WW South champ at Carlson-Anderson Classic
Like gnats at a picnic, the Wheaton Warrenville South girls track and field team terrorizes in small doses.
"We're going to nickel and dime people," WW South coach Rob Harvey said. "That's the type of team we are."
WW South won a mere one of the eight individual races at the Carlson-Anderson Classic at Batavia High School on Friday night, but the Tigers' depth, consistency in the field and relay prominence carried the squad to a convincing victory in the six-team invitational with 149 points.
Bartlett, which excelled on the track, edged host Batavia 107-104 for runner-up status; Minooka turned back St. Francis and St. Charles North for fourth place.
Kathryn Regalado set the pace for the Tigers in the field; the senior denied talented Batavia sophomore Haleigh Theuerkauf by almost a foot to win the shot put with an effort of 37 feet, 10.5 inches and later became the only competitor to exceed 100 feet in claiming the discus title.
In the pole vault, Batavia senior Kathryn Warner was attempting to regain her all-state form that was derailed by a season-ending hip injury last year.
But WW South sophomore Emily Schwartz stole the show when she matched the 11-foot effort of Warner and won on fewer misses.
"My run was a little off tonight," Scwartz said after establishing a new personal best. "When you're out there you forget about the conditions (light drizzle) and just go."
It has been a long journey back for Warner.
The Batavia star was all-state as a sophomore, performing a key role on the Bulldogs' mile relay team while also displaying versatility in the pole vault and 300 hurdles.
When healthy, Warner is among the best in the state in the long hurdles and has targeted Tuesday as making her long-awaited return in the event.
After losing the tiebreaker to Schwartz in the pole vault, Warner anchored the Bulldogs' 400 foursome that also included Becca Hermann, Lexy Dever and Julia Gross to victory over WW South.
Warner was overtaken after leading the open 400 meters to place second, still breaking the 60-second barrier and ended her night on the Bulldogs' fourth-place 1,600 relay.
"I would say it was a pretty good night," Warner said. "I don't feel any pain (from my left hip)."
The other encouraging sign for the Bulldogs was Alex Sampson dueling three top-notch runners in the open 1,600 meters.
The senior missed almost the entire outdoor season last year, coming up short at the sectional in attempting to reclaim her all-state status as a sophomore at 800 meters.
Sampson broke her main goal in placing second to St. Charles North senior Meghan Heuer in the open mile.
"I wanted to be sub-5:10," Sampson said after doing so by eight hundredths. "I have always wanted to show that I could more in the mile. It feels pretty good."
Gross captured the Bulldogs' final individual title by nipping Torres and defending her championship at 200 meters.
The senior ran a scintillating second leg on the Bulldogs' 400 relay to put the quartet in prime position.
"I just got (the baton) and wanted to get out as fast as I could," Gross said. "(In the 200) coming off the four (the 400), I wasn't too happy with where I finished (third)."
For the second straight invitational Heuer laid claims to elite status in distance racing.
The St. Charles North senior, a transfer from Geneva, was inexorably determined at 1,600 meters to lead three record-breaking performances in the quarter-century-old invite.
Heuer took the lead at the opening lap and never let up in shattering her personal-best time by almost six seconds with a brilliantly executed 5:04.35 time.
"It was almost perfect running conditions," Heuer said. "It was kind of drizzly but almost the perfect temperature."
Heuer is also a top contender at 800 meters, which she skipped to concentrate on the 1,600.
"I like them both about the same," Heuer said. "It's kind of hard to choose between them."
The Heuer triumph at 1,600 meters overshadowed a courageous effort by Bartlett junior Alyssa Schneider.
The Hawks' returning all-state miler matched her low in storming to the 3,200 title by eight seconds in 11:06.12 but had to settle for fourth in the talented 1,600 field.
"You just have to do every single race like it's your first," Schneider said of not having the luxury of making her debut in the mile. "I'm trying to get where the other (elite) girls are at (in the 3,200)."
There were other revelations for the Hawks in their second-place showing.
Julie Cronin erased a 10-meter deficit in propelling the Hawks' 1,600 relay to victory after overtaking Warner down the stretch to win the open 400 in: 59.10.
"Catching those girls (from WW South and Minooka), that was my goal," Cronin said of her meet-closing victory. "It's perfect weather; there's no wind, and it's not that cold. I want to go to state."
"That girl (Cronin) came out of nowhere," Warner said of the last 75 meters of the quarter-mile.
"With a senior ahead of me, I just wanted it so bad," Cronin, a junior, said. "I knew I needed to stick with (Warner) if I wanted the time I needed."
In the open 800 meters, sophomore Taylor Crawford made a convincing first impression after thwarting the field with her winning 2:24.69 performance.
"I've never run the 800 ever, ever before," Crawford said. "I have been specializing in the mile. It felt real good, real strong. I knew I had energy left, so I just went for it."
The 3,200 relay commences the running portion of track and field meets, and the Tigers' quartet of Hope Schmelzle, Megan Witnik, Amy Yong and Ally Bratzel carried the banner in style.
The Tigers would ultimately earn 36 points in the four relays as Kelli O'Dwyer, Katelyn MacDonald, Caitlin Schwark and Tolu Rosanwo delivered the 800-relay to first place in a time of one minute, 48.69 seconds.
Rosanwo was also second in the 100 dash and placed runner-up in the triple jump.
Schwark was one-hundredth behind her teammate for third at 100 meters, and anchored the Tigers' runner-up 1,600 relay.
"We're working really well this year," Schwark said. "I think we're feeling pretty good about where we are right now."
The Tigers' Chelsea Brtis edged St. Charles North senior Gina DeHart to win the 100 hurdles in 16.5 seconds.
The senior made a mid-race adjustment, going from three to four steps between the hurdles.
"I was able to get back up to full speed," Brtis said.
The Tigers' Lauren Mordini shaved 10 second off her personal low to place second at 3,200 meters; Colleen Gibbons was one of three milers to break the meet record in the 1,600 in settling for third overall.
St. Francis' fifth-place team verdict had the twin imprints of Sarah Torres and Katy Garcia prominently featured.
Torres was also a double winner, denying Rosanwo by a quarter on inch to claim the triple jump.
The senior later demolished the field in the 300 hurdles, winning by almost a second and a half.
"(The longer hurdles) is my best race," Torres said. "This is the race that I look forward to the most. I was focused and gave everything that I had."
Garcia was runner-up in both the long and high jump, soaring 5-1 in the latter.