Whitley learns track can be fun

Welcome to track Geneva's Kelly Whitley, you're a winner.

The Vikings freshman ran in her first girls track meet Friday night and came away with a first-place time of 5:35 in the 1,600-meter run at the second annual Western Sun Conference Indoor Invitational. Whitley led from start to finish and held off teammate Kelly Shogren as Geneva placed 1-2 in the mile en route to capturing the team title with 130 points.

"It was my first track event ever in my life," said Whitley, whose grade school did not offer girls track. "I didn't have any idea what to expect, but it was exciting. I just went out and tried to run my fastest, but this gives me a good energy boost and now I feel good about going into my next meet."

Vikings coach Peter Raak should feel good about going into pretty much every meet this spring since his balanced lineup has his squad in position to contend for a conference title and more.

"We have a lot of everything this year not just runners," said Raak, whose girls took first in the pole vault, high jump and triple jump, in addition to winning the 3,200 relay. "We have a lot of new kids out and also a lot of the kids back have really stepped up. The kids are really taking to their events."

Sammi Hill won the triple jump with a distance of 35-3, Lexie Tomchemk took first with a high jump of 5-2, Allie Pace won the pole vault at 10-3, and the Vikings foursome of Shogren, Megan Brady, Kat Yelle and Tess Ehrhardt won the 3,200 relay with a time of 10:25.00.

Batavia, second in the team standings at 75, was paced by Natalie Tartar, who defended her meet titles in the 55 high hurdles and the 55 dash by breaking the record times she had established in 2007. The Bulldogs other win came in the 400 dash where Alexis Sampson edged out the Vikings' Yelle, who fell at the finish line while trying to hold off a charging Sampson. Both runners clocked in at 1:02.8.

For Glenbard South -- third in the team standings at 73.5 points -- the meet ended on a high when the mile relay team of Kim Iacobazzi, Erin O'Brien, Sarah Englehardt and Libby O'Brien set meet and school indoor records with a blazing time of 4:13.

"Our original goal was to break the record again," said Libby O'Brien, who anchored the Raiders title team. "With Batavia and Geneva we knew we'd have real good competition. This was a nice winding down to the indoor season."

Glenbard South also won the 4-lap relay, and Jasmine Simpson and Alicia Englehardt finished 1-2 in the shot put.