Scouting Fox Valley girls track and field

If the Bartlett girls track team wants some incentive in its quest for state medals this spring, all the Hawks have to is ask their coach to show them his.

But they might need to rent a truck to transport them in.

The Hawks’ new mentor is one of the most decorated boys track athletes in IHSA history, former Lake Park standout Anthony Moorman.

Moorman, who also played football for the Lancers, helped Lake Park to the 1997 Class AA state championship, one of only three state titles the school has won (the other two are in boys and girls bowling).

In leading the Lancers to state glory, Moorman garnered a total of nine state medals in his career, seven of them for state titles. He was the 100 and 200 meters champ in 1996 and 1997, he ran on the first-place 400 and 800 relay teams in 1997 and the state title 400 relay team in 1998. He also picked up third-place medals in the 800 relay in 1996 and the 800 relay in 1998.

His career then took him to Clemson University before he transferred to the University of Illinois and became a top runner for the Illini.

During his two years at Clemson, the Tigers won three ACC titles; two indoors and one outdoors. He was a member of the 1999 indoor 1,600 relay national championship team and was a four-time All-American in relays while at Clemson.

Having spent the last few years as a volunteer coach at Peoria Woodsruff and Peoria Central high schools, Moorman is now glad to be back home.

“Coming in as a new coach and having the staff I have has made it an easier transition,” said Moorman, a Streamwood native who is a parapro at Bartlett. “The administration has been great too.”

Moorman has plenty to work with in his first stint as a head coach including senior Alyssa Schneider, who is a state title contender in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. She also helped lead the Hawks — along with Sarah Kasiurak, Stephanie Kasiurak and Emily Wilson — to the 1,600 relay title at the Upstate Eight indoor meet, then this past weekend finished second in the 1,600 at the Illinois Prep Top Times meet in Bloomington.

“One thing you can say about her is she doesn’t rest on her laurels,” Moorman said. “She’s definitely in good shape to make a run at state. She ran a 5:05 indoor and she anchored our mile relay to the conference championship. She’s in shape and she’s a warrior.”

Moorman is also looking for good things this season from senior Julie Cronin, a sprinter and middle distance runner who qualified for state last year in the 400, as well as sophomore Nicole Watkins in the distance races, senior Bree Balaskovitz in the sprints, junior TeeTee Buliox (sprints), freshman Kendall Barlass (sprints), sophomore Kelsey Lynch (middle distance), junior Courtney Kingsmill (middle distances) and senior Megan Zmich (middle distance, hurdles).

“The expectations I have are that we go out there and compete hard and leave it all on the track,” Moorman said. “We won’t lose because we’re not competing and not in shape. It’s been an adjustment for a lot of the girls with a new coach but we’re getting there.”

Elgin: Maroons coach Dave Borg’s squad may be a little short on numbers with about 25 girls out, but Borg thinks a couple of them could give him his first return to the state meet in Charleston since he coached at Ridgewood between 1993 and 2000.

One of those Elgin hopefuls is sophomore Fabiola Ortiz, a Dundee-Crown transfer who made state in the 800 last year. Borg says Ortiz’ best bet for state this season could be in the 1,600.

Borg also has high hopes for senior Nissa Diabate, who has already gone 33-11 in the triple jump, as well as senior Kendall Martin inn the triple jump and sprints and senior Kayla Bohner in the 400.

“We’ve got a couple girls who should make it to state this year,” said Borg, in his second year as Elgin’s coach. “We’ve got good kids in the program.”

Larkin: Coach Jeremy Bloomberg’s Royals are also low on numbers with 20 girls in the program, but the coach says he’s expecting good things from sophomore Tanisha Pinkston and junior Allison Driskell in the 800.

“We’re a young team in a building season,” said Bloomberg. “We have some young talent that we look to build on this season.”

Streamwood: Senior Megan McGlone was a sectional champion and qualified for state in the triple jump last year and Sabres coach Ryan Korn says she’s a threat this year in that event as well as the middle distances. Korn is also high on his 3,200 relay team of McGlone, Jordana LaSavage and junior sisters Amanda and Alyssa Patterson that recently won the Lewis Invite title. Seniors Maria Luna (distances) and Stefanie Curtis (pole vault) also figure to be point scorers for the Sabres. But it’s the senior leadership Korn says will be the key.

“These girls have been with us four years and it’s looking good for them so far,” Korn said. “We have a great senior-led team and we’re looking for all of them to succeed. As a team we expect multiple state qualifiers and school records, specifically in the 3,200 relay, the pole vault, triple jump and all distance events.”

