff.
"We know what we have, it's just getting a chance to prove it," added Tracy.
A young Palatine team is starting to prove that they too are a threat as the Pirates won four events in taking second.
"I was extremely happy with how we competed," said Palatine coach Steve Currins. "Today it was all about competing and not about fast times. I think the older kids are setting a tone and the younger ones are grabbing ahold of it."
And the youngster certainly did that as sophomores Ruth Allen and Angie Gonzalez combined with freshmen Meghan Flannagan and Sarah McIntosh to lead Palatine to a victory in the frosh/soph 1,600 medley relay (4:21.8).
Senior Jocelyn Kuksa then combined with sophomore Robin Anderson and freshmen Flannagan and Morgan Quinnett to lead the Pirates to a victory in the 400 high hurdle shuttle relay (1:07.2).
Kuksa also cleared 11 feet in a stiff wind to lead the Pirates to victory in the pole vault relay (19-6).
"We're real excited about the team coming together," said Kuksa, who took an early lead in the 300 low hurdles before finishing third.
And let's not forget about the powerful Palatine throwers. Junior Katie MacFabe had a breakout day, hitting 40-11 and leading the Pirates to second place in the shot put to Mahomet-Seymour and Danielle Bunch, who hit a meet record 48-10½.
MacFabe (129-06) then combined with Lauren Orris and Martha Shepard in setting a meet record and winning the discus relay (356-0).
"Everything was just kind of clicking for me today," said MacFabe of her throws. "It showed me a little bit more of my potential, which I wasn't sure I had."
Speaking of potential, the Conant sprint relays showed they have plenty.
Brianna Millar, Emily Quinones, Destiny Arps and Graham ran right through the wind in picking up a pair of comfortable victories in the 400 and 800 relays.
"We're taking it seriously and we know what we have to do," said Arps as the Cougars zero in on the state target.
"They are on a mission," said Conant coach Bob Borczak of his relay team and sprinting standout Graham. "They're running with a bit of an edge and I think we're ready."
Hoffman Estates' Altrese Hawkins also looks ready. The senior hit 17-4½ in the long jump, combining with Cindy Allen (15-11) and Brittany Phee (15.85) to secure first place for the Hawks in the jump relay.
"I'm focusing on my form and making sure I pop," said Hawkins, who is eyeing a state berth in the long jump. "I'm really excited but I'm just taking it one meet at a time."
Ashley Chervinko hit 41-6 in leading Hoffman to third place in the shot put relay.
Angela Tichelbaut (16-7) and Angie Bacci (17-5) combined to lead Wheeling to second place in the long jump relay.
"The wind was at our backs, which helped," added Bacci, who hit a career best. "I think we both work off each other."
Jamie Notaro hit 17-0 in the long jump, Ashley Ruff hit 35-1 in the triple jump, and Ashley Fullerton cleared 5-1 in the high jump to lead Fremd.
Sarah Ross cleared 11-0 in the pole vault to lead Jacobs to second place.
"Just had to cope with the environment today," said Ross, who has cleared a state best 11-9 in the pole vault. "Today was another learning step. I'm happy with the vaulting."
Boys track
Palatine Relays:ŒAs he walked to the podium to accept the G.A. McElroy award as the male athlete of the meet, Palatine senior Tim Williams already had the look of a star.
Dressed in his gray-hooded sweatshirt with four medals around his neck, Williams also sported dark sunglasses with giant silver stars on each side. It was an appropriate look considering Williams was the biggest star for the Pirates at the 76th annual Palatine Relays on Saturday at Chic Anderson Field.
With wins in three events and a runner-up finish in another, Williams helped the Pirates to a record-setting day as they earned the team title with 142 points. Belleville East ran second at 65 points, just ahead of Conant (64) and Barrington (61).
"(Friday night) we had a meeting with the coaches and they talked to us about the tradition and history of this meet," Williams said. "I was really psyched up and I wanted to do this for all the others that have raced here at Palatine in this meet."
Williams was dominant in all four of his events. He had the top jumps in the long jump (23-4) and the triple jump (46-7¾). On the track, wins in the 100- and 200-meter dashes gave the Pirates a huge boost.
"We talked to (Tim) earlier in the week about needing him in all four events," Palatine coach John Nalley said. "He said he wanted to be the MVP so he was ready for this."
As a team, Palatine scored in all 21 events -- something it had never done before here. The Pirates earned relay wins in the frosh/soph 800 medley relay, and in the 1,600 relay. Individually, besides the two wins for Williams, Mat Smoody captured two event wins.
Smoody cruised in the 800 run, winning in 1:56.3. Barrington's Ryan Mangone ran a season-best 1:58.2 in a second-place finish, just edging out Todd Farbiak of Huntley (1:58.3) and Garrett McKnight of St. Francis (1:58.5).
Later, Smoody made a furious comeback to beat Jeff Thode of Conant in the 1,600 run. Griff Graves of Abingdon, Va., won the event, but because he ran as an exhibition, Smoody's second-place finish was good enough for first.
"Scoring in 21 events is just incredible," Nalley said. "These seniors on this team have talked about leaving their mark, and with this type of performance, they have done that."
Barrington also found ways to get into the record book. The Broncos have been dominant at the Palatine Relays in the jumping events for some time and the group of Sam Ojuri, Kevin Crowley and Steve Munoz continued that tradition.
Led by jumps of 22-3 from Ojuri and 22-0 from Crowley, the Broncos matched the meet record set by Bolingbrook in 2005.
"It was a good day for the guys," Barrington coach Todd Kuklinski said. "They all came out and competed, which was what we really were looking for."
Lakes senior Jon DeGrave got his chance to compete against the best competition he has seen to this point, and DeGrave was more than ready for it. In the 300 Intermediate hurdles, DeGrave held off Kyle Reid of Conant to win in 39.7. Reid was second in 39.9.
DeGrave and Andrew Stein led the Eagles' triple jump relay to a second-place finish with a combined jump of 122-0½.
Grayslake North senior Nick Lane also stepped up in competition and met the challenge in the 1,600. Lane ran to a third place finish in a school-record effort of 4:27.3.
"Last year motivated me a lot after getting down state," said Lane, who will run at Wisconsin-Milwaukee next fall. "I have been really training hard both to get back down state and to run in college next year."
Fremd senior John Wood was just happy to get a chance to compete in the pole vault. After missing most of the outdoor season with a bad back, Wood got up on a new pole and made the most of it. His career-best vault of 14-9 was enough to lift the Vikings to a team win in the event.
Fremd also won the shot put with a combined team toss of 145-10.
Huntley, led by the team of Casey Popenfoose, Justin Cassidy, Sal Torrison and Farbiak won the 3,200 relay in 8:14.0. The same group minus Torrison and plus Josh Sivila ran a solid 3:28.2 in a second-place finish in the 1,600 relay.
Other winners included Tim Constant of Jacobs in the 400 dash (50.5) and Billy TenBusch of Prairie Ridge in the 3,200 run (9:47.9). The Wolves also won the team discus event.
-- Jeff Newton