Track: More records for Naperville North's Pendergast
Judy Pendergast is her own toughest critic.
She was upset after running her second and final event at Friday's coed Gus Scott Track & Field Invitational on her home track at Naperville North - a 1,600-meter run she won by more than 10 seconds while lowering her own program record and establishing a new meet record at 4 minutes, 51.09 seconds.
What ticked her off was not beating her personal-record of 4:49 set at the DuPage Valley Conference indoor meet. Eventually, she lightened up.
"It was my first outdoor race, officially, and I was doubling, and I haven't done that in a while," said the Harvard-bound senior, who joined Huskies Emory Griffin, Kate Shannon and Sarah Schmitt for another meet record in the 3,200 relay, 9:27.95.
"I wanted to 'PR' in the mile, but that's not how it sorted out today. You can't 'PR' every day," Pendergast said.
It did sort out that the Huskies won the girls side of the meet, dethroning usual suspect Cary-Grove. Pendergast and Kayla Glowacki led a Naperville North sweep of the 1,600 and 3,200 runs, respectively, while Claire Hamilton won the 800.
Elise Chao won triple jump for Naperville North, which also won the 1,600 relay. And freshman Halle Bieber won both the 300 hurdles and the 100 hurdles, claiming the latter in a meet-record 15.28 seconds. Her older sister, Annie, placed top-six in the 100 and 200.
"I'm really excited for what comes," Halle said.
Benet's Ali Munson also must be. The junior successfully defended her Gus Scott pole vault title with a personal-best 12 feet, 3 inches, topping the 11-9 she cleared in a sixth-place Class 3A finish last spring. She followed with a winning long jump of 16-9½ inches and also took sixth in the 200.
"This year I'm definitely a lot more focused and dedicated," said Munson, glad she lifted weights during the indoor season. "That definitely helped today, no doubt."
Only New Trier could put team pressure on repeat boys winner Oak Park, but the Gus Scott was a sound first step for a pair of DuPage County all-state boys.
Waubonsie Valley's Tyler Kirkwood, who will run at Iowa, won the 110 hurdles in 14.61 seconds, looking really smooth. He then dropped his personal-best time in the 300 hurdles to 40.11 seconds. He also tied with Naperville North's Tyler Moseberry for second in high jump behind another Huskie, Kris Heinz.
"It's definitely coaching this year," Kirkwood said of his improvements over both distances. "Our training has changed tremendously, workouts are different and we're all just being smart about what we do."
Being smart is critical for Wheaton Academy's Ty Seager. Shortly after the 2015 Gus Scott he injured a hamstring, which knocked him out the rest of the season. As a sophomore in 2014 he ran to all-state finishes in the 100 and 200.
The 2015 Gatorade Illinois boys soccer player of the year headed to Northwestern, Seager's select track schedule started Friday with a third-place finish in the 100 and, hours later, a winning 200 at 23.03 seconds.
"I think that race suits me really well," Seager said of the 200. "It was good to just get one under my belt with the 100, get my feet wet."
The team depth of Naperville North's girls dethroned the Gus Scott's recent standard-bearer, Cary-Grove, which finished second.
Part of the Trojans' bounty came in the weight throws, where Nikki Freeman set a meet record in discus at 143-10. At 39-8 in shot put, Freeman placed third behind Waubonsie Valley's Brooklynne Wilson and Naperville North's Sarah Wastek.
The Trojans' Tabor Gleason, a sophomore, won the high jump at 5 feet. It wasn't the 5-5 she cleared at last year's Gus Scott Invite, but considering she also ran the 100 hurdles and anchored Cary's 800 relay, it was sufficient.
"I didn't jump as well as I did last year but it's still good," Gleason said. "My approach was just a little off, but I had good height."
St. Charles East, third place on the girls side, had a sprinkling of familiar names up toward the top of nearly every event particularly on the track.
Jessica Glas finished second in both hurdles races and Stephanie Garcia placed top-four in the 100, 200 and 400. Kathleen Strohaker, Casey McNichols, Anastasia Honea, Hannah Ewald and Anna Arrick ran well from 800 meters on up.
"Usually I'm really nervous before a race, but today I felt really good," Garcia said. "I was really practicing my starts yesterday, working on my form, just making sure I have all the components down to get power through the first couple steps."
Along with hurdler Colin Yoon and Patrick Shannon, who won long jump at 20-8, Jacobs' boys showed strength in relays.
The Golden Eagles finished second in the 800 relay and third in the 400, 3,200 and the meet-ending 1,600 relay.
Pulling in at 3:32.90, the final foursome of Conrad Beech, Jermaine Maegdlin-Ferguson, Will Taylor and Kyle Ross sent impressed coaches Jason Borhart and Kevin Christian off the track smiling.