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West Aurora girls breeze to meet title
Updated: April 29, 2011 11:21PM
“They were very good. They’re a deep team that can score in the jumps, throws, sprints and other places. And, they had a terrific day today,” Peter Raak said.
The Geneva girls track coach was talking about West Aurora, which breezed to the Kane County Meet title for the second year in a row Friday by scoring 132 points, nearly double that of the runner-up Vikings’ 72.
The battle for spots three through nine in the 11-team meet was hotly contested with St. Charles East (59) taking third followed by Burlington Central (51.5), Rosary and Kaneland (50 each), Hampshire (45), St. Charles North (39) and Batavia (38.5).
West Aurora won both sprint relays (400-meter and 800-meter) handily and also got three individual wins, from its fabulous freshmen, Emma Spagnola in the 100 high hurdles (15.48 seconds), Kyla Walton in the long jump (16-10) and Maya Marion in the discus (109.5).
The Blackhawks’ 400 relay included junior Cynthia Smith, sophomore Anita Saffa and seniors Jasmine Ranson and Kehlay Dunah, and they topped runner-up St. Charles each by 1.59 seconds. The 800 unit, which beat second place Rosary by almost 3.5 seconds, featured sophomore Monique Dunum, Saffa, Smith and Ranson.
“We really didn’t have a lot of competition to push us to get our times down for the DVC (conference) and sectional meets, but it was nice to finally get some good weather,” West coach Teresa Towles said. “It’s been so bad, our times are not where they should be.”
While the pre-meet seeds indicated the Blackhawks should coast, Towles discounted it.
“That’s all on paper,” she said. “I don’t go by paper.”
Getting multiple placers in multiple events keyed the win. In addition to her relay contributions, Saffa was second to two-event winner Anna Deufel of Rosary in both the 100-meter dash and 200.
“I’ve been running with her (at meets) the past two weeks,” said Deufel, a senior who won in 12.70 seconds in the 100 and nipped Saffa at the wire in the 200, her winning time of 25.83 beating the sophomore by a mere hundredth of a second.
“It’s nice to have someone running with you and pushing you. My 100 time wasn’t great but it will get better, especially if it warms up.”
The only downer for Towles and Co. was the fact Spagnola suffered a strained or pulled left hamstring in the long jump, where she finished third. She was also second in the high jump and won the 100 hurdles after suffering the injury but pulled out of the 300 hurdles.
Marion won the discus and also took second in the shot.
“She’s stepped in and done a great job filling in for (graduated) Mariah Smith,” Towles said. “That’s a pretty good night for a freshman.”
Walton even surprised herself after being seeded fourth in long jump.
“I was very surprised,” she said. “That’s my personal best. I scratched, went 16-8 and then hit it on my third preliminary jump. I passed in the finals. That’s my first win.”
Other area event winners included Geneva’s Tess Ehrhardt (11:20.73) in the 3,200 and Taylor Wickware (58.82) in the 400; Kaneland’s Brooke Patterson (34-4¼) in the triple jump; Batavia’s Haleigh Theuerkauf (36-11) in the shot put and Geneva’s 3,200 relay of Megan Brady, Wickware, Liza Tauscher and Rachel Hammond.
Rosary senior hurdler Amy Kus, who came back from knee surgery only to suffer a stress fracture in the indoor season, was running for the first time in the outdoor season and took third in the 100 high hurdles.
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