DGN's 4 all-state performances earns 6th-place tie as team

The Downers Grove North girls track and field team enjoyed four top-nine, all-state performances and broke or tied three school records at the Class 3A state meet Saturday, May 23, at Eastern Illinois University.

Sophomore Emma Moravec was second in the 800-meter run (school-record 2:12.22 fully automatic time) to Downers Grove South junior Michaela Hackbarth (2:11.24).

Junior Jaida Green was third in high jump (co-school record 5 feet-6 inches) to post the Trojans’ highest state finish ever in the event and join 1992 graduate Sue Conlan as their only all-staters.

The 3,200 relay of senior Rachel Schuetz and Zayna Jan, junior Kaitlyn Bonfield and Moravec was fourth (season-best 9:14.68) for the relay’s sixth consecutive all-state performance.

Freshman Isabel Maletich was fifth in triple jump (school-record 38-0) to become the school’s first all-stater in the event.

Top-nine finishers also earn team points. The Trojans tied for sixth with Homewood-Flossmoor (26 points), nine points from a top-three state trophy. Lincoln-Way East (51) won its third straight title, and Barrington and Warren (35) tied for second.

Moravec broke the school record of 2:12.45 set by Shellie O’Neill when she won the 1988 Class AA state championship after taking third as a junior in 1987. She put on a late kick Saturday to pull out second by .12 over Jacobs senior Lauren Van Vlierbergen (2:12.34), the 2014 3A 800 champion in 2:10.14.

With a then personal-best 2:12.89, Moravec also finished second to Hackbarth (2:11.27) at the Downers Grove North Sectional with the state’s two fastest sectional times. Moravec had the fastest time in Friday’s preliminaries (2:12.66) to win the second heat while Hackbarth won the third and last heat in 2:15.97.

In her first season of high school track, Green tied Conlan’s outdoor school record of 5-6 from 1992 on Saturday but lost out on second with Lincoln-Way East sophomore Ololade Ayoola (5-6). Lyons Township senior Emma Haugen equaled her career best of 5-9 to win her second straight state title and third overall. Indoors, Green cleared an all-time school record 5-7 to beat Conlan’s indoor record of 5-6, also from 1992. Conlan went on to tie for seventh the 1992 Class AA state meet.

The 3,200 relay again improved upon its previous season best of a fourth-seeded 9:16.60 from Friday to finish behind Naperville North (9:11.63), Palatine (9:12.43) and Fremd (9:13.42). This was Naperville North’s first girls track state title in any event, although junior Judy Pendergast later won the 3,200 (10:35.15) by more than 16 seconds.

A final surge by anchor Moravec put the Trojans ahead of St. Charles East (9:14.72) by just .04. Jan and Moravec also were part of the 2014 state lineup that also finished fourth (9:14.16). Jan also was part of the sixth-place 3,200 relay in 2013 (9:21.71).

Maletich, who came to state with a personal-best 36-3, improved by more than a foot. With three of her six state jumps she actually bested the 36-5 previous school record Leia Scott in 2009.

Maletich jumped 37-11 1/2 Friday on her second jump to advance to the 12-jumper finals in third place. Her third jump Friday was 37-8 1/2.

Friday’s jumps carry over to Saturday’s finals. Maletich improved to 38-0 on her first attempt in finals and ended with a 37-8 1/4, but she was passed by two other jumpers and ended up eight inches from fourth-place St. Charles East senior Allison Chemlik (38-7), whose last jump completed her move from 12th and the last qualifying jump Friday (37-0 1/4).

Scott was 13th at the 2009 3A state meet with her 36-0 3/4 from Friday. During the indoor season, Maletich concluded with a 36-5 to break that previous indoor school record of 35-11 1/2 by Tess Johnson in 2012.

(Photo: Senior Zayna Jan (left), junior Kaitlyn Bonfield, sophomore Emma Moravec and senior Rachel Schuetz were an all-state fourth in the 3,200-meter relay)

-- by Bill Stone