Cary-Grove, Hampshire claim FVC division crowns
On a record-breaking night at the Fox Valley Conference girls track and field meet at Grayslake Central, the overall winner sounded like a broken record.
For the fifth straight season FVC Valley Division champion Cary-Grove finished as the overall champion in a 14-team meet scored separately by Valley and Fox Divisions. The Trojans scored well in the field events and overcame adversity on the track to amass 114 team points, edging Huntley (102) for the title.
Hampshire (85 points) won the FVC Fox Division, marking its first FVC girls track and field title in only its second year as a conference member. Grayslake Central (70) finished second in the Fox Division, fourth overall.
Cary-Grove opened the evening with a meet record in the discus by sophomore discus thrower Olivia Roehri. Her final heave of 127 feet, 1 inch broke the meet record. Freshman teammate Nikki Freeman finished second (125-11) to give the Trojans 18 points in the event.
“Just finding out that (the previous record) was 126-9 and that my 127-1 broke it as a sophomore, that’s really cool,” Roehri said. “It’s awesome. I have such an awesome, supportive team with my thrower Nikki Freeman. We push each other and it’s really awesome. I wouldn’t throw 127-1 if I didn’t have that kind of support.”
The Trojans also gained field points from triple jump champion Joslyn Richardson (36-1), who posted that distance last Thursday prior to a the rain delay that postponed the meet until Monday. Junior Faith Furio won the long jump (16-6½) and junior Erika Sternard took third in the high jump.
Sophomore Morgan Schulz won the 300-meter hurdles in only her second time competing in the event.
“I was really surprised about that,” Schulz said. “I never knew I was going to be a hurdler. I never knew I’d be able to run that.”
Hampshire senior Jenny Dumoulin broke the FVC meet shot put record (40-4) to take the title.
“That’s very cool,’ Dumoulin said. “It was on my last throw and I was already ahead, so I went out with the mentality that I should go out and have fun with it.”
“I’m very pleased,” Hampshire coach Patti Nihells said of the Fox Division title. “It was a total team effort from top to bottom, from the freshman to the seniors. Everyone pulled their own weight and did what they had to do.”
Host Grayslake Central was pleased with its showing.
“I thought our entire team as a whole did a phenomenal job,” coach Shawn Murphy said. “The thing that was hard about tonight is that we felt that running the meet on Thursday in cold conditions would have favored us more. The change of pace gave everyone a fresh start. Hampshire took control of it and did a great job.”
Jacobs opened the running events by setting a new meet record in the 3,200 relay. The foursome of Molly Barnes, Tori Tamburino, Sam Baran and Lauren VanVlierbergen won the race in 9:33.07. VanVlierbergen also went on to win individual FVC titles in the 1,600 (4:59.23) and the 800 (2:20.85).
“I jut wanted to go out fast in the beginning,” she said of the mile. “I just wanted to finish under five minutes and I did that.”
Huntley sophomore Macy Tremblay won the 100-meter hurdles. “I just focused on my own race and did what I’ve been practicing and didn’t change anything,” she said. “I’ve been having a shaky season, so this feels really good.”
Huntley senior Omo Tseumah won the high jump (5-4), and the 1,600-meter relay team of Anthonia Moore, Alyssa Bushman, Tina Driscoll and Taylor Schau closed the meet with a victory in 4:06.93.
“I usually anchor but we wanted to get an early lead so I ran the first leg,” said Moore, who provided her teammates with a 20-meter lead. “It worked out the way we planned.”
In the end, it was Cary-Grove celebrating yet another overall title.
“Everyone was stepping up and doing their job and running the best race they could, competing to their highest potential even though not everything went their way,” Schulz said. “It was a great night.”