Rosary wins Glenbard South sectional

Rosary's girls track athletes couldn't contain their glee, and why should they?

The Royals won their first sectional team championship, scoring 123 points at the Class 2A Glenbard South sectional to edge the host Raiders by 7.

Riverside-Brookfield was a distant third with 66 points. St. Francis and Aurora Central Catholic tied for fourth with 38 points.

"You can't even fathom, especially since we're so used to the AA thing," Rosary coach Vic Mead said of the IHSA's expansion to three classes for track. "You were just thinking about qualifiers and running the times. That's the only way we thought in the past. This is a very nice, balanced team. We have a thrower and the hurdlers and the jumpers and the sprinters. I pulled the (championship plaque) out of the box and saw that it said 'IHSA' and went, 'Whoa. this is the real thing.' "

Rosary got wins from Nora Bowe in the high jump, Monica English in the discus, Amy Kus in the 300-meter hurdles in addition to the 800 relay. Meghan Gannon surprised even her coach to win the 800, edging Glenbard South's Ellen Bazigos and Laura Cyrek.

"She was seeded third, but we didn't think she had a shot to win," Mead said. "We just told her go out and set yourself up and give yourself a chance to win."

Rosary's win was no surprise to Glenbard South coach Mark Tacchi, who scored the meet ahead of time and predicted the Royals would win by 16. He was happy his Raiders trimmed that margin.

"We had kids scoring where we didn't anticipate," Tacchi said. "(Mary Jane) Sippel was fourth in the triple jump, and we had a couple of places out of the shot (fifth-place Marcy Rudins) and disc (sixth-place Anjelica Jasper) and those kids were unseeded there. Those kind of things happen, and it was a great day overall for the Raiders."

Glenbard South's Libby O'Brien scored wins in the 100 and 400 dashes, with teammate Kim Iacobazzi close behind in the 100. O'Brien also anchored the winning 400 and 1,600 relays. She'll go for a state title next weekend in Charleston.

"Libby will have her shots this year," Tacchi said. "I think there are any number of girls who are right there. I think it depends on who's got that extra gear on Saturday at the state meet."

Kelly McShea won the 1,600 in 5:31.55 for St. Francis and also anchored the winning 3,200 relay.

Wheaton Academy scored 26 points to place ninth, led by Sarah Daly's win in the 3,200 run by 18 seconds.