Here we are Week #16 - Sectionals week. This is the week the girls worked so hard for all season. By luck of the draw, we again were assigned to one of the toughest 3A Sectionals in the state of Illinois. This week was all about keeping the girls motivated and encouraged to go out and give it their all on Friday night. As the week progressed it looked as if rain was going to be with us Friday night. Friday, May 12th we headed to Lockport high school. Right after we arrived, the downpour. We quickly set up the tent and got the field event girls out of the rain as I headed to the coaches meeting. Pole Vault and High jump have been moved indoors, but all other field events will be contested outside. With the weather and tough competition we ended up with 7 individual and relay season best performances AND a STATE QUALIFIER! It was a great day to be a Hornet!
Field Events: ●Casey had to long jump in a downpour and Amerie and Heather had to throw discus in the same. Unfortunately, none of the girls moved on to finals. Heather and Amerie then stayed dry waiting for the Shot Put. ●While indoors Anya was on her way to a huge PR in the Pole Vault reaching a new height of 9’3”. ●When Shot Put began the weather had finally cleared up and both girls did great, Amerie was headed to the finals with the farthest throw and new PR of 10.64m - which ended up placing 3rd overall and just missing a state qualifying position.
Running Events (*-Season Best) ●4x100m Relay - 9th (50.97*) Siena Drynan, Katie Joseph, Olivia Linkowski, Katarina Petrovic ●100mH - Zoe Funk - 19.47* ●100m Dash 8th - Siena Drynan (12.79*) 11th - Katarina Petrovic (13.01*) ●300mH - Kennedy Ruff - 2nd (46.25*) State Qualifier ●1600m Run - 14th - Abby Petersen (5:30.7*) ●200m Dash 14th - Katarina Petrovic (27.00) Casey Fundator (29.06*)
Now we look ahead to Charleston Illinois and the IHSA State 3A Championships with Kennedy Ruff. We are beyond excited and proud of Kennedy!
Week of May 1st
This week begins our championship season. Everything that the team has worked hard for all season long comes down to Conference, Sectionals, and State. The girls are ready, they have been motivated since March 18th when we placed 2nd at the indoor conference meet. We began the week with that reminder. The goal this week was to remember that feeling, to work hard as a team, motivate each other, continue to give 110%, and perform to the best of their ability on Thursday night.
Thursday, May 4th we made our way to West Leyden high school. Mother Nature finally decided to bless us with a beautiful evening for track. We did have a few athletes who have been sick or injured, and some last minute adjustments had to be made, but these girls persevered. These girls gave it their all and didn’t hold back as evident from all the personal bests, and medals that were achieved that night. Unfortunately, we were not able to hold on to 2nd place and we finished 3rd. DGS won the meet with 156.5 points, Willowbrook placed 2nd with 128 points, and Hinsdale South 3rd with 11 points. Only 12 points behind Willowbrook. This team has much to celebrate. It has been a great season. Highlights from Thursday are listed below. The team will compete next Friday - May 12th at the Lockport Sectional.
* = Season Best ●Amerie Flowers - 1st place - Shot Put (10.23m)* ●Heather Stephens - 6th place Shot Put (8.56m) and 5th place Discus (25.41m)* ●Pole Vault - Anya Patel - 4th (8’0”)* ●Emilija Sinkevicius - 1st place TJ (10.93m)* / 3rd place LJ (4.93m) / 3rd HJ (1.50m) ●4x800m Relay - 2nd Place (10:21)* Petersen, Drabchuck, Old, Garcia ●4x100m Relay - 2nd Place (51.09)* Drynan, Joseph, Linkowski, Petrovic ●3200m Run - Annabella Ramirez - 4th - (13:27)* ●100mHH - Kennedy Ruff - 3rd (17.12) ●100m Dash - Siena Drynan - 3rd (13.00) ●4x200m Relay - 2nd Place (1:52.44)* Noblin, Joseph, Linkowski, Patel ●400m Run - ○Janelle Lewis - 2nd (1:02.29)* ○Benciana Lewen - 4th (1:02.62) ●300mH - Kennedy Ruff - 2nd (46.85)* ●1600m Run - ○Anna Frankel - 6th Fresh/Soph (6:21)* ○Abby Petersen - 4th Varsity (5:35)* ●200m Run - Katarina Petrovic - 3rd Place (26.99)* ●4x400m Relay - 1st Place (4:20.79)* Ruff, Noblin, Lewis, Lewen
Week of April 24th This week brought our toughest competition before our outdoor conference meet. We had a good week of practice and then on Friday headed to the 21 team invite held at Wheaton Warrenville South high school. This meet is the toughest competition we have seen all season, and some of the same schools we will see in our Sectional in two weeks. The goal for this week was to PR and learn that racing with tough competition may hurt a little in the moment, but gives the girls the confidence they need knowing they can work that hard in our last two meets. We had 13 individual PR’s that night and girls are motivated to continue this moving forward next week. Our top performances from Friday were as follows: *= PR ● 4x100m Relay - 11th (Drynan, Joseph, Linkowski, Petrovic) ● 3200m Run - Ramirez - 14:06 ● 100mHH - Ruff - 16.85* - 12th ● 100m Dash - Drynan - 12.87* - 6th ● 800m Run - - Petersen - 2:28* - 11th - Garcia - 2:33* - Drabchuck - 2:37* ● 4x200m Relay - 14th (Noblin, Fundator, Patel, Joseph) ● 300mH - Ruff - 47.51* - 4th ● 1600m Run - Petersen - 5:39* - Old - 6:17* - Frankel - 6:31* ● 200m Dash - Petrovic - 27.19 - Patel - 29.20* - Fundator - 29.56* ● Shot Put - Flowers - 10.10m* - 9th - Barajaz - 6.01m*
Week of April 17th
The week started with another delay from Mother Nature. Monday with freezing temperatures and snow, we were indoors for a lighter than normal practice. Luckily the crazy April weather didn’t last long and we were back outdoors the rest of the week. Tuesday through Thursday the girls had great practices and then we wrapped up our week with our own home Hornet Invite.
