Photo: A night of close wins was led by Wheaton-Warrenville South’s win in the 4x8 (Mike Newman photo)

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

Naperville – It was a mix of timely wins with their depth that led Naperville North to back to back wins in the DuPage Valley Girls Championships Thursday Night at North Central College’s Res-Rec Center. The Lady Huskies used that formula to distance themselves from the rest of the teams scoring 138 points for the conference title. Naperville Central led the pack scoring 92 points finishing second followed by Lake Park (85.5 points) and Wheaton-Warrenville South (70 points).

The closest and most exciting finishes in the meet were not the sprints but the distance races. Three of the four events on the varsity race except for the 3200 Meter Run. Naperville North’s Sarah Schmitt had never run the 3200/1600 double before in a track meet. She took a conservative approach in the first half of the 3200 Meter Run clicking off 81 second laps like clockwork with teammate Hannah Ricci as they separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Schmitt threw in a 79 second 400 in the middle of the race to slowly pull away from Ricci. Schmitt crossed the line in 10:45.7 looking ahead to the 1600 later in the meet. Ricci was next (10:47.56).

Schmitt used the same strategy that she used two weeks before on this track at the NCC Cardinal Girls Classic slowly separating herself from the rest of the field. It was a little different in this race as Neuqua Valley’s Corrina Pena and Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Samantha Poglitsch remained three seconds behind Schmitt as the trio entered the final 400-meters of the race. It looked like Pena found second life in her legs in those final two laps as the gap on Schmitt started to close. It was rejuvenation for Pena. Her entire junior season and into this cross-country season was rattled by a stress fracture. She was finally running healthy and chasing one of the top runners in the state.

Schmitt held her advantage those final two laps going under five-minutes for the second time this season in winning the race (4:59.96). Pena improved her personal best by 12 SECONDS as she crossed in 5:00.73 for second. It was also a huge personal best for Poglitsch as the freshman improved by 13 seconds to finish third (5:04.84).

“My coach (Dan Iverson) kept telling me that she (Pena) was coming,” Schmitt said afterwards. “I was thinking that this was DVC and I was doing this for my team. Let’s see what I have left.”

“I told my coach (Bruyn Yunk) before the race to not yell out splits,” Pena said. “I just wanted to race today. I wanted to run on feel and see what I could do. It still doesn’t feel real right now.”

“I’m glad they did not have a clock displayed at the finish,” Poglitsch said. “I did not realize we were running that fast.”

Poglitsch was also a part of Wheaton-Warrenville South’s 3200 Meter Relay that also came down to the final 50-meters to decide a winner. Poglitsch and her teammates Sarah Kulkarni and Kaitlyn Nenninger opened a 12 second lead on Naperville North as Nenninger handed off the baton to Kelly Kibler. Naperville North closed the gap as Natalie Walsh, running the anchor for the Huskies, closed the gap down to five seconds as she ran the first 400-meters in a fast 65 seconds. Walsh caught Kibler just with 200-meters to go entering the final lap. It looked like a Naperville North win. In the final 100 meters, that thought change. Walsh was feeling that early fast pace in her legs. Kibler just refused to give up. She caught Naperville North and Walsh but not until the final five-meters when Walsh’s stride started to stumble with Kibler surging by. The margin between the two teams was only seven hundredths of a second (9:42.03 – 9:42.10). Walsh made that race as she ran 2:20.1 on her anchor leg. It was a personal best of six seconds for her.

The dynamics of a close finish were also there in the 800 Meter Run as Naperville North’s Claire Hill and Neuqua Valley’s Mikenna Robinson pushed each other through a 66.3 second opening 400-meters. Naperville North’s Jillian Fitz stayed close during those opening two laps but Hill and Robinson started to pull away in that third lap. Robinson took off with 150-meters left and I looked like she was securing a win. A three to five-meter lead was opened by Robinson on the final curve. Hill still had one more surge left. She caught the Neuqua Valley senior with 10-meters left. The two runners crossed the line together with Hill winning by two hundredths of a second (2:14.88 – 2:14.90).

Naperville North’s Hallie Bieber won her specialty the 55 Meter Hurdles (8.58) ahead of Lake Park’s Adelyn Granskog (8.77). Bieber won the last section of the 400 Meter Dash but was disqualified on a contact call coming off the first 200-meter curve. Metea Valley’s Laurel Roney won the event (1:02.40). Bieber came off the final curve even in the 200 Meter Dash. It was teammate Allison Grady that was the surprise in Lane 6 as she snuck past the favorites to win (26.13) ahead of Naomi Egharevba of Naperville Central (26.30). Bieber finished fourth (26.50).

Naperville North also picked up a win in the field events. Sarah Wastek achieved an indoor personal best of 39-10.25 to win the Shot Put. Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Tonjalaya Yarbar had a 38-3 put to finish second, also a personal best.

Lake Park athletes had a good night capturing three individual wins. Isabelle Kennedy jumped 39-3.75 (IL #2) to win the Triple Jump ahead of Neuqua Valley freshman Riley Ammenhauser (38-3.5, IL #5). Lake Park’s Andeyn Granskog won the Long Jump (17-7.75) winning by 1.25 inches ahead of Ammenhauser. Johanna Allen surprised some winning the 550 Meter Dash (7.46) ahead of Naperville Central’s Naomi Egharevba (7.54).

Naperville Central won the other two field events with Rose Fritz and Lake Park’s Kelly Zehnder both clearing 11-0 in the Pole Vault. Fritz won a fewer misses. Naperville Central’s Tikia Harris cleared 5-2 to win the High Jump on fewer misses. Granskog and Ammenhauser also cleared 5-2 tying for second-place.