Barrington aims to get right back on track

Last year, Barrington's girls track team was locked in from the start capping its season with its first Class AA state championship.

The Fillies were on a mission from start to finish adding a Mid-Suburban League title and sectional title on its road to Charleston and the state meet.

So are the Fillies ready for more?

"I don't think you want to exhale -- that's a dangerous thing," said senior Molly Glantz who was a member of both the 3,200 and 1,600 relays that won state titles. "There are still things we want to accomplish and we're still driven."

Barrington will be back in action at the 28th annual Mark Saylor Mid-Suburban League Indoor Invitational at Wheeling tonight.

Field events start 4:30 p.m., followed by running events preliminaries at 5 p.m. Track finals are scheduled to begin after 6 p.m.

Barrington will be seeking its second straight indoor title as the Fillies took first with 121 points in last year meet followed by Palatine (90 points) and Conant (57 points).

Barrington will have some holes to fill losing Danielle Locascio, Val Taylor, Dipti Karmarkar and Sara Rebmann to graduation.

Fortunately for the Fillies seniors Amanda Schnack and Samantha Learch will join Glantz to form a solid nucleus, with juniors Jenny Schnack, Jayne Jaderholm, and Rebecca Tracy adding depth.

"It's a totally different team," added Barrington coach Jody Gitelis, "but the six returnees certainly help set the tone. It will be interesting to see how things come together."

Barrington holds the top seed in the 4x150 relay (1:23.6) and 1,600 relay (4:10.3), with Glantz being top seed in the 55 high hurdles (8.94) and Learch holding the top seed in the 800 (2:21.5).

"We still have a job to do and we love to compete," added Glantz.

Conant senior Toni Graham and her teammates are also looking to pick up where they left off. Last year Graham finished second to East St. Louis's Ronecia Nash in both the 100 and 200 at the Class AA state finals.

Graham also combined with Briana Millar, Emily Quinones, and Destiny Arps leading Conant to third place in the 400 relay and fourth place in the 800 relay at the state as the Cougars just missed the third place team trophy by 1 point to Thornton

"We definitely talked about it," said Conant coach Bob Borczak of the Cougars' near miss. "It motivates us. I keep asking, we need one point, who's it going to be?"

Last year Graham set meet indoor records in the 55 dash and 200 dash, this year the senior is top seed in both events. Arps is top seed for the Cougars in the 400 (1:02).

Palatine has won 13 MSL indoor titles and has a pair of top seeds in Jocelyn Kuksa (pole vault) and Sara McIntosh (3,200).

A balanced Prospect team will also be in the mix today. The Knights finished second in the MSL last season and enter tonight's meet with the top seed in the 3,200 relay (9:39).

Hoffman Estates turned a few heads by winning the MSL title in cross country and now the Hawks would like to do the same in track.

Hoffman is in good position tying Barrington with four top seeds with Hannah Worman (1,600), Victoria Mikszta (high jump), Altrese Hawkins (long jump), and Ashley Chervinko (shot put) leading the way.

Fremd's Ashley Ruff is top seeded in the triple jump (34-01).