We welcomed Morton, OPRF, West Chicago, Taft, and York and despite a tad windier than normal conditions it was a great evening for our Hornets. Overall we took 2nd behind York. We had 10 overall team and individual season bests performances, and 8 Individual and relay 1st place finishes. Hosting our home invite is always a busy experience and even with some last minute changes due to injuries these girls persevered. We also welcomed ten 7th and 8th graders from our feeder schools who competed in an open 100m dash and an open 800m run. It was a great experience for the girls to see what a high school track meet was like.
Here are our top finishes from Friday night: ● Heather Stephens - 1st place Shot Put (8.48m) and 1st place Discus (22.85m) ● Emilija Sinkevicius - 1st place HJ (4’8”) 1st Place LJ (4.92m) and 1st place TJ (9.75m) ● 4x100m Relay - 2nd Place (51.70) Siena Drynan, Katie Joseph, Olivia Linkowski, Katarina Petrovic. ● Kennedy Ruff - 1st place 100mHH (16.70) and 1st 300mH (48.60) ● Siena Drynan - 1st place 100m Dash (13.06) ● Elena Garcia - 4th place 800m Dash (2:39) ● 4x200m Relay - 3rd place (1:54.78) Casey Fundator, Katie Joseph, Anya Patel, Victoria Noblin ● Benciana Lewen - 2nd Place 400m Run (1:04) ● Abby Petersen - 4th place 1600m Run (5:46) ● Katarina Petrovic - 1st place 200m Dash (27.0) ● 4x400m Relay - 1st place (4:23.0) Benciana Lewen, Elena Garcia, Victoria Noblin, Kennedy Ruff
Week of April 10th
This week Mother Nature brought us sunshine and heat. A much needed change of pace and very much welcomed. On Wednesday, April 12th the team competed in the DGS Quad with Downers Grove South, Downers Grove North, and Hinsdale Central. This was a very informal meet and allowed many of our athletes to compete who may not always get a chance to at invites. It was a great day for our girls.
Saturday, we stayed local and traveled 10 minutes away to Hinsdale Central to compete in the 8 team invitational. The heat and the sun continued throughout the day and Mother Nature decided to give us a short little weather delay due to storms in the area, but the girls continued their strong competitive spirit and placed 3rd in the 8 team invitational. Our 3rd place team finish came down to the last event on the track - the 4x400m relay. The team was in 4th behind Willowbrook going into the relay, and we needed to not only beat Willowbrook, but beat our seed to place in the top 4 in the event to take 3rd place. The girls did just that - from the slow heat of the relay. We won our heat and the girls ran strong against the clock and ended up beating Marist from the fast heat and took 4th place in the event and 3rd place overall. Top performances are listed below: ● Emilija Sinkevicius - 4th in HJ - Season best jump of 5’0” / 6th in LJ 4.58m / 5th in TJ season best jump of 10.17m ● Heather Stephens - 5th Shot Put - 8.59m and 7th Discus 23.56m both season bests ● 4x800m Relay - 2nd place (10:48) Season best - Petersen, Drabchuck, Old, Garcia ● 4x100m Relay - 2nd place (51.45) Season Best - Drynan, Joseph, Linkowski, Petrovic ● 100m Dash - S. Drynan - 3rd 13.10 - season best - C. Fundator - 14.19 - season best - 7th FS ● 800m Run - 5th Place - E. Garcia - 2:40 ● 4x200m Relay - 4th Place - (1:50.76) Season Best - Drynan, Noblin, Linkowski, Petrovic ● 400m Dash - B. Lewen - 4th - 1:03.4 - Season Best ● 300mH - K. Ruff - 3rd - 48.12 - Season Best ● 1600m Run - Petersen - 5:51 / Old - 6:26 / Frankel - 6:32 - All season bests ● 200m Dash - 3rd Petrovic - 27.40 - C. Fundator - 29.68 ● 4x400m Relay - 4th - Season Best - (4:23) Noblin, Joseph, Lewis, Lewen
Week of April 3rd
This week we opened our outdoor track season, and as tradition Mother Nature decided to throw a wrench in our home opener. On Wednesday, April 5th we hosted our Senior Night and our Hornet Triangular with Leyden and Elmwood Park. The temperatures were less than ideal and the wind was crazy, but our eight seniors (Zoe Funk, Elena Garcia, Grace Koziol, Olivia Linkowski-Leadingham, Madina Moussa, Jada Palmer, Abby Petersen, and Katarina Petrovic) celebrated in style. Due to the wind and dropping temps the only field events were the shot put and discus running events consisted of only open events and no relays. That didn’t stop our girls from racing well and our seniors having a great day. We ended our meet with a new tradition: the TuTu 4x100. Teams consisted of four individuals each running 100m and exchanging a colorful TuTu instead of a baton. The laughter and smiles were worth it and the other schools joined in with our fun.
