Girls track and field: Barrington pulls away late to win Lake Zurich sectional
After postponing the meet by one day due to poor weather conditions, the area girls track and field athletes were ready to go Friday night at the Class 3A Lake Zurich sectional.
The host Bears and Barrington were tied 101.5 to 101.5 after 15 of the 18 events before the Fillies pulled away to win the team title 134.5 to 111.5 for their 18th sectional championship.
The top two finishers in every event along with any athletes beating the IHSA qualifying standards advanced to the state meet next weekend in Charleston.
Barrington came ready to perform as its 4x100 team of Cici Stennett, Sophia Goluba, Khloe Slatter, and Kaley Swanson raced to first place in 47.75 seconds for the first of two school records. Then Stennett continued to shine as she set the school record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.04 seconds to nip Lake Zurich's Riley Betz by .05 seconds.
Barrington's 4x800 team of Abby Lewis, Kaleigh Burns, Sydney Sukel, and Scout Storms posted a first-place time of 9:29.33. Barrington freshman Mia Sirois cruised to the 3,200 crown in 10:28.56 while Storms and Burns went 1-2 in the 1,600.
"Well I didn't know I won until they told me my time so it's very exciting and I'm speechless right now because I was not expecting to win that," said Stennett. "Our 4x100 have been working handoffs all week and we really knew today was going to be the day to show it off. We came out here and we ran a really fast time and I'm very proud of my team and all of the girls."
Barrington coach Kala Penev was ecstatic following the two school records.
"We've been looking forward to this pretty much the whole season. The girls have been excited about getting back to state and we've been working hard on putting everything together at the right time and now's the right time," Penev said.
"I'm very excited for them. The old school record (in 4x100) is from 2007, and I believe the school record in the 100 was from 2005. She (Stennett) has really stepped up and kind of found her stride, and she is hungry and ready to get after it."
Lake Zurich's Kendall Flournoy was the long jump champion while teammate Baelyn Zitzmann won the high jump.
Palatine's Aisha Kazeem won both the 100 and 300 hurdles while Antioch's Charlee Kempf won both the shot put and the discus.
Warren's Carolina Martinez won the 400 while teammate Anna Iwuagwu won the triple jump. The Blue Devils’ team of Martinez, Sanaii Vaughn, Addison Filipowicz, and Finley Jezuit won the 4x400.
Lakes' Josie Gates won the pole vault, Grant freshman Lauryn Francis won the 200 in 25.42, and Grayslake Central's Isabella Domier won the 800.
"Barrington's distance just put it away in the mile. They're just so good and we knew we were underdogs coming in," said Lake Zurich coach Jeremy Kauffman, whose team broke school records in the 100 hurdles (Olivia Verden), 4x100, and 4x200.
"It was just a battle between I believe two really great state-level programs. We got Barrington last year at Palatine for a sectional title and this year they're going to get us for the title and they deserve it, they're an excellent team. They're just a great program, we respect them a ton, and we love competing against them."