O'Brien wins 200 at Western Sun

Geneva defended its Western Sun Conference indoor track girls title Friday night, and now the Vikings plan to make a run at the outdoor crown this spring.

Last year Geneva won indoors but then was edged out by Batavia for the outdoor conference crown. The Bulldogs, who were second Friday night at Glenbard South, will be strong again outdoors, but this year's Vikings squad is loaded.

Geneva opened the finals portion of the meet with Sarah Heuer easily winning the 3,200 in 11:56.2 and teammate Sarah Cable placing second. The Vikings quartet of Rachel Hammond, Megan Brady, Devin Clemmans and Kelly Shogren then took first in the 2-mile relay as Geneva jumped ahead in the meet and ran away with the title, outscoring runner-up Batavia 121-78.

Glenbard South was fourth with 57 points.

Batavia star Natalie Tarter won the 55 hurdles in 8.3 - with teammate Melissa Norville second - then won a thrilling 55 dash race with Glenbard South's Libby O'Brien and Sycamore's Lake Kwaza.

"The hurdles went well," Tarter said. "I was confident and I wanted me and Melissa to go 1-2, which was good. That was our goal for tonight."

But the 55 sprint was a little trickier. Tarter admitted she wasn't quite sure about the finish line, but still managed to nose out O'Brien and Kwaza. The results listed Tarter and O'Brien each at 7.0 and Kwaza at 7.1.

"That was a great field," O'Brien said. "I'm glad I got the chance to run against Natalie and Lake. They're both tremendous athletes."

"I got tricked by the two finish lines," Tarter said. "But it's good that we have such great competition in our conference to push each other."

O'Brien may have come up short in the 55 dash, but the Raiders speedster did win the 200 in 26.3.

"It helped that I was on the inside so I could see how far ahead she (Geneva's Erica Miller) was," O'Brien said of her come-from-behind win in the 200. "I caught her about halfway through and had enough to keep ahead from there."

O'Brien has high hopes for the spring season.

"I've been doing a lot of conditioning. I'd like to run the 400, 200 and the 4x400 at state and maybe even another relay would get there. So we've been working a lot on conditioning. I have a long list of goals."

Geneva has a long list of goals also.

"We have a solid team that's pretty much strong throughout," Vikings coach Peter Raak said. "We've been pretty blessed the last couple years, and the kids are real excited about this year."

Heuer breezed to first even though she had not run the 2-mile previously this indoor campaign. After moving in from Minnesota this year, she says the competition and her teammates are helping her fit right in.

"The distance girls here are pretty strong and I think it's time to move outdoors," said Heuer, whose sister Megan chipped in with a second-place finish in the 800. "With such a competitive team it pushes you to do better."

The Vikings also picked up wins from Shogren in the mile, Erica Miller in the 400 and from the mile relay unit of Claire Anderson, Taylor Wickware, Hilary Zander and Alissa Dappas.

"I ran the 4x800 earlier and was a little tired," Shogren explained after winning the mile race. "I really thought the girls from Sycamore and Yorkville pulled me along for awhile and then I got the lead and had enough left to hold on."

Other highlights from the meet saw Glenbard South win the 4-lap relay and Batavia pole vaulter Kathryn Warner take first with a height of 10-9, which is good for an invite to the Prep Top Times indoor meet. Kaneland's Alyssa Galvan won the shot put at 33-2 1/2.