Riedy, O'Brien power Palatine's team-first relay win

Junior Caitlin Riedy and sophomore Katie O'Brien came up big for Palatine's girls track team on a sunny Saturday.

The two combined to power the Pirates to the 82nd Palatine Relays title with 143 points at Chic Anderson Stadium.

Barrington took second with 114 points, followed by Fremd (79 points), Lane (67), and Wheeling (65).

Riedy took first in the 300 low hurdles (47.26) to open the day. She also was part of the distance medley relay and 400 high hurdles shuttle relay that took first, and she completed her day by helping the Pirates secure a second-place finish in the meet-ending 1,600 relay.

With all of that achievement, Riedy earned the G.A. McElroy award as the top female athlete in the meet.

O'Brien was part of the frosh/soph 800 medley team that took first. She also anchored the winning distance medley relay and led off a second-place finish in the 1,600 relay.

"Those two certainly had a good day," said Palatine coach Joe Parks. "We had a lot of kids step up and add to our attack. It was a good day and hopefully we can build off this."

Riedy and O'Brien combined with senior Liz Cox and Cassidy McPherson to give the Pirates an impressive victory in the distance medley (12:23.29). And Riedy joined Kearia Coney, Theresa Burnjas and Megan Cunningham on the 400 high hurdles shuttle.

O'Brien started her day by anchoring the Pirates to victory in the frosh/soph 800 medley (1:55).

Riedy and O'Brien then combined with McPherson and Kara Burton in the 1,600 relay (4:07.29).

"It was a great day," said Riedy. "Everyone put in their best effort, and we really put in the mental side of it and came together as a team."

"We were running for our team, and not ourselves," said O'Brien, who anchored the Pirates in the distance medley. "We wanted that mark in the distance medley. It was hard but we got it done."

Basirat Iginla also had an impressive day for Palatine. The Pirates junior took first in the 400 (1:00.38), holding off Barrington junior Lauren Cropsey (1:01.75) for the win. She added a second-place finish in the 100 (12.85) and combined with Ashley Proksa, Gabbi Heidrich, and Corey Rinnela in leading the Pirates to victory in the 400 relay (49.90).

Heidrich took first individually in the triple jump (35-03.25), leading Palatine to a relay victory (69-02.25). Megan Thabuteau took first individually in the high jump (5-2).

Palatine also had second-place finishes in the 3,200 relay (9:47.69), 800 relay (1:49.83) and long jump relay (32-00.5).

"We did what we had to do to get the job done," Parks said. "We are headed in the right direction."

Abigail Elo, Addi Coy, Carly Horak and Kelsey Mclaurin combined to give Barrington an early lift in winning the frosh/soph 1,600 medley (4:24.12).

Joyce Taylor had the top individual mark in the long jump (16-04.75) and combined with Brooke Morgan and McCall Braun to give Barrington first place in the relay (32-00.75)

Cropsey had a second place finish in the 400, and Nina Hodges was second in the 200 (27.11).

The Fillies also added second place finishes in the frosh/soph 800 medley (1:56.72), high jump relay (9-10), and triple jump relay (67-06.25).

Fremd junior Ayako Higuchi cruised to a first-place finish in the 3,200 (11:17.10). Kailyn Bryk, Ally Pagones and Sydney Plichta combined to give the Vikings a high jump relay win.

Katie Escobar (5:10.24) took second for Fremd behind McHenry's Lauren Opatrny (5:07.22) in the 1,600, and the Vikings added a second-place finish in the pole vault relay (17-0).

Alexa Laureano gave Wheeling a win in the 100 dash (12.66) and a third-place finish in the 200 (27.46).

Hannah Dobrowski had the top individual mark in the discus (100-07), leading Wheeling to the discus relay title (193-10), and Ashley Talken had the top individual mark in the pole vault (9-6) in another Wildcats relay win (17-0). Wheeling also finished second in the distance medley (12:58.92) and 400 high hurdle shuttle relay (1:10.68).

Laura Van Vlierbergen dominated the field in winning the 800 (2:19.49) for Jacobs.

Addison Trail freshman Lauren Kroll took first in the 200 (26.91) and also was a member of Addison Trail's first place 800 relay (1:48.82).