Track and Field Notebook: Seneca and Newark girls, Streator boys impress in recent wins

The Seneca girls track and field team continued its tradition this season in hosting a talented field for its own invitational.

It also continued the tradition of winning the event – this one the 10th straight.

The Fighting Irish rolled up 163 points in easily taking the title over second-place Pontiac in the 15-team event April 15. Seneca collected 17 personal records, with five athletes moving into the school’s all-time top-10 list.

“It’s been an impressive 10-year run for the girls teams over the years, for sure,” said Seneca coach Terry Maxwell, who noted that the girls also will be looking to add 10th straight conference and sectional titles to that list later this season. “We’ve always invited solid teams to compete, including this year adding Pontiac, Morris and El Paso-Gridley, and are always trying to beef up the competition. The girls just seem to bring their best when we host that meet.”

Seneca received first-place individual wins from Evelyn O’Connor in the 800- and 1,600-meter runs and Anna Bruno in the long jump, while Faith Deering broke her own school record by over 4 1/2 meters.

The Irish also dominated the relays, winning the 4x100 (Deering, Taylor Draves, Emma Smith, Caitlyn O’Boyle), the 4x200 (Deering, Draves, Teagan Johnson, Keeli Pumphrey) and the 4x400 (Clara Bruno, O’Connor, Pumphrey, Smith).

“Faith Deering continues to cut her time in the 100 and on 4x200 relay, and breaking her own school record in the discus was amazing,” said Maxwell. “Faith is currently ranked No. 1 in all classes in the discus. Eve O’Connor continues to close in on the school record in the mile, and Emma Smith has been a mainstay in the relays. Caitlyn O’Boyle had never competed in the triple jump before this year and is really improving.”

Streator boys hope Rollie Morris title a springboard

Streator coach Ken Carlson said he felt, with the way his team was working and improving, winning the Rollie Morris Invite April 16 at Hall High School was a definite possibility.

Turns out he was right.

The Bulldogs scored 92 points to edge runner-up Stillman Valley and third-place Aurora Central Catholic at the venerable event to capture the title – one that has eluded Streator in past seasons.

“We had been second a number of times, but this is the first time we’ve won the Rollie, at least in the last 20 years I’ve been coaching,” Carlson said. “We have 20 guys on the team, and we knew we’d have Cade Stevens, Aneefy Ford and Kody Danko as the veteran guys, but overall, we weren’t sure what kind of team we’d have. The last two or three weeks, everyone – especially the younger guys – has really come along and made very good strides.”

Streator finished the meet with a trio of first-place marks from Stevens in the long jump, Manuel Nieto in the shot put, and the 4x100 relay squad of Stevens, Collin Jeffries, Quentin Goforth and Ford.

As most championships, along with the wins, a team needs to be solid in a number of other events. Streator also collected a pair of second-place finishes and three third- and fourth-place results.

“We just want to outdo ourselves every meet, stay healthy and continue to get better with every practice,” Carlson said. “Winning the Rollie was a great steppingstone for us moving forward this season.”

Newark captures Rollie Morris girls title

The Norsemen racked up 130 points to beat second-place Princeton (101) to win the girls portion of the Rollie Morris Invite.

Sophomore Kiara Wesseh and senior Megan Williams were a solid 1-2 punch for Newark. Wesseh won the 100-meter run, 100 hurdles and the high jump while finishing second in the 200. Williams won the triple jump while also placing second in the 100 and 100 hurdles.

“We had never won at a big meet, and in fact, up until [April 14] at Sandwich, we had not even won any meet before,” Newark coach Jeff Schutt said. “I started the Newark track program about six years ago, and at that time the athletes thought running 200 meters was long distance. Being a small school, we also have to share athletes with softball, travel volleyball and basketball, so getting numbers is hard.

“We have had some good athletes before, but never good athletes and the numbers needed to win meets. This year we have 11 girls on the team, and they all find some way to contribute. Many of them are four-event competitors, which helps.”

Newark also received individual wins from freshman Tess Carlson (pole vault) and Lindsey Hatteberg (long jump). Peyton Eike, Lindsey Hatteberg, Addison Ness and Brooklyn Hatteberg took a first and a second in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays.