Girls track: Naperville North just getting warmed up
If Friday's girls track meet is any indication, Naperville North is ready for May and the three important meets it brings.
Despite a juggled lineup, the Huskies took second place at the prestigious 39th annual Tiger Invitational at Wheaton Warrenville South with 97 points. Downers Grove South placed first out of 20 teams with 101 points.
"This is kind of our final tuneup," said Huskies coach Brian Webb, whose team returns to WW South next Thursday for the DuPage Valley Conference meet, with sectionals the week after, followed by the state meet. "Championship season starts after this. This is our last chance to try some different things. Not everybody did the events that they normally do tonight. ... Ninety-seven points was pretty impressive, I thought, just kind of getting contributions from all areas. All four relays were top five. It's nice. This meet is one of the best around. The level of competition is great."
Hinsdale Central took third with 87 points, Glenbard West was next at 65. The host Tigers took seventh with 53.5 points.
Junior Elise Chao had maybe the best night of all the Huskies, winning the triple jump.
"I'm really happy because I got a 37-1," said Chao, who also ran on the fifth-place 1,600 relay. "...I'm really happy because DVC is going to be here, so I got a good mark down, so hopefully I can do better at DVC and get a (personal record 37-5)."
"I think she kind of epitomizes our team as a whole. We just have a lot of depth. It makes it a lot of fun," Webb said.
Huskies senior Judy Pendergast, who last week ran the best time in the nation in the 3,200, placed second in the 800 behind Downers Grove South senior Michaela Hackbarth. After running both the 1,600 and 3,200 last week, the 800 was Pendergast's only race Friday.
Hinsdale Central sophomore Grace McCabe won the 3,200 in 10:58.44.
Glenbard West's fourth-place finish was accomplished without its first-string lineup.
"We had a lot of kids do just one event, so for the rest of the kids to step up was awesome," said Hilltoppers coach Kelly Hass, noting Grace Rogers and Lindsay Payne competed in just one event each. "Our sprinters had a really good night. Our (800 relay) was second, so that's finally coming together. And probably the star of our show tonight was Janie Nabholz. It was hard to see because she did it on all the relays (800, 1,600 and 3,200), so she scored a lot of points for us but all on relays. She was amazing. What 800 runner can run a 4x2 like she did tonight?"
Hass also liked the work her throwers did. Juniors Melina Thurmond and Anna Gambol placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the discus. Thurmond took third in the shot put, three spots ahead of Gambol.
The host Tigers' best showing was sophomore Kennedy Youngblood's second place in the 300 hurdles behind Downers South's Soren Umali. Youngblood also took third in the high jump.
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