By Michael Newman

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Downers Grove, Ill --- The thought of after last year’s state meet still lingers in the mind of Emma Spagnola (West HS, Aurora). The Lady Blackhawks missed a trophy by one point in 2013. It could be the thing that is driving Spagnola this season.

“We know we can definitely get a trophy this year if not win at state this year,” Spagnola said after her fourth event of the evening. “We are definitely aiming to do that.”

West Aurora captured the team title at Thursday night’s Bruce Ritter Invitational at Downers Grove North High School. West scored 108 points placing 8 points ahead of team runner up Prospect and ten points ahead of Palatine. Most of that had to do with their talented multi event star winning four events.

The future University of Minnesota athlete started her meet like she does in every meet on the Long Jump runway. She took only one jump but landed 18-9 away from the board in the pit to win the event. Spagnola’s jump is currently second in the state (Minooka’s Janille Rogers jumped 19-0 ¾ Thursday night). Catherine Sherwood (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) established a PR leaping 18-0 ¼ to finish second. Spagnola had conserved her energy for a busy rest of the night on the track.

Spagnola has found a new event in her meet repertoire. In the past, it was usually in the High Jump. Thursday’s meet she introduced the 100 Meter Dash. First, she had to take care of business in one of her best events: the 100 Hurdles. It was no contest after three hurdles. Spagnola moved away from the field to record an easy victory in the race. Her time of 14.45 was more than a second ahead of second place Maya Mason (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect).

Less than five minutes later, she was back in the blocks for the 100 Dash. Again, Spagnola got off to a great start and pulled away from a good field to win ahead of Dominique Lewis (Centennial HS, Champaign) and D’Jenne Egharevba (Naperville Central HS). Spagnola’s winning time was 12.46.

It was a foregone conclusion when Spagnola left the blocks in the 300 Meter Hurdles. She has been undefeated during regular season meets to Illinois runners in this event for more than two years. She made up the stagger by the time she entered the far curve. She cruised down the home straight to win (45.58) by more than a second ahead of teammate Kyla Walton.

The Ritter Invitational is known for its great distance races. Even without Glenbard West’s Madeline Perez and Lisa Luczak on the sidelines nursing minor injuries, there was still enough star power in the distance fields.

The best distance race of the night was the 4 x 800 Meter Relay. Downers Grove North’s Emma Moravec gave her team a two second lead at the first exchange with Palatine, Naperville Central, Lyons Township, and Lane Tech trailing. Christina Santiago (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) took the baton in sixth place and quickly changed her team’s fortunes moving them to third within 200 meters of the second leg. By the time she handed off the baton, Prospect had the lead ahead of Palatine who was in second with a great leg by Liz Cox. Santiago’s split was 2:13.9.

Things changed quickly by the end of the third leg. Downers Grove North’s Zanya Jan took the lead in the final 100 meters coming from fifth place. Naperville Central had moved up into third. Stephanie Urbancik took the baton for Downers Grove North. Rachel Hoffman took the baton for Naperville Central. The fun was about to begin.

The two challenged each other for the lead throughout the first 400 meters of the final leg of the race. It was Urbancik who took the lead with 200 meters to go starting to pull away from Hoffman. The result was a win for Downers Grove North timed in 9:25.34 five second ahead of Naperville Central (9:30.89). Kelly O’Brien, who had an almost disastrous final handoff when the baton flew up in the air between her and Sabina Yousif brought Palatine from sixth to finish third two seconds behind Naperville Central.

The 1600 had a crazy start. The pack went through the first 200 in 36 seconds. All of a sudden it was like someone had built an imaginary wall across the track as the pack slowed to almost a walk. There was no wind. No one wanted to push the pace. The pack in 81 seconds. So much for a fast 1600 the crowd thought.

Christina Santiago had planned to surge at the half way point of the race. With the pace struggling to an 85 second next lap, Santiago decided to make her move 280 meters early. She started to push the pace stringing out the pack. Rachel Hoffman made an effort to stay with the Prospect runner. So did Kelly O’Brien. The middle 2 laps of the race were covered in 2:32. Santiago took of the final 400 meters covering that in 72 seconds to win in 5:05.49. O’Brien made a surge but Santiago’s kick was a little better this night. O’Brien finished in 5:07.36.

“The pace definitely went out too slow but that is the kind of race I am geared for running negative splits,” Santiago said afterwards. “We had a race plan of kicking at the half but starting out so slow I changed things.”

Alex Martel (Lane Tech HS, Chicago) took command of the race early in the 800 Meter Run going through the first 200 in 30 seconds. Cassady MacPherson (Palatine HS) caught up to Martel by the 400 as the two were within a second of each other going across the line in 66 seconds. It was a move on the back stretch by the Lane Tech runner that made the difference. She held on to win a second ahead of McPherson (2:16.23 – 2:17.64).

“I just wanted to go out a little faster for that first 400,” said Martel. “From there I wanted to pick up the intensity. I could hear McPherson. I did not run this fast to let her pass me.”

Martel was also a key part of Lane Tech’s success in the 4 x 400 Meter Relay. Martel took the baton on the anchor leg and pulled away from Palatine and York giving her team a three second win ahead of Palatine. Their time of 4:01.15 is currently the fastest time in the state for the event.

It was a done deal for Lindsay Graham (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn) in the 3200 Meter Run as she took the lead at 200 meters into the race. She did not look back as she went on to an easy 33 second win ahead of conference rival Lexy Rudolfski (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange). Graham finished running the third fastest time in the state 10:47.

Bertha Frazier (Centennial HS, Champaign) was on her own after 200 meters as she pulled away from Stephanie Urbancik to win the 400 Meter Dash (57.74). Urbancik finished two seconds back. Frazier’s teammate Dominique Lewis gave Centennial their second win of the evening winning the 200 Meter Dash ahead of Mary Beth Blank (Naperville Central HS).

Erin Reese (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) was a double winner in the weight events. She won the Shot Put (41-2 ½) by three feet ahead of Maya Marion (West HS, Aurora). Reese came back to win the Discus with a 131-1 throw twenty feet ahead of West Aurora’s SaMaya Hunt.

Emma Haugen (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) was also a double winner in the field events. She won the Triple Jump (35-5 ½). Haugen and Jes Skudlarek (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) both cleared 5-5 in the High Jump. Haugen won the event on fewer misses.

Naperville Central captured the two sprint relays in a close fashion. Mary Beth Blank out leaned Dominique Lewis to give Naperville Central a two hundredth of a second win ahead of Champaign Centennial (49.62 – 49.64). Blank pulled away in the final fifty meters of the race to give Central a 1:46.19 win eight tenths ahead of York.

Abby Waltz (York HS, Elmhurst) cleared 10-0 for the second week in a row to win the Pole Vault.