DGN girls at Ritter Invite (story)

Downers Grove North senior Rachel Schuetz has state-meet experience with the 1,600-meter relay.

Just recently she has been added to the lineup of the 3,200 relay, which has earned top-nine, all-state honors each of the past five seasons, including the Class 3A state championship in 2011.

“I gave it a try. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Schuetz said.

On Friday, Schuetz and the Trojans gained plenty of confidence from their performances at its annual Bruce Ritter Invitational.

The 3,200 relay of Schuetz, senior Zayna Jan, junior Kaitlyn Bonfield and sophomore Emma Moravec ran 9 minutes, 20.88 seconds fully automatic time -- the state’s second-fastest reported time this outdoor season. They still finished second in the race because they were edged by Palatine by just .01 of one second.

The 1,600 relay of Schuetz, Jan, Moravec and senior Hannah Henry, meanwhile, won going away in 4:01.48 – the state’s No. 5 fastest outdoor time. They won by 1.44 seconds.

“It’s really good because last year we ran like a 4:00 at the end of the outdoor season and now we’re running 4:00 at the beginning of outdoor so we can only get better from here,” Henry said.

“It’s really fun because it’s our last season so we should make it the best and three of us (seniors) are captains in this relay. It’s fun to support the whole team and make it better for everyone. I’m definitely wanting to go back to state. For sure, I’m motivated.”

The Trojans (59.5 points) finished fifth in the invite named in honor of Ritter, the longtime girls track and cross country coach. Palatine (107) won the meet for the first time, followed by Prospect (82), Lyons Township (70.5) and West Aurora (70). Thornton (56) was sixth.

Teams received points for top-eight finishes (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1). The meet only has varsity competition except for an additional 1,600 relay for the frosh-soph level.

The 800 relay of Schuetz, Henry, sophomore Faith LaMantia and senior Sophie Temple-Wood (1:45.83) finished second, .63 behind Thornton (1:45.20). Freshman Isabel Maletich (36 feet-1 1/4 inches in triple) and Moravec (400 in 59.01) both finished third, junior Jaila Green tied for third in high jump (5-3), and the frosh-soph 1,600 relay of Maletich, sophomores Gina Kowalewicz and Zoe Covey, LaMantia was fourth (4:16.70).

The Trojans are coming off a great indoor season in which they won the indoor West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet March 20 at York (113 points) – their first indoor conference title since 1993 and only their second since the event began in 1987. They also set three varsity indoor school records.

On Friday, great competition combined with perfect running weather in terms of temperature and no wind. The Trojans could have scored more team points, but now they’ve learned how strong their relays could be at the expense of perhaps a few individual entries. Temple-Wood also had been battling illness and scratched from her three individual events (100, 200, long jump).

“I think (our coaches) wanted to focus on what we have. It’s a good day and let’s see what we can do,” Jan said.

“I think honestly confidence has come a long way for everybody,” Jan said. “I can just tell, especially for (Schuetz and Henry). Last year, they were apprehensive at first but now I think they know what they can do and they’re really, really good. I think it’s good that we all kind of feel good.”

At the 2014 3A state preliminaries, the 1,600 relay finished 24th (4:05.66) with the same lineup as Friday, but in a different order. During the indoor season, they broke the indoor school record twice.

Their 4:04.47 for fourth in 3A at the Illinois Top Times Championships March 28 in Bloomington beat their original indoor school record of 4:04.54 from Downers Grove South’s Mustang Relays March 9 at North Central College. The previous indoor school record had been 4:06.29 from 2013. The Trojans won the indoor Silver Meet in 4:07.71.

“Last year was a complete learning experience for me so now I know from each meet what to do so now I’m improving already,” Henry said. “It can only get better from here because I know what I did from last year and can make it better.”

Meanwhile, the 3,200 relay saw its potential to return to the 12-team state finals and contend again for all-state honors. Jan and Moravec were part of last year’s lineup that was fourth at state (9:14.16) with junior Maci Schaub and graduated Stephanie Urbancik, a four-time all-stater in the race. Jan also ran with the sixth-place state finisher in 2013 (9:21.71).

On Friday, Schuetz (2:23.8), Jan (2:20.4) and Moravec (2:14.0) ran personal-best splits. Bonfield (2:22.5) only missed her best by .7. The relay concluded the indoor season by taking third at the indoor Silver Meet (9:49.64) and 10th Top Times (9:55.07).

