The Riverside Brookfield girls track team recently capped a banner regular season by finishing second at the Suburban Prairie (East) Conference Meet on Friday.
The Bulldogs placed second out of six teams (112 points), only trailing behind first-place Lemont. Leading the way for RB was the relay teams. The Bulldogs took first in two out of the five events. Senior Krystina Segura, juniors Meghan McMahon and Lindsey Peterson and sophomore Rachel Recht took first in the 400-meter and 800 relay and have RB coach Michelle Kohler wondering what else they can accomplish.
“All the girls have stepped it up as the season has gone on,” Kohler said. “I have been very impressed with their work ethic all year. We just want to keep their momentum going into the sectional. We are going to concentrate on our exchanges at practice this week and try and improve as much as we can.”
RB’s second-place finish is especially remarkable considering there are only 19 athletes on the team this season. Despite the small numbers, the Bulldogs still left most of the competition in the dust. Along with starring on the two relay teams, Peterson also took firsts in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.75 seconds and the 200 with a blistering time of 26.71. Peterson will compete in the same four events on Friday at the sectional held at Downer’s Grove North.
The top finishes don’t end there for the Bulldogs, with the sprint medley team of Segura, Recht, McMahon and freshman anchor Sheela Turbek taking second, while the 3200 relay team of sophomore Gaby Moron, Sarah Lundgren, Raquel Sylvie and junior Anna Lufthoff took third, demolishing their previous personal best in the process.
In the field events, Victoria Din took third in high jump with a jump of 4-feet, while Madelyn McClellan took third in the pole vault with a vault of 8-8 to break the school record. It was senior Venessa Kanz’s day, however, winning the shot put and discus events. Kanz’s winning throw in the shot was 38-9 inches, while her discus throw was 108-10.
