Girls track and field: Karvelis leads Neuqua Valley to DVC championship
It felt good but Neuqua Valley triple jumper Gabi Karvelis was pleasantly surprised at just how good her effort was at Thursday night’s DuPage Valley Conference girls track meet in Naperville.
The Wildcats senior, who was fourth in the state last spring, jumped a season-best 38-08.25 to win the meet and turn into the fourth-best distance in the state so far. Karvelis’ mark is also the fourth-best ever in the long history of the DVC, bettering all but one conference distance turned in by former Wildcat standout Riley Ammenhauser, who won three state titles and went on to compete for the University of Michigan.
“I didn’t realize it was Illinois No. 4,” she said after completing her productive night with a PR time of 26.10 to take third in the 200. “So, I did that jump and I was, you know, thinking it was an OK jump. Then I hear that [announcement] and I’m like OK it was a pretty good jump. It did feel like a bigger jump.”
Karvelis also won the long jump at 17-10.25 with teammate Olivia Dalson second at 17-09. The strong jumps played a big part in the Wildcats team title on Thursday. The hosts won the meet with 141 points as defending champion Naperville Central was second at 126 and Naperville North third at 120.
Karvelis was not only all-state last year in the triple jump, but she also ran on the Wildcats’ 4x200 relay that placed fourth. She credits Neuqua Valley jumps coach Wayne Hartman for the program’s strong history.
“We are incredibly lucky to have coach Hartman,” the Murray State track recruit said. “He’s an incredible coach. He’s like the track dad. We’re super lucky to have him here.”
Neuqua distance runner and Minnesota commit Elizabeth Hall also had a big night, winning the 3,200 by 10 seconds over the Huskies’ Shania Tandon, and then adding a fourth in the mile and running on the third-place mile relay.
In that mile relay, Naperville Central’s Lola Satre-Morales, Olivia Monteith, Keira Friant and Sophia Dussias turned in a season-best 4:06.93 to hold off runner-up North (4:12.18). In the 4x800 relay, it was North and Central going 1-2 as the Huskies’ team of Eva Rowe, Haddie Stilling, Elliana White and Sennah Rashidian clocked a 9:52.49.
Metea Valley senior Arianna Hammons won both the 100 hurdles (15.47) and the 300 hurdles (47.03) with Neuqua’s Milena Szczepanik second in the 300 and fellow Wildcat Corinne Williams second in the 100.
Hammons, a state qualifier last year in both hurdles and the 4x100 relay, didn’t love her start in the 100 hurdles at the DVC meet, but was satisfied overall with how the evening went. She PR-ed in the 200 while taking fourth to cap off her meet.
“I had a slow start so obviously it didn’t result in the time I wanted,” she said of the 100 hurdles. “But it is a season best so I’m happy with that. I’m hoping I can get to my PR by sectionals. After my start it felt like a pretty good race. I felt like I was applying some of the things I’ve been working on.”
In the 200, Ave Belle was first for Neuqua Valley with a time of 25.85 and the Redhawks’ Adeline O’Neill took second in 25.99. Naperville North’s Leah Davis won the 100 with a PR of 12.61, while O’Neill picked up another second place finish in that race. The Huskies also grabbed a title in the 800 as Emma Berres went 2:18.23.
DeKalb finished fifth in the team standings with 45 points and was led by thrower Angela Gary and pole vaulter Alyssa Tumminaro. Gary won the shot put with a PR of 36-07.50 and added a second in the discus, which was won by Waubonsie Valley’s Kennedi Johnson.
“I didn’t like how I performed in discus but I called my Mom and my Mom was like, just use your power for shot. Just because it’s a bad discus day doesn’t mean it’s a bad shot day,” Gary said. “So, I used all that power, all that might, everything I had for the shot.”
Tumminaro won the pole vault at 11-03.75 with the Wildcats’ Kamila Szczepanik and Sophia Cabrere finishing second and third, respectively.
Satre-Morales took first in the 400 for the Redhawks with a clocking of 58.59 to edge North runner-up Megan Schoenjohn (59.55).