Batavia's Tarter earns female athlete honors at Top Times
BLOOMINGTON - It was easy to understand why Batavia senior Natalie Tarter was exhausted at the end of competition at the 18th annual Illinois Prep Top Times meet at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington on Saturday.
Tarter had just run the anchor leg in her third event of the afternoon to help the Broncos to another win. This time as the anchor on the 1,600-meter relay, Tarter - along with Julia Gross, Kathryn Warner and Melissa Norville - won the event in 4:00.18, the best in the state this year.
For the Wisconsin-bound Tarter, it was the perfect ending to a full day that culminated when she was named female athlete of the meet.
"It is definitely nice to end the indoor season like this," Tarter said. "It was nice and now I am looking forward to carrying this over to the outdoor season as well."
Tarter started her day with a win in the 55-meter dash. Her 7.06 clocking in the finals was one of the fastest times ever at the meet and a personal best.
Bradley-bound senior Olivia Allen of Lake Zurich, who had the fastest prelim time, ran fourth in 7.20.
With little time to rest, Tarter faced off in what was billed as the meet's marquee event when she battled with Waubonsie Valley senior Shakeia Pinnick in the 55-meter hurdles. Pinnick, who will run at Arizona State in the fall, ran step-for-step with Tarter all the way through the line. In a scene reminiscent of the 300-meter intermediate hurdles final at state last spring, Tarter edged out Pinnick for her second individual title of the afternoon.
Schaumburg's team of Karen Lesiewicz, Jordan Wagner, Nora Ferguson and Britten Petrey, Saturday set a school record, capturing the 3,200-meter relay title in 9:31.30. The sophomore Petrey sprinted away from the field in the final lap to seal the win.
"My teammates got us off to a great start and when I got the baton I knew what I had to do," Petrey said. "This takes our confidence way up for when we go outdoors."
Geneva's quartet of Rachel Hammond, Megan Heuer, Sarah Heuer and Kelly Shogren ran second in 9:34.39.
Benet Academy junior McKinzie Schultz broke the meet record in the 800-meter run with a personal-best clocking of 2:12.36. Her time eclipsed the mark set a year ago by Waubonsie Valley's Toni Ogundare.
The 1,600-meter run easily provided one of the best finishes of the day.
Buffalo Grove's Olivia Jones had pulled in front of the pack and taken the lead into the final lap. With Melissa Whowell of Rolling Meadows and Hannah Worman of Hoffman Estates in hot pursuit, Jones appeared to have held off both as they crossed the line. But a well-timed lean by Whowell (5:04.84) at the line edged out Jones (5:04.85) for the title, with Worman (5:12.35) third.
"I just knew at the end that I had to give it all I had," Whowell said. "I had a really tough cross country season, and this helps me bounce back from that."
Lindsay Flanagan of Lake Park defended her title in the 3,200-meter run as she cruised to a 10:47.00 clocking. Samantha Fry of Downers Grove North was second (11:00.33), followed by York's Meghan Frigo of York (11:06.81).
St. Charles East's quartet of Dayna White, Arielle Parker, Rachel Rawson and Mallory Abel won the distance medley relay in 12:45.34.