South Elgin: The Storm’s top runner during the indoor season was junior Jordan Tuin, who finished third in the 800 and sixth in the 1,600 at the Upstate Eight indoor meet.

Cary-Grove: Defending Fox Valley Conference champion and sectional champion Cary-Grove, despite losing key athletes to graduation, still has plenty left in the gas tank.

Senior all-state high-jumper Carly Loeffel (sprints, jumps) returns, as do classmates Ketura Taylor (throws) and Megan Cummings (distance), along with juniors Kathie Wollney (sprints, hurdles), Anne McGarrigle (springs), Sarah Ryan (sprints), Jenni Maki (sprints, jumps), Lizzy Klicker (sprints, hurdles), Katherine O’Connor (mid-distance), Paige Freund (mid-distance) and Jenna Kurz (mid-distance), along with sophomores Anna Wcislo (throws), Joslyn Nicholson (sprints, jumps), Sarah Mishall (sprints, jumps), Sarah Englund (distance) and Emily Barnes (sprints, jumps).

Juniors Emily Scott (sprints) and Kaitlin Kownick (mid-distance) and freshmen Natasha Geiger-Powell (mid-distance) and Faith Furio (sprints) will also contribute for Mark Anderson’s Trojans.

“This season has been a lot of fun so far,” said Anderson. “We graduated a lot of kids from last year’s team, but this group has been willing to step up and work hard.”

Dundee-Crown: The Chargers feature three veteran athletes in Katie Gross, Lauren Mosher and Claira Himmel that were part of last year’s 3,200 relay team that qualified for state and broke the school record. Himmel has accepted a partial scholarship to Wisconsin-Milwaukee and both Gross and Mosher are weighing their options on college choices. Sophomore Jade Franz (middle distance) also ran on that state team.

Juniors Charscey Gunn (sprints) and Megan Randby (distance), along with sophomore Natalie Himmel (middle distance) and freshman Kyra Flynn (sprints) will also help the Chargers.

“The strength of the team lies within the middle distance/distance group,” said D-C coach Matt Michalski. “We have a lot of returners from this area that had strong seasons last year and are hoping for more of the same this year. Senior leadership will hopefully play a role down the stretch of the season. We have 10 seniors on the team that have an opportunity to display themselves in a manner that can serve as an inspiration to the younger members of the team.”

Huntley: The Red Raiders are coming off a runner-up finish in the Fox Valley Conference last season.

The Red Raiders are led by a returning group of athletes led by the likes of Marilyn McDougall, Sarah Sheehan, Haylee Loprieno, Jasmine Brown, Abby Shaw, Amanda Zbilski and Antonia Moore. Key newcomers include Emily Kobley, Beth Parks, Taylor Schau, Tina Driscoll, Alyssa Deem and Allison Korn.

“Our goal is to stay in the Top 3 in the McHenry County meet, Fox Valley Conference meet and sectionals,” said veteran Huntley coach Shawn Nordeen, who is in his 13th season. “We, of course, need to stay healthy and have our underclassmen make a huge impact. With our strong returners we have coming back, with the right mix of incoming freshman and our junior varsity runners, we will make a strong statement with our team goals. We will be stronger in our relays across the board this year along with our mid-distance. We have not had that in awhile. We need to score some points in our field events this year. We are trying some new things with the hope of raising our point totals in the field events.

Crystal Lake South: Under the direction of coach Matt Dunker, the Gators took fourth in the county and fifth in the FVC last season.

Headlining the list of returnees for the Gators is Marianne Collard, who finished fourth in the state in the 1,600 last year. Lexi Dahl also returns after qualifying for state in the pole vault.

Emily Lenzini and Heather Newberry, who along with Collard comprised three-fourths of the state-qualifying 3,200 relay team last year, are also back.

Kristina Wilking and Rachel Reimann are key newcomers that will help the Gators.

“Our goal this year is to compete for the top of the conference,” said Dunker. “We have good number of returning athletes, including most of our state qualifiers from last year. We have a large number of girls out for track this year, so we hope to improve our depth and find some people to fill in holes that we were missing last year. Overall, I think we will be a more balanced team this year, led by our middle distance and distance runners.”

Jacobs: The Golden Eagles are under the direction of new coach Ryan Lemanski. His squad features key returners in Kylie Daniels, Ali Esterle, Olivia Mayer, Rachel Roe, Ali Virgilio and Brittney Hall, along with newcomer Nailah Byrd.

Mayer and Virgilio are looking to contend for the top spot in the conference in both the long jump and triple jump. Both had state-qualifying jumps at sectionals last year, but scratched. Daniels and Esterle emerged as freshmen contributors last year.

