Naperville Central girls track and field gets multiple top finishes to take home the sectional championship. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
We got Metea Valley hosting one of the 3A girls track and field sectionals.
Naperville Central boasts multiple sectional champions in field events
Starting with the pole vault out in the field events. Waubonsie Valley junior Daniella Russo clears 9 feet and 9 inches. The jump is good enough for sixth place, but short of the State qualifying height of 10 feet three inches.
Naperville Central girls track and field junior Kait McHale, who burst onto the scene as a State qualifier a season ago continues to soar to new heights. She clears 12 feet and 8.25 inches, which is tied for the top height of the sectional, sending the Redhawk back to State.
The pole vault sectional champ is Joscelyn Dieckman from DeKalb, who also clears 12 feet 8.25 inches but in fewer tries than McHale to earn first place.
Now over to the long jump where Waubonsie Valley junor Taylor Ahmadian jumps a distance of 5.17 meters. That is good for third place and a PR, but just shy of a spot at State.
West Chicago junior Kali Waller is the long jump sectional champion with a leap of 5.31 meters. Waller also wins the 100 meters later in the night.
To the triple jump where another Naperville Central girls track and field junior is in line for a big night. Brooke Sawatzky wins the event, hitting the number she needs on the first try at 11.27 meters.
The high jump sees the return of All-State performer Annastasia Murphy from Metea Valley. The junior finishes in a tie for second with a height of 1.57 meters, which sends the Mustang back to State.
We conclude the field portion of events with the discus. Naperville Central earns another first place finish behind this throw of 32.15 meters from junior Allison Roozeboom. Another local thrower is heading to State as well as Sydni Ellison-Muse earns second place in the shot put for Metea Valley.
The Redhawks continue to succeed on the track
Moving onto the track with the first race of the night being the 4X800 meters. St. Charles East and Wheaton South in front at the first handoff followed by Naperville North, Naperville Central, Metea Valley and Batavia. North using Lexi Pera, Emma Berres, Kayla Marx and Julie Piot while Metea Valley turns to Maya Hall, Sami Poces-Bell, Gianna Cannek and Julia Hannon. Naperville Central is able to make up a ton of ground in the final two legs as Addison George, Julia Laird, Abby Mogg and the anchor Lola Satre-Morales finishing in first in come from behind fashion. St. Charles East in second and North takes third. Metea Valley finishes in sixth, but the top six are all heading to State.
A couple events later we look into the 3200 race. Liv Phillips from Central near the front just ahead of Logan Brennan and Shania Tandon from Naperville North, Heather Durant from Larkin, Sofia Borter from Geneva, Taylor Poces-Bell from Metea Valley and fellow Redhawk Ava Hendren. Hendren would be forced to drop out after suffering a hamstring injury later in the race. Phillips is able to run away from the pack in the final half mile to win the sectional, after missing the State cut by mere seconds a season ago. Brennan and Durant finish second and third and qualify for State as well.
The 800 meter race features a furious finish to the two lap run. Lola Satre-Morales from Naperville Central manages to just hold off Korima Gonzalez from DeKalb for the win. Addison George from Central finishes just behind them in third. All three are heading down to State next weekend.
The sun starts to dip lower into the sky as the 4X200 relay takes place. Naperville North, Naperville Central, Batavia, St. Charles North and South Elgin all competing for the top spots. Batavia ends up coming around to finish first, but the Bulldogs are called for an illegal exchange outside of the zone, so that means they are disqualified and Naperville Central gets the top spot behind Adeline O’Neill, Bella Brozek, Lauren Thorne and Brooke Sawatzky. Naperville North gets a State spot as well in second place thanks to Katelyn Yakus, Trinity Finger, Megan Schoenjohn and Lily Longenbaugh.
Next up is the 400 meter dash, which ends up being a fast race with five State qualifiers. Sariyah Watson from DeKalb takes the narrow win over Sophie Kusserow from Naperville Central and Kyla Harris from Metea Valley. Bridget Hecker from Geneva and Avery Littlejohn from West Aurora round out the top five and also qualify for State.
Metea Valley and Naperville Central earn top three team finishes
Last long distance race of the night is the 1600 with several of the same faces from the 3200. Marley Andelman from St. Charles East charges down the home stretch to take the win at 5:05.04, surpassing Liv Phillips in the final lap. Julie Piot from North ends up in third place as the top three finishers are all heading to State.
Near the end of the night and the 200 meters flies towards the finish line. Kali Waller from West Chicago and Kyla Harris from Metea are neck and neck right in the middle of the track. Harris gets the edge for the win at 25 seconds flat. The fourth event that the Mustang will be competing in at State.
The 300 meter hurdles has Brooke Sawatzky looking for a fourth State event as well as the Redhawk goes up against Adeline Draper from West Chicago, who won the 100 hurdles over Sawatzky earlier in the night. This time it’s Sawatzky who takes first place. Another win for Naperville Central, who runs away with the sectional championship victory. The Redhawks flying high after sweeping the DVC indoor and outdoor meets as well. DeKalb finishes in second place and Metea Valley third.
You can find the full sectional championship results on athletic.net.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!
