Palatine regains its touch
Palatine is itching to get its hands back on the Mid-Suburban League title, and the Pirates showed a winning touch on Tuesday at the MSL West Division meet.
Palatine won six events in cruising to a the title with 176 points easily outdistancing Hoffman Estates (110 points) and Barrington (103 points) at Conant on a cool and breezy night.
Fremd (89 points) took fourth followed by Conant (43 points) and Schaumburg (31 points).
"We had a team talk this week," said Palatine's Lauren Orris who won the discus (136-2). "We talked about the things we want to accomplish, we said 'let's get hands on and let's get it done.'"
While Palatine showed its winning touch, Barrington's Rebecca Tracy showed a firm grip in winning both the 1,600 (4:59.9) and 3,200 (10:58).
The Notre Dame-bound senior cruised to the title in the 3,200, finishing 46 seconds in front of Palatine's Courtney Brown (11:44.3).
The highlight race of the night was the 1,600. Palatine's junior Ruth Allen and sophomore Sarah McIntosh set the early pace, but Tracy took control with 1,000 meters remaining.
Schaumburg sophomore Britten Petrey nipped at Tracy's heels and made one final surge with 300 meters remaining, but the Barrington senior closed the deal with a final flourish to win the distance double with impressive times.
"I could hear her behind (Petrey) me," said Tracy of the final surge. "I knew I really had to go. She pushed me so hard, there is no way this would have happened without the challenge."
Petrey, the MSL indoor champion, took second in an impressive 5:03.4.
"I kind of made a go for it and (Tracy) just went for it," said Petrey of the state quality race. "I tried keeping up with her, but she's a good runner and she deserves it."
Palatine's Sarah McIntosh (5:12.9) took third followed by Hoffman's Hannah Worman (5:17.5) and Melissa Schmidt (5:18.3).
Palatine's Lauren Schweikert had an impressive evening in winning the 100 (12.5), 200 (25.5) and combining with Valere Guertin, Meghan Flanagan, and Val Bach in winning the 800 relay (1:47.8).
Schweikert brought the Pirates from behind in taking first in the 800 relay.
"I wanted to make sure I was strong on the relays," said Schweikert who also helped Palatine to a second place finish in the 400 relay (50.5). "I just wanted to do the best I could today."
Senior Martha Shepard took first for the Pirates in the shot put (42-5.5) and McIntosh, Allen, Tory Wright, and Crystal Pitts combined to lead the Pirates to first in the 3,200 relay (9:36).
Junior Kirsty Hisey took first in the high jump (5-2) and Simone Hawkins took first in the triple jump (32-11) leading Hoffman to a second place finish.
Freshman Emily D'Amico combined with Sharron Jones, Jada Stotts, and Katie D'Amico in leading Hoffman to first in the 400 relay (50.0).
"The 400 relay is a little ahead of the 800 relay at this time," said Emily D'Amico who took second in the 100 (12.5) and helped lead the 800 relay (1:48.2) to second. "We're continuing to work on our hand-offs and smooth those out."
Anna Etherington took first for Barrington in the pole vault (11-0) with Fremd's Bizzy Mellado (10-6) taking second.
Senior Jenny Schnack took first in the 400 (59.6) and was part of the Fillies winning 1,600 relay (4:13.1).
Fremd's Jamie Notaro hit a season best 16-10 in winning the long jump. Conant's Josie Hutch and Kelly Hendricks went 1-2 in the 100 high hurdles and sophomore Sarah Gorden torched the field in winning the 300 low hurdles (45.6).
Schaumburg's Karen Lesiewicz separated from the pack with 400 meters remaining in taking first in the 800 (2:18).
Prospect wins East: Junior Annette White took first in the 1,600 (5:19.7), propelling Prospect to the MSL East Division title with 167 points at Hersey.
Host Hersey (135 points) took second followed by Wheeling (58 points), Buffalo Grove (59 points).
Lauren Burton, Kiley Shelley, Jeannette Wochinski, and Kasey Krum combined to lead the Knights to first place in the 1,600 relay (4:18.1).
Prospect also did well in the field events with Erin Ward clearing 10-0 to take first in the pole vault and Emily Gruendel (41-0) and Samantha Sturm (37-8) going 1-2 in the shot put.
"The distance kids really stepped up tonight," said Prospect coach Dave Wurster of the Knights' victory. "We still have room for improvement but it was a nice start tonight."