There were less than five minutes between the end of the 100-meter high hurdles and the start of the 100 dash at the Waubonsie Valley girls track sectional Friday night in Aurora. Batavia junior Natalie Tarter had to hurry if she wanted to qualify for next weekend’s Class AA state meet in both events.
Not only did Tarter win the 100 hurdles, she won the 100 dash without having caught her breath. Later, she qualified for the state meet in the 300 low hurdles and was on the winning 1,600 relay team.
Tarter won the 100 hurdles in a personal best 13.5 seconds, won the 100 dash in 12.0 seconds and ran the second leg of the winning 1,600 relay in a school record 3:56.0, two seconds faster than the old mark of 3:58.0.
‘‘I still hadn’t caught my breath and I was down there [in the blocks] out of breath,’’ Tarter said after the 100 dash. ‘‘It was a hard choice to run them back-to-back. I got to the last few hurdles [during the 100], and something kicked in.
‘‘This is for next week and getting times. I did both [the 100 hurdles and 100 dash] last year, and I’ve been doing it all season so I like it.’’
Tarter finished ahead of Waubonsie Valley junior Shakeia Pinnick in the 100 hurdles, but Pinnick eked out a win over Tarter in the 300 low hurdles. Pinnick won the 300 lows in 42.4 seconds to Tarter’s 43.4.
Like Tarter, Pinnick qualified for the state meet in four events: the 100 and 300-meter hurdles, 800 run and 200 dash.
But Pinnick wasn’t happy with her 800 run. She finished second in her heat in 2:19.5 after taking the lead early in the first lap.
‘‘In the 800 I was tightening up the whole race, but in the [last] 200 when I’d sprint it wouldn’t happen,’’ Pinnick said. ‘‘In the 100 hurdles, I got off focus, and it was a bad race.
‘‘But in the 300 hurdles I might have been a little angry, and that ended up OK since that’s my favorite race.’’
Benet won the sectional team title with 88 points, followed by Batavia in second with 65 and Neuqua Valley in third with 60.
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