By Michael Newman, ILXCTF.com

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Naperville – It was a balance of their dominance in the distance events plus putting up points in other events that put the top 3A team in the state on top Thursday night at North Central College’s Res-Rec Center. Naperville North swept the distance events and scored in all but one event to win the DuPage Valley Conference Indoor title with 112 points. Naperville Central (95 points) finished second with Wheaton-Warrenville South and Neuqua Valley tied for third with 78.5 points each.

Naperville North started their night winning the 3200 Meter Relay with the state’s fastest time in the event (9:27.78). Naperville Central and Naperville North were even at the end of the first leg of the race. Naperville North’s Claire Hamilton ran a 2:19.1 second leg to break the race wide open. The Huskies finished 27 seconds ahead of Naperville Central (9:27.78) and Neuqua Valley (9:55.49). Hamilton looked strong in also winning the 1600 Meter Run. She broke away from the field early running the first 400-meters in 68 seconds. She ended up running 5:00.97 almost ten seconds ahead of teammate Hannah Ricci (5:10.43). 

Sara Adkins of Wheaton-Warrenville South was out front pushing the pace in the 800 Meter Run. Claire Hill of Naperville North took the lead with less than 100-meers to go and held off Metea Valley’s Nicki Cast to win by five hundredths of a second (2:19.77 – 2:19.82). Adkins finished third (2:20.91) just ahead of Gabby Champion of Naperville North (2:21.06). 

The pack in the 3200 Meter Run broke down quickly in the fourth lap with Naperville North’s Sarah Schmitt and Alex Morris along with Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Allison McGrath pulling away from the field. The three went through the first 1600-meters in 5:23. The two Naperville North runners pulled away from McGrath just after the mile. Morris tried to pass her teammate Schmitt in the final two laps but the junior would not give up the lead. Schmitt just missed her personal best by a tenth of a second crossing the line in 10:43.18. Morris was just a second back (10:44.26) improving her personal best by 20 seconds.

Halle Bieber gave Naperville North another win by running 8.46 (IL #2 tie) to win the 55 Meter Hurdles. Bieber also anchored the Huskies’ winning 800 Meter Relay. Naperville North took advantage of a second exchange handoffs that did not go so well for Naperville Central and Neuqua Valley. North’s winning time of 1:45.55 (IL #2) was three seconds ahead of Neuqua Valley (1:48.54) and Wheaton-Warrenville South (1:49.58). 

Naperville North missed sweeping the wins in all three relays when a strong anchor leg by Neuqua Valley’s Lizzie McCadd brought her from three seconds back in the final 400-meters to catch Naperville North’s Elise Chao just before the line. Neuqua’s time of 4:06.04 (IL #6) was just six hundredths of a second ahead of North. There was some controversy on the final lap of the race when a Neuqua Valley runner ran on the inside of the track side by side yelling at her teammate McCadd that continued around the curve. Since there were no curve judges assigned for this meet, no disqualification for pacing could be made.

Meet Notes

One of the most notable field event performances came in the Triple Jump as Cami Robinson of Waubonise Valley jumped into the state spotlight. The senior had achieved a personal best of 16-9 earlier in the meet in the Long Jump. She was competing in the Triple Jump for the second time in her life. She achieved a new personal best 38-2 (IL #2) to win the event ahead of Lake Park’s Isabelle Kennedy (37-5.5). Kennedy jumped a new personal best 18-0.25 to win the Long Jump earlier in the meet. 

Ricki Stevenson led a Waubonsie Valley 1-2 finish in the 55 Meter Dash. Stevenson ran a personal best 7.39 to win the third section of the event having the fastest overall time in the three sections. Dana Dwyer ran 7.45 to win the second section to finish second overall.

Mikenna Robinson of Neuqua Valley was the only runner under 60 seconds in the 400 Meter Dash. The sophomore’s time of 59.25 (IL #10) was more than a second ahead of Waubonsie Valley’s Dwyer (1:00.95).