Area track standouts primed for next level

Waubonsie Valley football players (from left) Tyler Castro (Drake), Sherrod Stancil (McKendree) and Mitch Ewald (Indiana) sign national letters of intent on Wednesday in Aurora.
(Terence Guider-Shaw/For The Beacon News)

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Was it as easy as 1-2-3? Hardly, but this trio of senior track standouts made it seem that way over the past three years.

All three excel in sprints and hurdles. All three are three-time state qualifiers. All three are multiple state medal winners.

And, all three are moving on to compete at NCAA Division I college programs.

Waubonsie Valley's Shakeia Pinnick, Batavia's Natalie Tarter and Kaneland's Lindsay Gierke all signed national letters of intent on Wednesday.

Pinnick is headed to Arizona State University, which last year won the NCAA indoor national title and finished second in the NCAA outdoor meet. Tarter has inked with Wisconsin of the Big Ten and Gierke will run for the University of Northern Iowa.

Pinnick noted the Sun Devils academics, staff and "great weather and top-notch facilities," in making her decision.

An AAU national champ in the heptathlon and 400 hurdles, Pinnick will be following All-America heptathlete Jacquelyn Johnson at ASU in the event.

"Saying no becomes a challenge to her in a positive manner because you can't tell her she can't hit a certain mark," ASU ssistant coach Kenny McDaniel said. "She will step in and produce instantly for us and could be an explosive leg for our 4 x 400 relay in the near future as well."

She will also be coached by volunteer assistant Dan O'Brien, the 1996 gold medalist in the decathlon in Atlanta.

"He will help her with meet management and training," McDaniel said. "He's kind of our eye in the sky and will be CEO of her (pentathlon) career."

Pinnick, who runs for Warriors coach Jim Braun and Tom Boatright's Aurora Flyers, said, "I like that they were national champions and that they expect to continue that in the future."

Tarter, who committed to coach Jim Stintzi's Badgers in the fall of 2007, helped lead the Bulldogs to a third-place finish at state last spring by winning the 300 hurdles, taking second in the 100 hurdles, sixth in the 100 dash and running a leg of the fourth-place 1,600 relay.

"I wanted to stay close so I'll be able to have friends and family and (former) coaches come watch me run," said Tarter, who will run a variety of events and may also try the heptathlon before her collegiate career is done.

"Natalie is quite possibly the best female athlete to ever come through Batavia High school and she carries that with a great deal of class," Batavia coach Chad Hillman said. "She is very humble with all the success that she has had."

Gierke said competing in Class AA the past three years against strong area runners like Pinnick and Tarter helped her improve.

"It was good because they're very good athletes," she said. "They helped me to do better."

This year, she'll miss that when the state meet is divided into three classes and Kaneland drops to 2A.

She will run sprints and hurdles for new coach Travis Geopfert, who has been with the program for five years. He replaces Chris Bucknam, who has moved on to be the men's head coach at the University of Arkansas.

Gierke had considered Iowa State and Michigan State but was impressed with the Cedar Falls school when she visited in December and looks forward to running indoors in the school's Unidome.