DGN Outdoor Track Outlook

Moments after a successful 2012 Class 3A state meet, the Downers Grove North girls track team already had its sights set on this spring.

Of the six Trojans who competed among five state entries, only jumper Tess Johnson was a senior.

Not everything has worked out completely as planned, but the Trojans are on course for more all-state success. They enjoyed a strong indoor season that included two relay victories at the indoor West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet March 15 with the 1,600-meter relay setting an indoor school record.

“I think right now we are a lot further along than I thought we’d be right now,” Downers North head coach Tim McDonald said. “Not that I wasn’t expecting us not to be competitive. I just am really pleased with the progress of the girls and how they’ve kind of handled it.

“As we transition from indoors to outdoors, hopefully we kind of use some of our successes and do something outside. We have some kids with some talent.”

Seniors Rebecca Ridderhoff and Gabbie Hesslau and juniors Meghan Bonfield and Stephanie Urbancik return from last year’s state lineup. Entries qualify for state either automatically with top-two sectional finishes or by achieving state-qualifying standards at the sectional, regardless of place.

Ridderhoff, Hesslau and seniors Barbara Armstrong, Alize Chester, Megan Sybeldon are this year's team captains.

Urbancik, Hesslau and Bonfield were part of the 3,200 relay that finished an all-state sixth in 9:17.71 fully-automatic time after winning the Downers Grove North Sectional in 9:21.63.

The Trojans won the 2011 3A state title in the 3,200 relay with Urbancik and Hesslau in a school-record 9:09.61 and were third with Hesslau in 2010 (9:15.11).

“It’s my favorite event so I’m excited about it. Our times compared to last year (indoors) are faster already,” Bonfield said. “We’re probably going to drop times when it comes to later, and we can see what we can do at state.”

The 3,200 relay lineup already has taken two big hits. Hesslau did not compete the entire indoor season as she recovered from a stress fracture but has run in the first two outdoor meets April 3 at home and Saturday at Homewood-Flossmoor. Senior Jillian Kotharek, also a member of the past three all-state relays, did not come out for the team this season.

“One of the aspects that underlies this whole thing is you have two kids that are seniors who were three-time all-state medalists who haven’t stepped on the track (indoors),” McDonald said. “These kids could have easily been like, ‘Oh, our two big guns are out,’ and backed down. Instead, they have kind of gone after the challenge and, really, some people have stepped up that might not have otherwise had the opportunity.”

Still, the Trojans easily won the indoor Silver Meet with in 9:42.15 with freshman Kaitlyn Bonfield, Urbancik, freshman Grace Maletich and Meghan Bonfield.

On March 23, Kaitlyn Bonfield, Maletich, sophomore Zayna Jan and junior Michaela Nicholson followed that by taking fifth at the Illinois Top Times Indoor Classic at Illinois Wesleyan University in 9:34.99, the fastest time for the 3,200 relay by any conference school during the indoor season and already under the 9:38.24 state-qualifying standard. Kaitlyn Bonfield is Meghan’s younger sister.

“I’m really excited because I think this is a really good team with a lot of potential, and none of us are graduating,” Urbancik said. “I think that we can definitely get all-state and hopefully do pretty well. It’s really sad to lose people and it’s sad with Gabbie hurt (indoors), but hopefully she can get better and maybe she can run. I think we’re surprised with how well we’ve been keeping up with everyone else.”  

The 1,600 relay with Urbancik, Bonfield, Ridderhoff finished 21st at state in 2012 (4:01.76) and also had a great indoor season. With the same three runners and junior Mary Rounce, a first-year track competitor, they ran an indoor school-record 4:06.29 to win the indoor Silver Meet followed by a seventh-place 4:06.97 at the Top Times Indoor Classic.

“I think that we would really hope to make state and then it would be really awesome to make finals, too,” Bonfield said.

Rounce already has verbally committed to play soccer for Michigan State. She said she joined track for the first time to help with her soccer conditioning. Mainly a sprinter, she was put in the 1,600 relay for the final three indoor meets, two of them as the anchor.

“(Competing at state would) be a whole new thing to learn but I’ll do my best and hopefully my best will get me there. If not, I’m OK and I’ll cheer on the other girls,” Rounce said. “I’m not doing this to be the best. I’m just doing it to do my best, but it doesn’t mean I actually have to be the best.”