“Realistically, (Friday) was a confirmation that we have a relay that is at the state (finals) level,” said Downers North distance coach Tim McDonald, also the girls cross country head coach. “In between, when we pulled Emma out and ran her in some individual (races), they weren’t kind of zeroed in. Once we made the decision last week that we would see what we had in the relay, you could kind of see that focus in them that they really wanted to do well.”

As the anchor, Moravec nearly pulled out the event victory after she passed York just before the final lap to take the lead. Palatine junior Molly O’Brien, however, quickly moved into second and used a late kick to pass Moravec with 40 meters left and barely hold her off at the finish. York (9:30.19) was third.

O’Brien, who ran a reported 2:12.5 anchor split, was part of the Pirates’ third-place 3,200 relay and second in the 1,600 at state last year.

“I’m not really sad about it. (O’Brien) ran a great time, I ran my hardest and I think it all worked out well,” Moravec said. “That (9:20.88 for us) was awesome. We dropped five seconds from our Mustang Relays time (9:25.54). I think it’s a great step in the right direction.”

The main reason for the significant time drop was Schuetz. She improved from her 2:27.4 debut with the relay at the Homewood-Flossmoor Invitational April 11 to lead off the team’s B entry in the event.

“Today was my second time running it,” Schuetz said with a laugh. “I’ve got it now. I’ve got to stick with the leaders and just push through it and at the end I’ve got to sprint the whole way.”

And McDonald is confident she can go significantly faster. Schuetz has speed as evidenced by her winning the 300 at the indoor Silver Meet (42.60) and sub-59 split for the 1,600 relay Friday. She also has some distance running experience because she has been on the cross country team the past three seasons.

“It was a really nice feeling and it’s kind of nice to think to yourself, I think we can get faster,’ ” McDonald said. “I don’t think that’s the end of it. If we can get faster, then now you’re talking about a relay that’s really good (at state) so hopefully they can keep it going.”

The Trojans are optimistic in other events. The 800 relay was third at last year’s Downers South Sectional (1:47.24), .74 from a top-two finish and an automatic state berth. The relay was second at the indoor Silver Meet (1:49.26) and 10th at Top Times (1:48.48).

Temple-Wood was second in the 200 at the indoor Silver Meet (26.86). LaMantia also made Friday’s 100 finals and was eighth (13.33).

“I think if (all three relays qualify), that would be a successful state qualification,” Henry said. “A (successful) state meet performance would be if all of us PRed or at least ran our hardest and know we ran our hardest and no one came off the track thinking that they were sad or felt that they left something out there that they shouldn’t have.”

Several Trojans are in the state hunt as individual qualifiers.

One big question is what Moravec will compete in individually, if anything, at sectionals and, hopefully, state. At the indoor Silver Meet, Moravec won both the 800 (2:17.74) and 400 (58.98) -- the first runner ever to sweep those events in indoor conference history.

“We’ll see how it plays out the rest of the season,” Moravec said. “I’m really motivated to see what I can do the rest of the season. Last year, I ran well. This year, I’m improving on that so I’m just excited to see how far I can take it.”

Green is a first-year track member who has been a big addition in high jump, her lone event. During the indoor season, she cleared 5-7 to break the indoor school record of 5-6 set by all-stater Sue Conlan in 1992, the year she tied for seventh at the state meet.

Green said Downers North head coach Matt Maletich had talked to her about joining since she was a freshman, but she couldn’t because of the traveling basketball commitments with her Amateur Athletic Union team. She came out this year because she already has verbally committed to play at Penn State and has fewer obligations.

“It’s my first year so it’s been fun just learning everything,” Green said. “I’m still playing AAU so I’ll miss two or three meets. It’s more refining my skills for basketball so I have time to do track and have fun with it.”

Green competed high jump in middle school but used to scissor-kick over the bar instead of more common flop. Since then, she helped the Downers North girls basketball team win its first-ever conference title first regional title since 1996. Green was injured the latter half of this past season.

Outdoors, Green still has to break Conlan’s outdoor record of 5-6 also from 1992. At the indoor Silver Meet, Green cleared 5-6 but finished second to Lyons Township senior Emma Haugen (5-8), the 3A state champion in 2014 and 2012. On Friday, Haugen was second (5-4) to Prospect junior Jes Skudlarek (5-8).

“Every meet I learn something new so I think by the time that sectionals and conference come, I’ll be ready to compete and challenge some people,” Green said.

