By Michael Newman

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Downers Grove, Ill – It did not take a slew of wins for Palatine’s Girls team Friday night at Downers Grove North High School. Even though the Lady Pirates only won two events, their depth took over. They scored in 14 of 19 events to win the team championship at the Bruce Ritter Invitational with 107 points. Mid Suburban League rival Prospect finished second with 82 points.

The two wins for Palatine came partially from their star distance runner Kelly O’Brien. Downers Grove North had a four second lead on third place Palatine when O’Brien received the baton in the 3200 Meter Relay. Emma Moravec kept that lead heading into the final 400 meter leg. On the back stretch of the final lap, O’Brien started to make ground getting closer and closer to Moravec. Heading into the final 100 meters of the race, Moravec moved to the outside of Lane 1 as she broke from the curve. It was the opening that O’Brien was looking for. The Palatine junior made her move on the inside trying to pass her in the last 10 meters. Moravec realized that and tried to surge to hold O’Brien off. The result was O’Brien out leaning Moravec to win by one hundredth of a second and the state’s fastest time (9:20.87 – 9:20.88).

“I was trying to keep her (Moravec) in sight but trying to stay tactical,” O’Brien said about her 3200 relay race. “I just wanted to be near her at the end so that I could kick and finish.”

She had an easier time in the 1600 Meter Run. O’Brien opened up a three second lead in the first 600 meters of the race and did not look back. She crossed the line in 5:04.30 (IL #3) and more than eight seconds ahead of Rachel Hoffman (Central HS, Naperville). O’Brien was back on the track to anchor her team’s 1600 Meter Relay. Downers Grove North controlled the race after the first leg to win the race (4:01.48). Palatine moved up to second at the finish based on the strength of O’Brien’s anchor leg. She moved from sixth to second in the final 100 meters with a final 58.5 split.

2A sprint favorite Dominique Lewis (Centennial HS, Champaign) moved up in distance for this meet running in the 400 Meter Dash instead of the 100 along with the 200 Meter Dash. The move paid off for the senior. She took command of the 400 in the final 150 meters crossing the line in a personal best 56.98 (IL #3). Lewis came back at the end of the meet to easily win the 200 Meter Dash (25.06) by almost a second ahead of Amari Windom (Thornton Township HS, Harvey). The confidence from the 400 win could have her looking in a different direction for the state meet.

“My main focus today was to get my 400 down because I am a runner that can run all three events. Today I wanted to specialize in the 400 and get some work in the 200,” Lewis said. “I’m thinking about tripling in state (100,200,400). Last year I sacrificed myself in just the 200 and 400. I just think that I can do all three this year.”

Tineya Foy (Crete-Monee HS) was not noticed much by onlookers during the indoor season in the hurdle races that she competed in. After her performances in this meet, people will take notice of her. Foy set a new meet record in the 300 Meter Hurdles (44.74, IL #4) finishing almost three seconds ahead of second place Caitlin Riedy (Palatine HS). Earlier in the meet, Foy was just as dominating in the 100 Hurdles. Her 14.93 time could be considered a wind legal time even though there was no wind gauge at the meet. The flag was not even moving on this night finding a nice home on the flag pole. Her 14.93 time finished close to four tenths of a second ahead of Emma Haugen (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange).

Jess Skudlarek (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) also bettered Haugen, the defending 3A champion, in the High Jump. The Prospect junior cleared a personal best 5-8 (IL #3) to win the event. Haugen finished second clearing 5-4. Despite the fact of finishing second in the High Jump and the 100 Hurdles, Haugen did have a great meet winning the Triple Jump. She jumped a personal best 38-4 (IL #4) for the win. Skudlarek’s teammate Catherine Sherwood won the Long Jump with a second round leap of 17-5 ¾. Abby Waltz (York HS, Elmhurst) dominated the Pole Vault clearing an outdoor season’s best 11-3 to win the event. Alanah Greenberg (Wheeling HS) won the Shot Put (39-2 ¼). It was close in the Discus as SaMaya Hunt (West Aurora HS) won the event (112-2) by one foot ahead of Anna Gambol (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn).

The other distances races were good even though they were missing Lindsay Graham (Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn) who is recovering from an injury occurring during her spring break. Brooke Wilson (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) broke away from Maggie Schoelle (Lane Tech HS, Chicago) in the last 500 meters of the 3200 Meter Run. Wilson rolled to a personal best 10:56.32 (IL #3) and a 17 second win ahead of Schoelle. Imani Davis (Lane Tech HS, Chicago) took the pace out in 67 seconds for the first 400 Meters of the 800 Meter Run. Hannah Wahlgren (York HS, Elmhurst) overtook her in the last 100 meters to win the race (2:18.84, IL #13) by less than a second ahead of Davis.

Thornton swept the sprint relays winning the 400 Meter Relay (49.65) just ahead of Palatine and in the 800 Meter Relay (1:45.20) holding off Downers Grove North for the championship. Maya Mason (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect) moved away from the hurdles in this meet. She won the 100 Meter Dash (12.55) a tenth of a second ahead of D’Jenne Egharevba (Central HS, Naperville).