Burlington Central running strong

The Burlington Central girls track team continues to impress.

At a recent meet the Rockets turned in a total of 33 personal-best performances.

"The last few meets we've done really well," said Central coach Aaron Wichman. "We've had some strong times and have been pretty competitive the last few weeks. We're a pretty young team that is pretty inexperienced, but the girls have worked really hard and are learning about the sport. The experience they are getting in meets is starting to show with the results."

Maggie Gannon has run 5:18 in the 1,600, which is among the state's top times in Class 2A. Markelle Turk is running in the low 11:50s, which also puts her among the state leaders, according to Wichman.

Central's 3,200 relay team of sophomores Katie Puccio, Hannah Williams, Gannon and Meghan Thommes has run as low as 10:10.

"We expect the 3,200 relay to get quite a bit faster the next few weeks," said Wichman.

The Rockets have also been bolstered by the presence of returning state hurdle qualifier Vanessa Perez. Freshman Alexa Tovsen has also been a key point-scorer. She has a 400 title outdoors to her credit already this year and won the Big Northern Conference indoor title sin the 200 and 400.

Wichman said the 400 relay team is also quite close to running state-qualifying time. That group includes Jordan Maisto, Caille Thommes, Perez and Tovsen.

Central will host the Big Northern Conference meet next Thursday.

Cary-Grove: Winning the McHenry County title recently wasn't Cary-Grove's first taste of victory this season on a larger scale. The Trojans have also won invitationals at Grayslake and Buffalo Grove.

Trojans coach Mark Anderson credits the county win to depth.

"Our lone individual event winner was Kelly McCoy in the 100 high hurdles," said Anderson. "We really dug for a lot of third and fourths and that added up for us."

In addition to McCoy, junior Emily Cummings has also been excelling for the Trojans. She was fourth in the 3,200 and fifth in the 1,600 at county.

"Emily Cummings has been running dynamite for us in the distance races," said Anderson. "It's a hard area to score points in our area with all of the talent there is. She's having a breakout junior year and that's really helped the team out a lot."

Veteran Molly MacInnes is also back in the lineup after being sidelined with illness earlier in the season.

"Molly ran a great leg in our 3,200 relay and took third in the 800," said Anderson of her county performance.

Anderson was also thrilled with the 1,600 relay team's second-place performance that was done with 2 alternate runners. That team included MacInnes, Kathie Wollney, Paige Freund and Carly Loeffel. That second-place showing helped Cary-Grove win the county title.

Dundee-Crown: Dundee-Crown has finished in the top half in all of the invites it has run in during the season.

Kelsey Seiler ran state-qualifying time in the 3,200 at the Lake Park invitational and has come close in both the 1,600 and 800.

"She has been an inspiration for a talented mid-distance and distance group," said D-C coach Matt Michalski.

That mid-distance/distance group also features senior Sam Clark, along with sophomores Katie Gross, Lauren Mosher, Claira Himmel and Monique Robinson.

Christina Holec has been a key cog in the sprints. She won the 200 title at the Geneva invite and is the team's captain.

"Christina has been the heart and soul of the sprinting group," said Michalski.

In the field events, D-C has been paced by junior Katie Cutinello, who has scored in 4 events at 2 invites this season.

"Katie has been our leading point-getter this season," said Michalski. "She has the potential to be a state-qualifier in several events and has the determination of a champion."

Streamwood: Sabres coach Ryan Korn has seen his outfit continue to raise their performance levels throughout the season.

"We have girls that are doing really well," said Korn. "We're doing the best we have team scoring-wise at meets since I've been here. Our mid-distance and field events are doing really well for us."

Megan McGlone has been leading the way for the Sabres. She's run in the high 46s in the 300 hurdles (McGlone won the 300 hurdles at the Glenbard South invitational).

"Megan is our horse. She has been doing really well in the triple jump and the hurdles and she anchors our mile relay," said Korn.

Gina Savatski, who started her career at Driscoll, has done well in the 400 and surprisingly in the 800 as well.

"We randomly put Gina in the 800 and she's our best 800 runner. She's in the low 2:30s and she doesn't even train for it," said Korn. "She took second in the open quarter at Glenbard South and she really helps us with our mile relay."

Veterans Mercedes Mancha (distance) and Lizi Liberman (long jump), along with shot-putter Jade Williams have also been key cogs for the Sabres. Liberman jumped a personal-best 15-7 in the long jump at Rolling Meadows, while Williams, in her first year throwing the shot, has thrown 34-4.

Streamwood's 1,600 relay team has gone as low as 4:20. The school record is 4:17.

"We haven't hit all four of them at the same time yet," said Korn. "If that happens and all 4 runners hit at the same time, we could be at 4:10-4:12. Overall, we're excited here about the conference and sectionals."

Streamwood (due to prom) will send a skeleton crew to the Kane County meet at Batavia Friday. The Upstate Eight Conference meet will be held next Thursday at Neuqua Valley.

Hampshire: The Whip-Purs again were quite busy with 4 meets in a recent week span.

During that stretch, Hampshire finished second at the Oregon invitational where Holly Plichta broke the school record in the 1,600. Teammate Cassie Kruse was right behind her (they took second and third respectively).

Hampshire's 1,600 relay team of Tiffany Phu, Cassie Kruse, Autumn Chomenko and Liz Sicheri took first, while that same foursome was second in the 3,200 relay at 10:18.

Plichta took second in the 3,200, while Sicheri was third in the 800. Phu took second in the 400 and Autumn Holze was second in the shot put.

In a meet at Byron, the 1,600 relay team again finished first (Jeanna Ballard replaced Sicheri). Plichta was second in the 800.

In a meet at Wauconda, Marcy Luedtke won the discus. Kruse was second in the 1,600 and broke the school record. Plichta was second in the 3,200, while the 3,200 relay team finished second. Phu also earned a second in the 400. Chomenko was fourth in the 300 hurdles and the 1,600 relay team took fourth.

At Rockford Christian, Hampshire's 1,600 relay team finished first (Chomenko, Kruse, Stacy Schmidt and Phu). Chomenko (300 hurdles), Holze (shot put) and Luedtke (discus) all took second. Hampshire entered 2 teams in the 3,200 relay and took second and third.