Young Bartlett coming along
Youth is the name of the game at this point for the Bartlett girls track team.
"We are a young team that is learning a lot this season," said Bartlett coach Beth Emody. "We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores running up on varsity and we have a lot of experience we need to gain before we can really run up to our full potential.
Freshmen sprinters Emily Wilson and Krystol Smith are both standouts in the 400. Freshman Sam Mocka and first-year track senior Becca Cronin give the Hawks depth in the 200. Cronin also assists in the 300 hurdles and triple jump. Nicole Romack also helps in the hurdles department. Senior Sam Salinas, juniors Joanna Niewiara and Lauren Prescott, sophomore Alyssa Schneider and freshmen Taylor Crawford and Janesa Baker give the Hawks a deep distance roster. The Hawks have a total of 105 athletes in the program this year (up from 75 last year).
Bartlett had plenty of success at the recent Glenbard South invitational. Distance star Schneider set a meet record and a Bartlett school record in winning the 800. Salinas added a win the 3,200, while Cronin won the 300 hurdles and took second in the triple jump. Bartlett's 1,600 relay team of Schneider, Cronin, Crawford and Tovella finished third.
The program also enjoyed a first in a recent meet against Lake Park. Erin Simon became the first girl to ever pole vault at Bartlett. She cleared 6-foot.
Freshman Katie Lauesen has been strong for the Hawks in the throws.
"She consistently throws well and places in some meets," said Bartlett Emody.
Jacobs girls: Senior Kat Makridakis recently threw 105-2 in the discus for the Golden Eagles. She has gone as high as 35-6 in the shot.
"Every meet Kat keeps adding inches in the shot and feet in the disc. She's really strong," said Jacobs coach Beth Wintersteen.
Senior Ali Durkin has run 15.8 in the 100 hurdles and 50.0 in the 300 hurdles and is part of the Jacobs 1,600 relay team.
Sophomore Bethany Muscat has already hit 5-2 in the high jump, while freshman Lauren Wallace (the sister of Jacobs track standout Mike Wallace) is one of the team's key sprinters and has run 13.4 in the 100 and 28.78 in he 200.
Senior Stacie Weinert has run a 2:32.7 in the 800 and a 1:03 in the 400. Junior Monique Marchwiany has run 5:57.4 in the 1,600, while freshman Aleta Wurfel has gone 2:34.3 in the 800 and 1:07.5 in the 400.
Huntley girls: Amy Fanella has made an impact in three events for the Red Raiders. Fanella has gone 34-10 in the triple jump and has hurdle times of 45.7 (300) and 15.6 (100). Cortney Wilkerson has gone 113-9 in the disc and 32-0 in the shot. Red Raiders coach Shawn Nordeen has also been pleased with his 3,200 and 1,600 relay teams.
Last Week, Huntley competed at Marengo and won the meet.
"This was a nice meet because we got to place our younger runners in some of our spots," said Huntley coach Shawn Nordeen. "We are trying to fill some spots and we found some athletes with potential to fill our empty spots. Our 4-by-8 (under 10:00) and 4-by-4 (4:08) teams both ran great times.
Fanella had a strong outing in the field events at Marengo, while Denita Brown broke 1:00 in the 400. Wilkerson broke 100' again in the discus.
"Our coaching staff was very pleased with the performance by the girls," said Nordeen. "The girls' times and distances are getting better and we are competing at a very high level right now, which is great since we have county coming up."
Huntley also recently took second at the Kaneland ABC meet. Fanella broke 36-0 in the triple jump. The Red Raiders also swept the 400 race.
"It was great to have 3 levels competing at this meet," said Nordeen. "We got to see some of our younger kids compete at a high level. With these last 2 meets, our team is very excited about the county meet this week. We are ahead of last year's times and distances already. It's been a great few weeks. The girls' performance levels are very high now and they keep pushing themselves to achieve their goals and are setting new ones to achieve."
Hampshire girls: The Whip-Purs participated in four meets last week. The team's final meet, the Rockford Lutheran Invitational, was especially fruitful. Hampshire set 6 stadium records (shot, discus, 800, 300 hurdles, 1,600 relay and 400).
Hampshire distance standout Holly Plichta has run 12:06 in the 3,200 and 5:56 in the 1,600 outdoors this year. Cassie Kruse has gone 12:13 in the 3,200. Hampshire's 1,600 relay team of Tiffany Phu, Jeanna Ballard and Autumn Chomenko has run a 4:19, while the 3,200 relay tam of Phu, Ballard, Chomenko and Liz Sicheri has run 10:26. Marissa Carrozza has gone a team-high 13-11 in the long jump this year.
"The team is coming around," said Hampshire coach Patti Nihells. "We have two very busy weeks and will solidify our lineup after next week. We competed strongly with the triple-A schools at the Huntley invitational. We need to step it up. We are now competing with the bigger fish in the bigger pond."
Hampshire is a Class 2A team this year in the state's three-class track system.
South Elgin girls: Storm coach Kari Turcan was pleased with her team's showing at the Plainfield North relay invitational. South Elgin was ninth out of 14 scoring teams and was only 3 points out of sixth. Sophomore Katie Goplerud ran 12:27 in the 3,200 (second place). Senior Lauren Ayala went 12:31 and took fourth in the same event. The Storm frosh-soph 400 relay team took first (sophomores Jen Gonia, Beatriz Kiene, Celina Shelton and Breanna Ghostone comprised the team).
South Elgin's shot put team took third (senior Lindsay Weedman, juniors Maria Garica and Alyssa Buelow and freshman Alyza Rabanal). The discus relay team of Garcia, Buelow, Weedman and sophomore Jasmine Sharp took fourth. The 800 relay team of junior Francesca Remy and sophomores Gonia, Jasmine Chapman and Kiene took sixth.
The Storm also recently ran in a dual against Larkin and came away with 27 new personal bests in the meet.