Urbancik and Ridderhoff both qualified for state last year in the 400 and finished 26th (59.01) and 27th (59.45) at state, respectively. Urbancik (58.98) and Ridderhoff (59.18) finished 1-2 at sectionals and the Silver Meet, where Ridderhoff (59.19) joined Johnson as the team’s only conference champions.

How they contribute individually, however, may change this spring.

Competing in the 800, Urbancik was second at the indoor Silver Meet (2:23.36) and the Indoor Classic (all-time best 2:19.51) to Glenbard West senior Emma Reifel (2:15.73 and indoor-school record 2:14.85), one of the early favorites for the state title.

The state-qualifying standard is 2:19.74. Meghan Bonfield was fourth at the Indoor Classic in a personal-best 2:20.69.

“I think I’m much more consistent this year,” Bonfield said. “I’m hoping to keep improving for outdoor and keep improving consistently and getting similar times to what I’ve run.”

Ridderhoff could focus on the 300 low hurdles, an event she was kept away last year because of injuries. The state-qualifying standard is 46.94, and Ridderhoff already ran 48.35 Saturday despite battling a stiff wind on the homestretch.

“Every year I’ve seen myself improve and I know I haven’t really seen much improvement this indoor season, but I know I really, really want it for outdoors,” Ridderhoff said. “I really want to see what I can do, especially since this is my senior year and if I decide to run in college. For me, it’s just a matter of grasping that potential and really being aggressive and taking control of the race.”

Ridderhoff and Jessica Ridderhoff, her sophomore sister, could very well be relay teammates for the first time outdoors. Jessica had a promising freshman indoor season, especially as a jumper, but she did not compete outdoors because of club soccer commitments.

With most of her teammates competing for their high-school teams this spring, Jessica has remained with the track program. In her 1,600 relay debut Saturday, she had a 1:02.2 split.

“My goal is to run a relay with her at some point because it’s really fun to run Ridderhoff and Ridderhoff together, especially for my parents,” Rebecca Ridderhoff said.

Besides the 3,200 relay, Hesslau also earned her second individual state berth in the 1,600 and was 21st (4:01.76) after an all-state ninth in 2011 (5:08.57). If she is able to rejoin the 3,200 relay lineup this season, Hesslau could become the program’s first athlete to earn four all-state medals in the event. No Downers North girls track athlete has earned more than four career all-state medals.

“That’s our goal,” McDonald said. “If we can get her in shape enough to break into the 4-by-800 and the other kids do their job, it would be nice. We have a lot of depth right now in the 800.”

Hesslau has competed once in each of the first two outdoor meets, the 800 at Downers North and the leadoff leg for the 3,200 relay at H-F, where she ran a 2:30 split as the first leg.

At this point, Hesslau is just happy to be competing, and doing so pain-free since the injury ruined the end to her final high-school cross country season.

“It means a lot, especially because cross country was cut short. I see my team competing all of the time (indoors) and it would be nice to be out there competing with them,” Hesslau said following the indoor Silver Meet.

“It’s kind of sad to say, but this was actually the most exciting conference meet I’ve been to. I wasn’t competing but it was nice to see them out there wanting it, trying hard and doing their best. We had some conference champions and some records and it was awesome to watch that.”

Several other Trojans are motivated by an injury-filled cross country season that resulted in the team not being represented at the state meet after three consecutive team berths. Hesslau had competed at the previous three state meets while Bonfield and junior Micah Pfotenhauer competed in 2010 and 2011 and sophomores Rachel Krusenoski and Jenna Murphy also were part of the 2011 state lineup.

Maletich’s personal-best 5:17.31 for ninth at the Indoor Classic already is within range of the 5:15.24 state-qualifying standard. At the indoor Silver Meet, Maletich (5:20.45) and Kaitlyn Bonfield (5:27.17) were fourth and fifth. Bonfield also had the team’s fastest indoor time in the 3,200 (11:39.21 March 2), 17 seconds from the state cut.

“After our cross country season, we’ve grown a lot and I think we could do really well, especially with our freshmen. They’re really good,” Urbancik said. “For cross country, we were having a really good season until like the last two meets. Now we want to do well in state, obviously (for track). We’ll make it there first and finish our season off right so I think we’re more motivated.” 

                                                                                                                                                                                      -- by Bill Stone

Photo: Downers Grove North team captains Rebecca Ridderhoff (left), Megan Sybeldon, Alize Chester, Stephanie Urbancik and Gabbie Hesslau. Barbara Armstrong is not pictured