Yorkville’s Bri Stuepfert, Leena Palmer, Ali Hester and Esther Bell broke a record last Thursday that was established when Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction and Dumb and Dumber were dominating the box office.
The aforementioned foursome won the 4 x 800-meter relay at the Oswego ABC Invite with a time of 9 minutes 43.19 seconds, breaking a record that had stood since Naperville Central set it in 1994.
Hester, who had been battling an injury, also impressed coach Ben Draper with her 5:17.9 effort in the 1,600.
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“We were nervous because she’d been out with an injury but she had a great practice,” Draper said.
In the B flight of the 1600, Casey Kramer ran a 5:34.0.
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Success from the distance runners is nothing new at Yorkville, and Thursday was simply another occasion where they were very impressive.
“It was a heck of a day for the distance team but we expect that because they’ve been through so many battles,” Draper said. “After a few weeks off, there was some rust, but they reacted appropriately. They are just so fun to coach and watch, and are super-talented girls who do the right things and work hard.”
Another highlight came from freshman Jocelyn Ocon in the shot put and discus. Paired with Melissa Ybarra, the program can expect nice things from the duo this year and beyond.
Toma’s too much for Hubs
The YHS baseball team knows if it wants to stay in the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference race, it’s going to have to play well this week against Kaneland.
Monday’s game was postponed due to wet conditions, so the three-game series will begin in Maple Park on Tuesday, head to Yorkville on Wednesday and finish Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Elfstrom Stadium in Geneva.
“At 6-0 in conference, Kaneland is probably the league favorite,” Yorkville coach Scott Luken said. “If we want to get back in the race, we’ve got to score some runs and get some decent pitching.”
The Foxes went 1-2 last week, getting their lone win Wednesday as Stephen Toma outdueled Rochelle’s Sean Hudson in an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel. The Foxes scored the game-winner when Derek Pisczek led off the sixth inning with a single. A pinch runner took Pisczek’s spot on first, moved to second on a Josh M. Cooper sacrifice bunt, moved to third on a fly out and came home on a wild pitch.
“It was probably Stephen’s best outing of the year,” Luken said. “Their pitcher was really solid too. He allowed us only two hits and only walked one guy.”
Toma yielded only two hits and a pair of walks while striking out six to get the complete game victory.
The Foxes lost to Rochelle, 7-5, Wednesday. Their pitching struggled, surrendering five walks in the first two innings and allowed the Hubs to jump ahead 7-0. The Foxes battled back though, but still came up a little short.
“We didn’t play dead, which was a good thing, and kept it within reach,” Luken said. “But we failed to execute when we needed to.”
Looking for an opponent Saturday resulted in a game nearly two hours away against Lakes. The Foxes lost a heartbreaker, 5-4, surrendering three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Although the ending wasn’t good, the start was, especially the starting pitching as Pisczek threw four scoreless innings before leaving the game on a pitch count.
Lastly, the ceremony to retire longtime coach Eric Miller’s jersey was postponed Monday and has been rescheduled for May 3.
Girls soccer: Lady Foxes continue to progress
A couple weeks ago Yorkville fell apart early against DeKalb, ultimately losing 8-0. The teams met in a rematch Thursday and although the Barbs again won handily, this time 5-0, it was a far more competitive game as the Lady Foxes kept things scoreless for the first 31 minutes.
“DeKalb is very good and one of the most focused teams out there, which is amazing because they’re very young,” Yorkville coach Mike Jacobs said. “It was good for the girls to see that they can do this, and DeKalb is a heck of a team that’s going to go deep into the playoffs.
"They were very productive, fighting and hustling and you could tell they were trying to do the right things.”
The Lady Foxes played twice on Saturday in DeKalb tournament, beating Spring Valley Hall, 7-0, before getting shutout, 5-0, by Mendota in the third-place game.
Michelle Fabricino scored three goals, Sam Mahoney had two, and Jenny Taptich and Miranda Balderas also scored in the big victory against Spring Valley Hall while Sigrid Piszczek had six saves in goal.
The Lady Foxes began their week with a fairly lengthy bus trip to Joliet, where they fell to Joliet Catholic Academy, 3-1.
“That was a really neat experience playing at a cool venue with heated Astroturf,” Jacobs said. “We scored right off the bat and held them for a while, but then they did get three goals. They’re a good squad but we hung in there and played well.”
Fabricino scored for the Lady Foxes.
Boys track: Foxes win 4 x 800 relay at Peterson
The Yorkville boys track and field team found itself in the top five on 10 different occasions during Saturday’s Peterson Prep Invitational at Kaneland.
Kyle Dhuse, Scott King, Chris Kellogg and Jack Callahan won the 4 x 800 relay for the Foxes. It was the only first-place finish by the Foxes.
“They ran awesome,” Yorkville coach Ben Draper said. “Like the analogy in baseball where you can’t win a pennant but you can lose one, in the 800 you can lose in the first 200 meters. So it’s a real credit to those guys to not panic early.”
Competing in less-than-favorable conditions that included strong, gusting winds, Draper felt the team finished where he expected they would.
“This is by far the best we’ve done at this meet since I’ve been here,” Draper said. “We had a long layoff. This was our first meet since April 9, and this was one we had been looking forward to, so it was really encouraging.”
Yorkville beat Kaneland in the indoor conference meet in March, so the Knights were able to get some revenge by finishing ahead of the Foxes. Draper believes it will serve as an eye-opener to his team if it wishes wish to compete for a conference title.
“Yorkville has never won a conference in boys track, which is surprising for all the talent and success we’ve had,” Draper said. “If we want to beat Kaneland we have a lot more work to do, but that doesn’t mean we’re that far off.”
The Foxes had no second-place finishes, but did take third place in three events, including Kevin Cox’s 11.31 in the 100 meters, Eric Baker’s 10:19.69 in the 3,200 and the 4 x 400 relay team’s 3:37.70.
Softball: Staying above .500
The Yorkville softball team (8-7) was on both sides of shutouts last week.
The Lady Foxes received a 3-for-4 day at the plate from Sonja Gilbertson in a 7-0 win over Plainfield East on Wednesday. Gilbertson fell a single short of the cycle while driving in four runs. Nothing went right for the Lady Foxes on Saturday, however, as they were thumped, 13-0, by Sterling.