Then the weather started to improve and on Saturday, April 8th we traveled to the Andrew Invite. The weather was on our side, lots of sun warming temps, it was just a tad windy. The girls raced well. There is always a learning curve as we head outdoors. We have to deal with wind and changing temps, sprinters have a completely new set of distances. These girls persevered - and they answered the challenge. It paid off in the end as we placed 3rd of 13 teams. Individual results are posted below:
● 4x800m relay - 2nd place - 10:52 (Petersen - Drabchuck - Old - Garcia) ● 4x100m relay - 3rd place - 51.71 (Drynan - Noblin - Linkowski - Petrovic) ● 3200m run - A. Ramirez - 3rd - 13:57 Season Best ● 100mHH - K. Ruff - 5th 17.78 / Z. Funk - 20.33 / M. Monae FS - 27.67 ● 100m Dash - S. Drynan - 6th 13.45 / V. Noblin - 14.26 ● 800m Run - Y. Drabchuck - 7th 2:49 / A. Esposito FS - 3:06 ● 4x200m relay - 6th 1:58.17 (Fundator - Sinkevicius - Patel - Joseph) ● 400m run - J. Lewis 1:07 / Koziol - 1:10 ● 300m LH - K. Ruff - 2nd 48.61 / Z. Funk - 1:03 / Monae FS 59.89 -6th ● 1600m Run - Petersen 5:57 / Old - 6:31 / A. Frankel - 7:06 FS ● 200m dash - Petrovic - 5th 27.34 / Linkowski - 29.47 ● 4x400m relay - 2nd 4:24.20 - (Lewen - Joseph - Lewis - Ruff) ● HJ - Sinkevicius -5th 4’6” / Funk - 4’4 ● LJ - Sinkevicius - 4.82m / Fundator - 4.41m ● TJ - Sinkevicius - 9.91m / Funk - 8.51m ● SP - Flowers - 9.43m / Stephens - 7.53m / Barajaz 4.49m ● Discus - Stephens - 23.3m / Flowers - 22.45m / Barajaz - 15.17m
Week of March 13th This week brought the end of the indoor season and our 5th track meet. After riding off the excitement from Saturday’s win at the Morton Invite, the goal was to keep that motivation going. The girls had a great week of practice, and everything came together perfectly.
Saturday morning, on a very cold March day we headed to Proviso West high school. These girls were getting to experience a 200m track for the first time. After the excitement of being in that very large fieldhouse, warm ups started, field events got underway, and then the National Anthem signaled the start of the Running Finals. Everyone ran, jumped, and threw amazing and all their hard work paid off.
On the Varsity level we placed 2nd behind Downers Grove South and our F/S team placed 6th. With most of our freshman and sophomore runners running up on the varsity level, and only 7 athletes competing in 8 events our F/S scored 25 points to place 6th. This was AMAZING. On the Varsity level we had 20 athletes competing in 16 events. Many of our girls doubled and even tripled events, some ran or jumped events they haven’t done all season long, and MANY season bests were achieved on Saturday. We are so very proud of all the hard work these girls did over the past 9 weeks. Now our bodies get a little break and then we hope Mother Nature is on our side as we start to compete in our outdoor season.
Week of March 6th Things came together perfectly this week. Our team has a lot to celebrate this week. Practices and workouts were great. The girls had a much needed week off from competing last week due to unforeseen circumstances, and it worked out great for their legs. Workouts went great, more PR’s were set and the entire coaching staff was excited about competing at the Morton Invite on Saturday. We had a strong feeling that if everything came together on Saturday, we could win the 8 team invitational. The encouragement and motivation worked. The girls trusted the process and competed tough and we WON the meet on the Varsity level and placed 3rd on the JV level.
