Girls track and field: Barrington outscores Grayslake Central to win sectional
Usually, a good year would be five, maybe six.
But nine was the number for two of best girls track teams in the area this season.
In spite of COVID-19, a shortened season, and all the other challenges that this strange school year has presented, both Barrington and Grayslake Central overachieved Wednesday afternoon at the Class 3A Grayslake North sectional and qualified athletes for the upcoming IHSA state meet in nine events apiece.
Overall, Barrington outscored Grayslake Central 106-88 to win the sectional title, but both teams were focused just as much on how many individuals punched tickets to the state meet.
"It was a total team effort, a good team showing," said Barrington girls track coach Jody Gitelis, whose team last won a sectional title in 2019. "It's a really nice honor to win this meet, but the goal is more to get as many (state) qualifiers as possible."
Junior Kathleen Baker had a big day for Barrington, qualifying in the 100 meters and the 400 meters. She won the 100 meters with a 12.54 and got second in the 400 meters with a 58.94.
Breanne Dunn of Barrington won the 300 meter hurdles (45.96) and Sofia Rosenzweig won the triple jump (10.75 meters).
Meanwhile, junior Claire Kavanaugh set the Barrington school record in discus with a (41.83 meters). She placed third and was one of five competitors in discus to qualify for state.
Also for Barrington, Lucy Ordway qualified for state in high jump. She placed third with a 1.55 meters. And three Barringtonn relay teams qualified for state: the first-place 4x400 team, and the 4X100 and 4X800 teams, each of which got second place.
"We were all over the place today, in a lot of different events," Gitelis said of the variety of Barrington's qualifiers. "This is a really good number (of qualifiers). "I'm really pleased. To have all these relays and sprinters and all the field events. We had a lot of PR's, too. This was a huge day for us."
Grayslake Central came up equally big, starting with their prime-time star in shot put and discus, nationally-ranked senior Julia Reglewski.
Once again, Reglewski swept both events with a 14.21 meters in the shot put in and 44.82 in the discus.
She will be making her third trip to the state meet.
"It was a good day today," Reglewski said. "Discus was really close to my PR. Shot put was not my best, but I feel like I got out of a mental rut today. I got over a mental roadblock there and I was really happy with my performances."
Reglewski was even happier about her team's showing.
"I can't even tell you how great this is," Reglewski said. "We are really kicking butt. To have such an aggressive, successful team is really great, but at the same time, all the people on this team are fantastic, some of the nicest people I've met. To be able to kick butt and at the end of the day we're able to come together, it's just phenomenal. It brings you up as an athlete."
Freshman Bella Domier did her part to lift Grayslake Central.
She won both of her events: the 800 meters (2:12.82) and the 1600 meters (5:01.45).
"I'm so excited, (state) is going to be so fun," Domier said. "We're going to have so many people competing. It's going to be a fun meet for Central.
"We're doing so good this year. We won conference and did really well here. Maybe we'll have a shot (to win the team title at state)."
The Rams also got another big performance out of Mia Morello. She qualified in three events, winning the pole vault (3.73 meters), and taking second in the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles.
Libertyville got a double champion in junior Dakota Lyons, who won the 400 meters (57.54) and the long jump (5.01). Lyons is new to the long jump this year.
"This is amazing," Lyons said. "Last year because of COVID and not having state, I really had it in my mind to get to state this year and I'm so excited, especially about long jump. I just pretty much started long jump so it was a little surprising to make it in that. But I just felt really good. To go 2-for-2, I never really thought it would happen, but you set your goals high and you aim high."
Alyla Ditiangkin of Warren won the 100 meter hurdles (15.31), Kylie Spytek of Vernon Hills won the 200 meters (25.94), Skyler Kreunen of Lake Forest won the 3200 meters (11:30.62), and Annika Bynum of Warren won the high jump (1.65 meters).
Grayslake Central won the 4X800 meter relay and Vernon Hills won both the 4X100 meter relay and the 4X200 meter relay
Other state qualifiers were: Riley Betz of Lake Zurich (100 meters), Leialoha Akalaonu of Grayslake North (200 meters), Brooke Johnston of Lake Zurich (800 meters, 1600 meters), Jordyn Miller of Mundelein (800 meters), Sheila Tucker of Libertyville (800 meters), Mia Pasha of Warren (3200 meters), Ella O'Neall of Stevenson (discus, shot put), Taylor Proft of Vernon Hills (discus), Kelly Fletcher of Cary-Grove (discus), Amanda Lisi of Wauconda (high jump), Gigi Snellback of Lake Forest (high jump), Nia Hines of Vernon Hills (long jump), AJ Burk of Lake Zurich (pole vault), Erica Bunning of Vernon Hills (pole vault), Abbey Calhoun of Grayslake North (triple jump).