Posted: May 18, 2010 |(0) Comments

Safe to say that the Homestead, Whitefish Bay and Nicolet girls track teams are ready for the big season-ending push.

All three took part in the North Shore Conference Outdoor meet on Tuesday (see the NOW sites of the various communities for details) and all showed that they were prepared for that meet with fine regular season-closing efforts.

The evidence is from three area invitationals.

Homestead easily won the Cedarburg Invitational, while Bay claimed its first major meet title of the year at the Grafton Invite and the Nicolet sprint relay teams turned in scorching, state honor roll times at Oconomowoc.

"We're trying hard," said Knights coach Brian Sommers. "The kids understand the training correctly and know we're trying to peak at this time."

The trio of teams will take part in the WIAA regional meet at Grafton at 3:30 p.m. Monday. The top four finishers in each event will advance to the sectional at Homestead on May 27.

Homestead dominates

Homestead, which looked to earn a North Shore triple crown championship at the outdoor, was most impressive in taking the Cedarburg meet, as the Highlanders dominated the six-team proceedings, taking 10 firsts and scoring 203 points as Sussex Hamilton was a distant second with 122.5.

As usual, hurdler Marissa Savitch, the deep distance corps and the field events led the way for the Highlanders.

Earning firsts were Savitch in the 100 high hurdles (14.77) and the 300 low hurdles (season best 46.77).

In the distances, Caity Bobber won the 800 (2:22.72) while Sarah Miller was second (2:25.17); and in the 3,200, Lauren Holtz won in 11:23.96 while Carrie Rice was second (11:49.64). The 3,200 relay team of Alex Holtz, Carolyn Apfelbach, Megan Starr and Emily Jeanpierre, was also victorious (10:27.77) while Keali Bjork was second in the 1,600 (5:23.16).

The field events were a cornucopia of success for the Highlanders, as Riek Bior claimed the high jump (5-0), Katelyn Wright the pole vault (10-0), Ashley Heding the long jump (16-3 1/2 ), Natalie Goniu the shot put (34-5 1/2 ) and Lauren LaDell the discus (95-2).

Other notable finishes included the following: 400: Kacie Kelly, second (1:02.12); 100 relay: Brittney McLeod, Katie Cullen, Ashley Lawrence and Melinda Gayle, third (53.05); long jump: Amy Slawson, third (15-2 1/2 ); and discus: Goniu, third (93-6).

"It was a real team victory," Highlanders coach John Krueger said, "and the funny thing was, was that we were trying to go light on the girls."

Blue Dukes rest and still win

Bay was also going light on its athletes, as top distance runners Kenzie Vicker (leg injury), Megan Palmer (cold) and Emma-Lisa Murphy (rest) were all kept out of the meet at Grafton, but still the Blue Dukes scored 120 points to edge out host Grafton (109.8) in the 10-team field.

A one-two-three sweep of the 400 led the way for Bay as Mady Vicker (1:02.03), Alissa Foley (1:04.29) and Kelsey Reed (1:04.3) put more than two full seconds on the field with their efforts.

In the pole vault, the Blue Dukes went one-two as Camille Schwartz won at 10-6 and Nawoo Kim was second at 9-6.

Other firsts went to the 1,600 relay (4:15.98) and Frankie Carroll in the high jump (5-0).

"Being able to perform like this really gives us a lot of confidence," Blue Dukes coach Ben Van Male said. "We had some really good efforts in the field events and sprints, and we're still working hard on the handoffs in the sprint relays."

Other finishes of note for Bay included the following: 100 high hurdles: Sofie Yang, third (17.63); 800 relay: third (1:55.2); 300 low hurdles: Yang, second (50.66); and triple jump: Yang, second (31-3 1/2 ).

Relays carry Nicolet

For Sommers and Nicolet at Oconomowoc, the less the public knew about their quick results, the better. The Knights were only third of five but with the powerhouse showings of the relay group of Ashley Green, Ashley Jones, Roni Thompson and Surya Chionesu and an ever widening group of talented throwers, Sommers was not worried.

Nicolet won all three relays, most spectacularly, the 1,600 relay with a state-level time of 4:06.6. Jones, the last addition to the 1,600 group, turned in a quick 61-second 400 split.

Nicolet also won the 400 (51.02) and 800 (1:45.1) relay races in season-best times.

The Knights also went one-two-three in both the shot put and the discus. Gabby Bronson won the shot and Brianna Achs took the discus. Adding depth to the group that includes Rachel Morello, is freshman Devon Peck, who was fifth in the shot.

"The kids are looking ready," said Sommers.

State-level distance runner Lauren Cunningham, who has missed most of the season with hip problems, was to make her outdoor debut at the league outdoor meet after a long stint of rehab and training in the pool, Sommers said.