Batavia earns Kane County championship
Winners don't make excuses on the track.
They don't concern themselves with weather postponements, 35-mile-per hour headwinds or 45-degree temperatures that can make hamstrings scream.
Winners simply compete when it's time and compete to win.
The girls from Batavia didn't let raw conditions stand in the way of their third straight title at the Kane County Girls Track Meet, which resumed Saturday morning in Streamwood 15 hours later and 30 degrees colder than when preliminaries began on Friday night.
The Bulldogs scored 106 team points to top West Aurora (91½), Geneva (91), St. Charles East (79½), Kaneland (62), St. Charles North (44), Rosary (43), Dundee-Crown (30), Streamwood (10) and Aurora Christian (1).
The Bulldogs won 6 events, placed second in two others and third in two more.
"We competed very hard," Batavia coach Chad Hillman said. "It's not easy to come out here after it was 75 degrees 15 hours ago, then 40 (degrees) in the morning, then 50 with high winds. Everybody just dealt with it, didn't say a word and just went about their business. They did a great job of competing and really going after it and tried to win the meet."
Batavia junior Natalie Tarter paced the Bulldogs. She won the 100 high hurdles (14.3 seconds), 100-meter dash (12.1), the 300 long hurdles (44.9) and anchored the winning 1,600-meter relay team (4:02.8).
After winning the 100 hurdles by .6 seconds, Tarter jogged back to the starting line and lined up for the 100.
"I was still getting air back in my lungs, but I was fine," said Tarter, a two-time state qualifier. "The headwind was pretty strong and it would be a lot better for everyone without it, but it all went pretty well today considering the conditions."
Batavia sophomore Alexis Sampson won the 800 in 2:19.0, holding off St. Charles East's Dayna White (2.21).
Batavia's Melissa Norville won the triple jump (34-7¼).
West Aurora was buoyed by wins in the 400-meter relay (51.2) and 800-meter relays (1:48.8). Shanice Andrews won the long jump (17 feet, 4 inches) and Jasmine Ranson the high jump (5-2).
The Blackhawks and Geneva were running neck and neck in the 800-meter relay until the final handoff, when the Vikings dropped the baton. That stumble allowed West Aurora junior Markesha Davis to sprint home uncontested, giving her and teammates Kristin Holmes, Mariah Smith and Ranson the victory in 1:48.8.
Geneva pole vaulter Allie Pace outlasted her friend Kathryn Warner in a two-girl competition. Both vaulters cleared 10-6 on their first attempt.
Pace, who is coming off a shin injury, was able to clear 11 feet to win the competition with a stiff wind at the vaulters' backs.
St. Charles North's Stephanie Strasser bolted to 10-meter lead in the 3,200-meter run after the first 110 meters and never looked back, winning by 20 seconds in a time of 11:20.
"With the meet being canceled (Friday) I just stayed in the zone all night and was ready to run today," Strasser said.
Strasser later finished second in the 1,600 to Lizzy Hines of St. Charles East, who turned in a winning time of 5:10.3.
Dundee-Crown took second in two events. Kate-Leigh Pilson took second in the shot with a put of 34-5. The D-C 3,200-meter relay team of Kelsey Seiler, Clara Himmel, Katie Gross and Morgan Wiechmann led until the final lap, when Geneva overtook the Chargers for the win in 10:07.8. D-C finished in 10:10.2.
"They've been doing well all year," Chargers coach Matt Michalski said of the 1,600 relay team. "They ran a 9:59 earlier in the year and they've been coming on strong, so I'm real pleased with their performance."
Krissy Kunavich took second in the discus with a throw of 101-2½. Winds gusting to 40 miles an hour took their toll on the discus distances.
"Usually at this time there would be at least five girls throwing over 100, not two," said Kunavich, who lost only to St. Charles East's Allie Devor (36-0). "So, that was a little weird."