“During the off-season Ali and Kylie spent hours together in the gym working on speed, power and explosion,” said Lemanski. “Last year indoors they ran 7.8 in the 50 and now run 7.2.”

Byrd will be another name to keep an eye on. She was on the girls’ varsity basketball team this winter.

“From her other sports, she brings the power to throw the shot put 29 feet as a freshman,” said Lemanski. “She also has the speed to add to our depth in sprinting events and our sprint relays.”

Burlington Central: The Rockets qualified 13 girls for the Class 2A state meet last spring and 11 of them return to the track this year, led by senior Cailie Thommes, a four-event state qualifier and junior Alexa Tovsen, who finished second in the 200 in helping BC win the Big Northern Conference indoor title recently.

One of the deepest teams in the area, coach Aaron Wichman’s Rockets could make some noise at the state level this spring after scoring 15 points and tying for 17th place at state last year.

The high jump is a strong event for BC as well, with Thommes placing fourth at state last year and sophomore Katie Trupp fifth. Trupp won the BNC indoor high jump title and Thommes was third.

Other athletes looking to get in on the party for the Rockets this season include seniors Kaylee Swearingen (hurdles), Katie Puccio (middle distance), Markelle Turk (distance), Hannah Williams (relays) and Allie Settanni (throws). Juniors Autumn Conn (pole vault) and Brenda Thasavong (throws) figure to score some points as do sophomores Jane Crocetti and Kayla Wolf.

Turk won the 3,200 at the indoor conference meet and was second in the 1,600 while Settanni and Thasavong went 1-2 in the shot put.

“We won the conference and sectional titles last year and we feel we have a team that can compete for those championships again,” said Wichman, now in his third year coaching the Rockets’ girls. “Tovsen and Wolf are both way ahead of where they were last year and as a team we’re ahead of where we were last year. They just have to keep working hard and stay healthy. It’s an enjoyable group to be around and what separates them from the rest is their work ethic.”

Hampshire: The Whip-Purs look to be state contenders in several events again this season after winning the Class 2A title in the 3,200 relay at state last year and scoring 21 points to finish 11th in the team standings.

With Holly Plichta and Tiffany Phu graduated from that state title team, 15th-year Whips coach Patti Nihells said freshman Liz Pagan and senior Autumn Chomenko will join junior Cassie Kruse and sophomore Paige Membrano on that relay squad. That squad recently won the 1,600 relay title at the Big Northern indoor meet. Chomenko, a senior, also runs the hurdles and middle distances, and Membrano, a sophomore, competes in the sprints and middle distances.

Individually, Kruse returns to run the 800, where she finished third at state last year and won the BNC indoor title this spring by 12 seconds.

Other athletes Nihells expects to shine for Hampshire this spring include juniors Liz Sicheri (triple jump, middle distances), Marissa Carrozza (triple jump, sprints), sophomore Ashley Fouch (sprints, high jump) and sophomore Courtney Deniston (throws). Nihells is also high on her freshman class that includes Pagan, who has already gone 16-6 in the long jump, Emily Eischen (distance), Jenna Pierce (sprints), Caitlyn Graff (hurdles, sprints) and Anna Baxter (throws).

“We’re a little deeper this year,” Nihells said. “We’re looking to have another good season.”

Westminster Christian: Things are looking up for the Warriors, who now have 13 girls on the roster.

“We have a shot at conference,” said Warriors coach Larry Cochran, in his fourth season at the helm. “In 2010 we could not place high due to only having about three girls competing.”

Senior Brittany Boothe is back and will compete in the 300 hurdles and several relay events. She narrowly missed a state berth in the 300 hurdles a year ago. Senior Elli Fink will run the 100 and 200 and the 400 and 800 relays and Cochran has noted she is much quicker out of the blocks this season.

A host of newcomers, including the likes of junior Lacey Graziano (100, 200, relays) and freshmen Taylor Battle (100, 200, relays), Rose Bolding (100, 200, relays) and Anne Lehan (400, 800) will also help, as will Lauren Mason in the 400.

“We have some very quick runners this year, most of who are young,” said Cochran. “With Brittany returning and the addition of Lacey and Elli, our relays will be able to fully compete. Our weakness is that these girls are young and inexperienced. It will take time.”

St. Edward: Under the direction of new coach David Greer, the Green Wave has an extremely small squad right now with juniors Audrey Danner (100, 200, 400 and 800) and Lynnette Grant (200 and 400) comprising the team. Danner qualified for state last year at Lisle High School.

“We’re excited to see what Audrey can do,” said Greer.