Girls track and field: Lake Zurich runs away from field at Buffalo Grove invite
Buffalo Grove girls track and field coach Bryan Quesea arrived at the campus early Saturday morning to do some final pre-meet preparations for the return of the Buffalo Grove girls track and field invite after a four-year absence.
Toss in some assistance from Mother Nature who bestowed a 63-degree mostly sunny forecast for the afternoon and everything was all ready at Grant Blaney Stadium.
"You can't ask for any better," a busy Quesea said of the meet's conditions.
Lake Zurich coach Jeremy Kauffman had to second that sentiment after witnessing his team's performance as it captured top team honors with 159 points by capturing eight events and earning a tie in another.
"We have a very deep team. A young team, too. We have a lot of juniors and sophomores contributing. Our seniors are such great leaders," Kauffman said.
Cary-Grove took the runner-up spot (126) despite not having a single winner on the afternoon. The Trojans did have five second place finishes highlighted by silver efforts in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x800 relays.
Third-place finisher Lake Park (97.5 points) won a trio of events plus it earned a first-place tie in the high jump when senior Karmen Kurowicki matched Lake Zurich junior Baelyn Zitzman as they each cleared 5 feet, 6 inches.
Zitzman gave a tip of the cap to the weather which allowed her the ability of not having to make an adjustment in the face of inclement conditions.
"If it's windy usually my distance from the put would change depending on if the winds (are) behind me or in front of me. If it's cold and rainy, I just got to have extra layers (of clothing) on and (then) take it all off before I jump."
That successful draw laid the foundation for the Bears' success as they got multiple first-place finishes. Zitzman added first-place honors as part of the Bears winning 4x200 (1:48.90) and 4x400 (4:14.67) relay squads. She partnered up with fellow LZ junior Olivia Verden who took home top honors in both the 100 meter (16.11 seconds) and 300 meter (48.87) hurdles.
Bears sophomore Kendall Fluornoy added a pair of individual titles in the long jump (4.72 meters) and the 400 (1:00.55) plus served as a fourth of Lake Zurich's first place 4x100 relay (50.11).
Two of the highlighted competitions of the afternoon came on the Blaney Stadium track when Buffalo Grove junior Martyna Ostrega held off LZ junior Riley Betz in both the 100 and 200. Ostrega bested Betz by .08 (12.73 to 12.81)in the 100 and came in .46 ahead of her (26.45 to 26.91) in the 200 in a duel between state-ranked speedsters.
For the defending North Suburban Conference champion Bears, one of the things that serves as a beacon of strength is a team-first mentality that Verden simply frames in a single sentence.
"It's so good and we cheer one another on and believe in one another," she said.
Kauffman looks forward as postseason begins with the NSC league meet just five weeks away.
"Right now, we're experimenting with a lot of things trying to find the best lineup we can and while also getting as many kids involved as possible to make our program deeper," Kauffman said.