Girls track and field: Burlington Central wins sectional crown
Burlington Central won the team title by 30 points with 112, and Plano tied Sandwich for fourth with 39 at the 14-team Class 2A Sterling Sectional at DuWayne Dietz Track at Roscoe Eades Stadium in Sterling on Thursday.
Sandwich freshman Sunny Weber was a sectional champion in the 1,600 meters (5:04.01) and the 3,200 meters (10:39.72). Her 3,200 time was more than a minute faster than Rock Falls sophomore and second-place finisher Ariel Hernandez (11:42.18). Her 1,600 time was more than 23 seconds faster than Rockford Boylan sophomore and second-place finisher Reese Kohnle (5:27.74). The Indians' Claire Allen qualified in the shot put with a second-place throw of 12.42 meters.
"I'm really happy about it and excited, and I'm really looking forward to state," Weber said. "I was hoping for the 3,200, I would get below 11 minutes, and then I was hoping for the mile, that I was gonna get around five minutes or less."
Burlington Central's Kenzie Anderson, Corryn Kester, Mia Estrada and Paige Greenhagel won the sectional title in the 4x400 relay, clocking a 4:09.67; Greenhagel also won sectional titles in the 400 meters (57.72 seconds) and the long jump (5.67 meters), and Tia Brennan was a sectional champ in the pole vault, clearing 3.36 meters.
Madelyn Mucci, Keira Heindl, Sia Patel and Anderson qualified in the 4x200 relay, running a 1:49.42 for second; Mucci also qualified in the triple jump with a third-place leap of 10.68 meters.
Plano's Favour Amakari, Alexa Sobieszczyk, Eloina Montesinos and Armoney Clay won the 4x100 relay sectional title in 49.46 seconds. Clay also won a sectional title in the 100 meters (12.39 seconds) and had a runner-up finish in the 200 meters (26.05 seconds).
The Reapers' Sasha Helfgott-Waters qualified in the pole vault, tying Sycamore's Malerie Morey for second with 3.13 meters.
Boys track
There may not be a ton of schools in the DuPage Valley Conference, but Thursday's boys conference track meet looked a lot like a sectional meet in many regards as a number of state qualifiers put on a show at Naperville North.
Neuqua Valley defended its team title by scoring 179 points to hold off runner-up Naperville Central (147.5) and the third-place host Huskies (122.5). Metea Valley (90.5), DeKalb (71) and Waubonsie Valley (55.5) rounded out the team standings and every school had its share of strong efforts.
For the winning Wildcats, the meet closed out with a win in the 4x400 where Madhan Manikandaswamy, Connor Boehm, Nico Castrillon and James Ammenhauser clocked a 3:25.83 to edge Metea Valley (3:27.33). Manikandaswamy also ran on Neuqua's winning 4x200 squad along with Eddie Robinson, Tyreek Campbell and Austin Belle, whose time of 1:28.08 just did beat Naperville North's 1:28.33.
"It was our first time running this set of guys so we can definitely do better with the handoffs, but overall I feel like we got out and had a good race," Manikandaswamy said after winning the 4x200.
Belle, who was plagued earlier this spring with hamstring issues, won the 100 with a 10.70, while Naperville North all-stater Danny Eloe was second in 10.92 and fellow Huskie Nathan Jacobs third in 10.92.
"We always bring our A game," said Belle, who will run next year at Belmont University.
- Stan Goff