Girls track and field: Lake Zurich claims third straight Lake County crown
With only three weeks until the IHSA state track meet, the Lake County Invitational was the first of some big showdowns for area girls track and field teams Thursday night at Stevenson.
The 17-team meet saw Lake Zurich take a commanding lead over the field early before the Bears rolled to their third straight county championship with 143 points.
Warren locked up third place with 62 points while Carmel Catholic (55.5 points) held off Lakes (55 points), and Grant (54 points) for third place.
Lake Zurich's Riley Betz posted winning times of 12.20 in the 100 and 25.57 in the 200 while the 4x100 team of Betz, Kendall Flournoy, Anya Farb, and Baelyn Zitzmann took first place in 48.77 seconds.
Zitzmann won the high jump (1.62 meters) while Flournoy won the long jump (5.26 meters). Betz, Farb, Sydney Lappin, and Abigail Cocanig (1:46.38) won the 4x200 and teammate Alice Kotelnikova (34.39 meters) won discus.
"I think we've all been really strong today," said Betz, who will compete at Miami University next year. "I think our 4x100 can absolutely drop more time, and the 4x200 is just going to keep getting faster."
"They are a very special group that are very tight, and they are a track and field family," said Lake Zurich coach Jeremy Kauffman. "They are a joy to coach, they like to perform on the big stage, and we have a lot of state medalists on this team."
Carmel's Zubaydah Akorede won triple jump (10.81 meters), and teammates Izzy Bing (1,600) and Natalie Ferguson (long jump) took second.
"She (Akorede) is coming on at the right time. It's a cold night, and she did well," said Carmel coach Jim Halford, whose team placed second in the 4x200. "Bing made state in the 1,600 and 3,200 last year, and we're hoping she can get down to 5:05 in the 1,600."
Lakes' Madison Twarling (11:22.88) won the 3,200 while teammate Josie Gates (3.42 meters) won pole vault. Grayslake Central's Isabella Domier won the 400 in 58.14 and the 800 in 2:19.76. Grant's Noelle Patrick won both the 100 and 300 hurdles.
"We've moved from Class 2A to Class 3A and we're holding our own," said Lakes coach Christine Zucker. "Josie Gates has been trying to go for our school record in the pole vault, and it was the first time Twarling ran the 3,200 all year."
Other first-place finishers were Vernon Hills' Anna Lester (5:14.12) in the 1,600, Grayslake Central in the 4x400, and Libertyville's Lou Matulenko (10.77 meters) in the shot put.
Warren got second-places from Carolina Martinez (400), Finley Jezuit (800), and Anna Iwuagwu (triple jump). Stevenson got seconds from Ava Wilson (100 and 200) while Lake Zurich's Olivia Verden placed second in the 100 and 300 hurdles. Vernon Hills' Julia Rausa was second in the high jump and Lakes' Julia Blasinski was second in the pole vault.
"We had a lot of PRs," said Warren coach Tom Malkowski. "Everybody seems to be hitting their PRs, and the girls are putting together their best effort at the right time of the year."