Girls track and field: Barkocy, Hintz lead Burlington Central to FVC title
A little dissatisfaction wasn't necessarily a bad thing for Prairie Ridge sophomore Rylee Lydon.
Lydon was pleased with her victories in the high jump and the 400 meters at the Fox Valley Conference Girls Track and Field Meet, but felt she could have jumped higher and run faster.
So she channeled that into her last event, a race against one of the meet's other sophomore stars, Huntley's Alex Johnson, in the 200 meters.
"Along with Alex, I was running a little angry," Lydon said. "That definitely helped a lot."
Apparently. Lydon blazed the track at the Dundee-Crown Bowl in 25.04, knocking a half-second off the old mark to win her third individual title at the meet Saturday afternoon.
Johnson set the other meet record for the day with her 19-0 long jump, and also won the 100.
Burlington Central's Brooke Barkocy (100 high, 300 low hurdles) and Carolina Hintz (discus, shot put) were the other two individual double champions at the meet.
Burlington won the team title with 128 points. The Rockets were competing in the FVC Meet for the first time because the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 season, the school's first year in the FVC.
Lydon and Johnson both had their eyes on setting meet records coming into Saturday. The meet was postponed a day because of cold, wet weather Friday, which helped their record performances.
"I knew (the 200) was going to be a really tough race," Lydon said. "(Johnson) is great, both in jumps and sprints. I was trying to get prepared mentally for that.
"(The 200 record) was definitely something I looked at. My last meet I ran a 25.2 and that was the only time I ran that fast. I knew it was possible. Everything had to line up correctly. It's still processing."
The former 200 mark was held by Huntley's Coryn Marzejon (25.54, set in 2007).
Johnson erased the meet's second-oldest record in the long jump, Woodstock's Laura Valldeperas' 18-4 set in 1999.
"My coach told me a few days ago it was 18-4, I've been consistently above that," Johnson said. "I tried to work on my form a little bit and get a hitch kick so I could get more height in the air. It came together today."
Johnson beat the old mark on two attempts and then focused on her running events, the 100, 400 relay and 200. She finished with three firsts and a second.
"She had a goal, she really wanted that conference (long jump) record and went after it," Red Raiders coach Jason Monson said. "She jumped the first two and called it a day with sectional coming up Wednesday (at Rolling Meadows). We wanted her to get a little work in, get in the pit a couple times and take it easy on the body a little bit."
Both Lydon's and Johnson's record-setting performances would have medaled in the 2019 Class 3A state meet.
Barkocy was thrilled with her hurdles performances, both of which were just short of meet records. She ran 14.83 in the 100 highs, .01 off of Huntley's Macy Tramblay's 2015 meet record. In the 300s, Barkocy was .19 off of Huntley's Amy Fanella's meet mark set in 2009.
"I've had a mental block for a couple of years now, I haven't broken 15 seconds since my freshman year," said Barkocy, who also anchored the Rockets' winning 1,600 relay team. "That was really my main goal today. I didn't care about place or anything, and I broke 15 by so much. I was so hyped.
"The 300 was the same mentality, I really wanted to break 45. I came close enough and I was happy with that because I haven't gotten into the 45s since my freshman year. That's another mental block I got over."
Burlington Central coach Vince Neil appreciated the effort his athletes gave to win in their first year in a conference with larger schools.
"On paper we knew we were an underdog coming in," Neil said. "Our goal was to hit times and marks for next week at sectional. A lot of this was to use this great field of girls around you to set marks and standards.
"These girls were hungry today. I couldn't be more proud of them. It was awesome that each little piece added up together for a team score."
The other conference champions in individual events were Crystal Lake South's Bella Gonzalez (3,200), McHenry's Alyssa Moore (800), Huntley's Breanna Burek (1,600), Jacobs' Haley Schaffer (triple jump) and Burlington's Tia Brennan (pole vault). Schaffer also was second in the long jump.