Glenbard West breaks through
In 12 years coaching Glenbard West girls track, Kelly Hass had never won the school's Sue Pariseau Invitational.
Until Saturday.
The Hilltoppers scored 120 points to easily outdistance second-place Hinsdale Central in Glen Ellyn. The Red Devils tied York with 70 points for second place.
Downers Grove South finished fourth overall but claimed the last victory of the afternoon in the 1,600 relay thanks to the efforts of Tori Franklin, Kathleen Riordan, Rebecca Stearns and Melissa Radek.
The long jump and 100 meter hurdles were highlighted by two first-place performances from Glenbard West senior Kathryn Pickett. Pickett ran the hurdles in 15.12 seconds and hit a personal record of 18-1½ in the high jump.
“Pickett is a stud. I've been waiting three years for her to hit 18 feet in the long jump, and today she did it twice,” Hass said.
Pickett also took first in the 400-meter relay alongside teammates Kinn Badger, Caroline Maloney and Bridget Flanagan. She finished second in the 300-meter hurdles to Amy Polhemus of Lake Zurich.
Hilltoppers senior Sarah Dau chalked up another first-place finish and 10 team points with a toss of 37-10¼ in the shot put.
Hinsdale Central senior Leah Tarabour tied the meet record set a year ago with a leap of 11-6 in pole vault.
“The weather was nice today and it helped,” Tarabour said. “I'm determined to keep getting higher. It's not like I'm concentrating on state right now. I just just really want to get 12 feet.”
Inclement weather forced Willowbrook junior Cherise Porter to train indoors for the last few practices, but it did not stop her from claiming first place in the 200-meter with a time of 24.53. Willowbrook as a team finished 11th with 30 points.
York was able to tie Hinsdale Central for second place overall behind a gritty performance from Michelle Frigo in the 800-meter run. She finished in first place with a time of 2:18.26.
No event at Saturday's 16-team invitational was more anticipated than the 1,600-meter final that pitted Ariel Michalek of Oswego East against Jill Hardies of Hinsdale Central.
The two top long-distance runners battled neck-in-neck for the first three laps with Michalek holding a slight edge, but in the final 800 meters Hardies broke free to claim first-place honors.
“You have to take into account that she doubled up and ran the 2-mile before hand,” Hardies said referencing Michalek's first-place finish in the 3,200 earlier in the day.