“Track and basketball are really different, which is why I think it’s fun because track is solely individual. You have a team that you’re collecting points for, but it’s you and your event and you’re challenging yourself. In basketball, you have to rely on your teammates and you can’t do it all alone. In track, it is you. That’s all you’re doing. (Also) it’s the mental block of the bar and it being high.”

At Top Times, Maletich’s sixth-place 36-5 easily broke the indoor triple jump record of 35-11 1/2 set by Tess Johnson in 2012 and equaled the all-time record of 36-5 from 2009 by Leia Scott, the outdoor school record holder. Maletich also had a 36-2 among her other five attempts at Top Times.

Maletich competed in long jump at Jefferson Junior High, but triple jump was not offered. Downers North head girls track coach Matt Maletich also is her uncle and her jumps coach.

“That (36-5) was really, really cool. I haven’t been able to do it since, but it was really fun because not a lot of people do that,” Isabel Maletich said. “I went into high school and it was kind of always a dream to break a record. I never thought it would happen freshman year. And then I checked the state qualifying (standard at sectionals was 35-8) and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I have a chance to qualify for state as a freshman,’ so it was a really big shock to me.”

Maletich was eighth in long jump Friday (16-1). At the indoor Silver Meet, Maletich won long jump (16-0 1/2) and was second in triple jump (35-1 1/4) to Haugen (36-6 1/4).

Although older sister Grace is among the team’s top distance runners and has competed at two state meets in cross country and one with the all-state 3,200 relay in 2013. In Friday’s 1,600, Grace Maletich (5:23.25) and Bonfield (5:27.62) finished seventh and eighth.

Isabel Maletich said she has no interest in long-distance running. In Friday’s frosh-soph 1,600 relay, Isabel ran a 1:02.8 leg, a personal best by a couple of seconds.

“I don’t do distance. I’m not good at distance,” Isabel Maletich said. “The reason I joined track in junior high is because I wanted to jump. I never really wanted to do it for running because I never really liked running.” 

In the throws, junior Samantha Wilson was sixth in shot put (33-5) and senior Peyton Winters (99-4) and junior Imani Jenkins (98-8) were seventh and eighth in discus.

Discus is a new event this season for Winters, who has previously competed solely in high jump.

“(Throws coach Tom Saam) just kept talking to me and saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you try discus when we get to outdoor,’ so this year I did and enjoyed it so I’m still doing it. It’s fun,” Winters said. “(Sam) says I have long levers, long arms so he said that (plus-100) shouldn’t be that surprising.”

Friday was Winters’ fourth meet in discus. She still competes in high jump but usually in just the open weekday meets. She currently throws while standing still in the circle.

“Right now I’m just trying to get the form down still, but hopefully (I can throw) in the higher 100s, maybe the 120s or something,” Winters said. “I think my biggest problem has been getting more height on it. I’ve been having trouble staying on balance in the full spins but I think we’ll be working on that next week.”

- by Bill Stone

Ritter Invitational

Team results: 1. Palatine 107, 2. Prospect 82, 3. Lyons Township 70.5, 4. West Aurora 70, 5. DOWNERS GROVE NORTH 59.5, 6. Thornton 56, 7. Naperville Central 45, 8. York 53, 9. Wheeling 47, 10. Glenbard West 42, 11. Lane Tech 41, 12. Champaign Centennial 31, 13. Crete-Monee 21, 14. Joliet Central 6, 15T. Belvidere and Northridge Prep 0

Downers Grove North top-eight finishers
Fully automatic time

First place
Varsity 1,600 relay: Rachel Schuetz, Zayna Jan, Emma Moravec, Hannah Henry (4:01.48)

Second place
800 relay: Rachel Schuetz, Hannah Henry, Faith LaMantia, Sophie Temple-Wood(1:45.83)
3,200 relay: Rachel Schuetz, Zayna Jan, Kaitlyn Bonfield, Moravec (9:20.88)

Third place
Isabel Maletich: Triple jump (36-1 1/4)
Emma Moravec: 400 (59.01)
Jaila Green: High jump (5-3)-tie

Fourth place
Frosh-soph 1,600 relay: Isabel Maletich, Gina Kowalewicz, Zoe Covey, Faith LaMantia(4:16.70)

Sixth place
Samantha Wilson: Shot put (33-5)

Seventh place
Grace Maletich: 1,600 (5:23.25)
Peyton Winters: Discus (99-4)

Eighth place
Kaitlyn Bonfield: 1,600 (5:27.62)
Imani Jenkins: Discus (98-8)
Faith LaMantia: 100 (13.33)
Isabel Maletich: Long jump (16-1) 47.5