Girls track and field: Sectional champs at WW South for Wheeling, Prospect, Hersey

Lake Park's girls track and field team finished with 85 points to edge runner-up Wheeling (71) and Prospect (58) in the Class 3A Wheaton Warrenville South sectional on Thursday.

Wheeling, Prospect and Hersey each came through with sectional champs.

The Wildcats had two winning relays, the 4 x 100 and the 4 x 200.

Junior Nicole Nguyen led the way individually for Wheeling with victories in the long jump (18-6.5) and the 300 hurdles (45.09). Alexis Knight won the 400 in 57.31 and also advanced in the long jump (fourth, 18-0).

Other state qualifiers for the Wildcats were junior Nosa Igiehon in the triple jump (36-2) and senior Yailene Leon in the 800 (second, 2:16.23).

In addition to qualifying all four of its relays, Prospect had an individual winner in senior Annie Walsh. She won the 100 in 12.48 and also advanced with a runner-up effort in the 200 (25.98). Knights sophomore Ellen Sherwood placed second and qualified in the long jump with a leap of 18-6.

Hersey junior Alessia Olhava won the high jump at 5-4 and freshman Natalia Jackowski took the final qualifying spot at 5-2. Huskies senior Barbara Rydzewski won the discus with 131-9 and sophomore Erin Moran came up with a breakthrough effort to advance in the 800 (fourth, 2:18.63).

Conant will be represented at state by Chikere Oduocha, who placed fifth in the discus (118-0).

at West Aurora: Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates will be well represented in next weekend's Class 3A state meet after strong performances in the West Aurora sectional.

The Hawks placed sixth and the Saxons were seventh in the team standings. The host Blackhawks finished with 104.5 points to top runner-up Batavia (84) and third-place Geneva (74).

Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates both advanced two relays.

In the 4 x 800, Schaumburg won in 9:26.83 and Hoffman Estates also advanced with a second-place qualifying effort (9:39.37).

And in the 4 x 400, both teams advanced. Schaumburg was third in 4:04.07, just a fraction ahead of the fourth-place Hawks (4:04.17).

Saxons senior standout Maddie Marasco breezed to victory in the 800 (2:11.82).

"In the half, I just wanted to get a good split," Marasco said. "It was an amazing experience. This is my last sectional. I tried to kick it in the end."

Schaumburg got another qualifier in the pole vault as junior Megan Gale placed third (10-3).

And Marasco and Co. are looking forward to finishing in style, especially with that 4 x 800 foursome.

"These are girls I love to run and train with," Marasco said. "These are girls I love to be with."

That group includes Maggy Centeno, Lauren Kubinski and Rachael Vaccaro.

"We are all seniors," Centeno said. "We ran an amazing time last week. We are ready (for state)."

Hoffman Estates junior Makiyha Blackwell won the shot put (41-4.25) and also advanced with a second-place showing in the discus (129-6.25).

at Niles West: Maine West senior Alisa Fallon will compete against downstate after winning both the shot put (40-8.25) and the discus (130-9).

And she'll have company, as sophomore Angela Dugalic won the 400-meter dash in 58.17 and senior Nicole Palarz won the 300 hurdles in 46.26.

The Warriors finished seventh in the team standings with 50 points. New Trier (100.5) prevailed against Evanston (81) and Highland Park (69) for the team championship.

at Lisle: Katie Castelli earned a spot in the Class 2A state meet by winning the 3,200 run. Castelli, a freshman, finished in 11:23.30.