We have a very young team and most of our Freshman and Sophomores ran up a level on Varsity which meant we had many openings on the JV level, taking 3rd on JV was amazing.
Our Varsity athletes had an amazing day too. We opened the day with Amerie Flowers placing 1st in the shot put, Anya Patel placing 2nd in the pole vault, Emilija S. placing 1st in LJ / 3rd in TJ / and 4th in HJ. And that momentum carried us forward with our many personal bests and top 3 places in our running events. Many of our top places on Saturday were from girls who were competing for the first time this year in those events.. That just goes to show you how strong and competitive these young ladies are. All of us coaches are so very proud.
When we returned to school, we checked the awards from years past and noticed that the last time Hinsdale South won the meet at Morton was in 2017, and the last time Hinsdale South won an invite was in 2019 at York Indoors. So today is special!!! Congratulations goes to everyone, all our athletes, my assistant coaches, and to you our parents. You come to cheer us on through thick and thin, you take care of them each night when they are tired, cranky, and sore. Keep it up!! We need today's momentum to carry us into the conference meet next week Saturday at Proviso.
Week of February 20th This week brought us to week #5 and our 3rd meet of the indoor season. The girls are feeling comfortable with our routines and working hard each and every day. On Friday night we traveled to Glenbard South in the cold and snow, luckily the fieldhouse was perfect. The team placed 2nd behind host Glenbard South. Due to the order of events, we had to get creative on the distance side of things because most of our distance events were all jumbled together since running events began with the 55m dash and the 55m hurdles, but the team persevered. Some top finishers for the night were:
● Pole Vault - Zoe Funk - 2nd place - 6’0” ● Shot Put - Heather Stephens -4th (7.96m) and Faith Conard - 6th (7.36m) ● Triple Jump (1st) / Long Jump (3rd) - Emilijia Sinkevicius (8.87m / 4.03m) ● High Jump - Zoe Funk - 2nd Place - 4’4” ● Freshman Kennedy Ruff - 2nd place 55m HH - 9.66 ● 55m Dash - 1st K. Petrovic (7.79) and 3rd S. Drynan (8.06) ● 4x800m - 1st (11:27) Drabchuck / Old / Esposito / Garcia ● 4x160m - 1st (1:31) Drynan / Noblin / Lewen / Petrovic ● 1600m Dash - All season bests by ● Charlotte Old - 6:40 - 2nd ● Annabella Ramirez - 6:45 - 3rd ● Andy Esposito - 6:54 - 5th ● 4X400m Relays ● 1st Place - 4:46 - Amor Shanklin / Emilijia S. / K. Joseph / K. Ruff ● 2nd Place - 4:56 - Noblin / Lewis / Drynan / Lewen
Week of February 13th This week was a great week for our girls. We competed in the two level Willowbrook Invitational with eight schools total competing. The Varsity girls finished tied for 3rd out of 8 teams. Highlights from the meet are listed below:
● We had 12 individual bests accomplished and all 3 of our relays had personal bests. It was a great meet for our young team. ● 3rd place in our 4x800 (Petersen, Old, Schulte, Garcia) ● Our freshman had a stellar meet. Fr. S. Drynan -2nd 55m Dash 7.67 and a member of our 1st place 4x160 relay (1.33.3) ● Fr. Janelle Lewis placed 1st in the JV 300 (48.65) and 1st in the 400 (1:11.2) and took 2nd in the long jump (4.52m) ● Senior Abby Petersen placed 2nd dropping 12 seconds from last week to run a 5:57 in the 1600m
Week of February 6th The week started as our 3rd official week of practice and our —first meet in the books. We headed to Addison Trail for a Quad meet against Addison Trail, Fenton, and Trinity. We have a very young team, and still have athletes that have not been able to join yet due to finishing up their winter seasons. With injuries, illness, and the ACT keeping us from running our full team it was a great day. Many things to be proud of and even more good things to come. Highlights are below: ●4x800m relay - 1st Place - Petersen, Schulte, Ramirez, Garcia) 11:31.9 ●55mHH - Z. Funk 3rd (11.45) and E. Koelling - 6th (11.99) ●55m Dash 1st place Petrovic - 7.81 2nd place Drynan- 7.83 Tie for 4th- Linkowski-Leadingham and Palmer 8.25 6th Lewen 8.27 ●1600m Run - 3rd Place Petersen 6:09 7th- Schulte 6:40 ●Shot Put H. Stephens 3rd place - 8.58m ●High Jump Z. Funk 4th - 1.30 ●Triple Jump Z. Funk - 3rd 8.15m