West Aurora dominates Kaneland's Holmes invite

Emma Spagnola, in her maiden appearance for the West Aurora girls track and field team at a major invitational, assumed Shanice Andrews' role with aplomb on Saturday afternoon at Kaneland.

Andrews captured the first state championship (the 100 hurdles) in program history, scored in three other events and helped propel West Aurora to seventh place at the Class 3A state meet last spring.

Spagnola eased into Andrews' workhorse role at the 34th Annual Holmes Invitational in Maple Park, claiming both hurdles races and authoring top finishes in the high and long jumps.

When combined with its plethora of sprinters, rapidly improving distance runners and consistency in the six field events, West Aurora dominated the 15-team field for a second consecutive year to win with 148 points.

Burlington Central was a distant second at 102.5 points.

Host Kaneland, which also had a double-winner in Brooke Patterson was third, followed by Rockton Hononegah and Sterling.

Rosary, which had the third local two-event champion in sprint standout Anna Deufel, was sixth.

Dundee-Crown was 10th behind senior Katie Gross.

“Emma's work ethic is just phenomenal,” West Aurora coach Theresa Towles said. “She is always willing to push herself. She is always asking me, ‘Coach, how can I make myself better?' She is not afraid to compete.”

Spagnola cleared 5 feet, 2 inches to place third in the high jump, and the freshman sensation concluded her field day with a fourth-place long jump result.

But it was the two hurdles races that framed her afternoon under unexpectedly benign conditions.

Spagnola edged two runners by a tenth of a second to claim the 100 hurdles in 15.2 seconds and made a strong push down the stretch to win the 300 variety in 47.3 seconds.

“I kind of started off slow in both of them,” Spagnola said. “It's really tiring, the 300s.”

Elisha Meyle made a triumphant return for West Aurora at 3,200 meters.

Sidelined for virtually the entire last two seasons with injuries and illnesses, the senior dominated the event to give West Aurora the team lead for good.

“(Prior to the race) my mom (Linnea) yelled out that West Aurora is losing by a point (to Kaneland after five field events were scored),” Meyle said. “I thought, ‘I'll take care of it.' I was thinking of my team.”

“(Meyle) is one young lady with a lot of heart,” Towles said.

Then the Blackhawks' sprinters made the final team result a fait accompli.

The interchangeable group, headlined by Anita Saffa, Jasmine Ranson, Cynthia Smith, Kehlay Dunah, Shadae Pickett and DeAndra Stewart, scored 26 out of a possible 30 points in the three sprint relays.

Dunah anchored the 800 relay to a new meet record in 1:45.2.

Saffa was runner-up to Deufel at 100 meters and three spots behind the Royals' returning all-stater at 200 meters.

“Track is all about speed,” Kaneland coach Doug Ecker said. “(The West sprinters) are just so powerful.”

Freshman Maya Marion claimed the final first-place award for West Aurora in the shot put.

The open 400 meters was the lone event West Aurora did not place as Rachel Cavender exemplified the all-around performance with her third-place run at 1,600 meters.

Kaneland also has a balanced mixture of savvy veterans and talented newcomers.

Patterson won the triple jump by an inch for one title and cleared 10-6 in the pole vault for a second crown.

The Knights' senior also anchored two sprint relays to earn more points.

“It felt awesome,” Patterson said. “I really wanted to get 11 (feet in pole vault). I would like to make it down (to state) in more than two (events).”

Andie Strang, the Knights' other senior leader, was second to Class 3A reigning cross country champion Ariel Michalek (Oswego East) in the open 1,600 run after anchoring the Knights' 3,200 relay to fifth.

“This is the first year I have focused on the mile,” said Strang, whose younger sister, freshman Sydney, was fourth in the same event. “I'm going to see how the rest of the season plays out (before determining my events in the state series).”

Nor was the Blackhawks' Spagnola the only freshman to enjoy a breakout performance.

The Knights' contender for top area newcomer, Lauren Zick, displayed versatility as well with runner-up performances in the long jump and 400 meters and a third-place finish in the 200 dash.

Zick established a new school record with her 58.4-second run at 400 meters.

The Knights' Ashley Castellanos also placed in both the long and triple jumps.

“I'm very pleased with what we did,” Ecker said. “The usual kids came through. We're very happy with our sprint relays.”

The day could not have been more mentally and physically exacting for Deufel.

“Eight races,” the Rosary senior said after leaning past Hononegah freshman Patrice Jones to win the open 200 title in 25.6 seconds.

Deufel ran four preliminaries between the two short sprints, plus two finals and anchored the Royals' 400 and 800 relays.

“It felt like I didn't stop running the whole meet,” Deufel said. “I feel like I ran well. It was a beautiful day. I didn't get that tired.”

“Anna did very well today,” Rosary coach Vic Meade said. “She showed good speed and endurance.”

Deufel, who is close to naming her collegiate destination, was fourth in the 100 and ninth at 200 meters at the Class 2A state meet last year.

Geneva resident Aly Rindone, third at 100 meters, was another sprinting stalwart for Rosary, which also received a fourth-place finish by Courtney Cox at 3,200 meters.

Burlington Central high jumpers Katie Trupp and Cailie Thommes took their friendly rivalry to another plateau.

Trupp, a sophomore, one-upped her senior classmate by an inch to establish a new school record at 5-5.

Thommes' 5-4 result enabled the Rockets' duo to stage the only one-two sweep of an event all day.

“We're like sisters,” said Trupp, who also placed in the pole vault. “We came into the meet saying that we were going to go 5-5.”

“They have a nice competition between them,” Burlington Central coach Aaron Wichman said.

The Rockets also double-scored in both the shot put (Allie Settani and Brenda Thasavong) and pole vault as Autumn Conn was second to stay within striking distance of West Aurora early.

The quartet of Kayla Wolf, Jane Crocetti, Katie Puccino and Markelle Turk opened the running portion of the finals by defending its title in the 3,200 relay with a new meet standard of 9:53.6.

“It was solid,” Puccio said. “(Wolf) just started our event, and we were ready to go. Our legs were fresh.”

Junior sprinter Alexa Toveson assumed her customary role with the Rockets to solidify the sprints and short relays.

Toveson was third at 400 meters and tied for fourth at 100 meters.

Crocetti and Hannah Williams found placing positions in the open 800, and Kaylee Swearingen was strong in the 100 hurdles for Burlington Central.

In the end, however, the Rockets did not have the weaponry to hold off West Aurora and its waves of extra bodies.

“That's a school three times our size with a great program,” Wichman said of West Aurora. “We're very happy to be right behind them.”

Seniors Gross and Lauren Mosher were the mainstays for Dundee-Crown.

Gross, teaming with Claira Himmel, Natalie Himmel and Jade Franz, anchored the Chargers' runner-up finish behind Burlington Central in the meet-opening 3,200 relay.

Gross was also fourth in the open 400 and ran the same distance a second time with little rest in anchoring the Chargers' 1,600 relay.

“I'm really happy,” Gross said. “I haven't been doing as well as I wanted to. It was such a perfect day. It felt really good today to get that kind of time (1:01.4 in the 400). I really want to break a minute before I graduate.”

Mosher had the Chargers' finest individual showing by touring the track twice in 2:27.4 to take runner-up status at 800 meters.

“We started off at a pretty quick pace,” Mosher said. “I was still feeling strong (down the stretch). I'm just proud of myself for finishing today.”

Claira Himmel had the final D-C individual place finish with eighth at 1,600 meters.