Girls win Ritter Invite for first time in 20 years

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Kileen Dietrich, Sports Editor

For the first time since 1992, the girls’ track and field team placed first over 15 other teams in the Ritter Invite held at DGN on April, 13.

The team totaled 103.5 points, defeating second place opponent Glenbard West by over 20 points and third place opponent West Aurora by more than 25 points.

Individual leading scorers for the Trojans include Isabel Maletich in the 300 m hurdles, long jump and triple jump, Faith LaMantia in the 100-meter and 200-meter, and Emma Moravec in the 800-meter.

In addition to placing in the top four in two individual events, LaMantia also broke school records at the invite.

At Ritter, breaking the 4×100 meter relay was definitely a huge accomplishment,” LaMantia said. “As well as being the champs in the 4×100 meter relay and 4×200 meter relay and also overall in the meet.”

However, LaMantia is no stranger to fast meets.

“I made it to state my sophomore year, my first year on track,” LaMantia said.

Also placing in the top four of her individual events was Maletich, who set a personal record this meet in the long jump, hitting a final distance of 17’ 7.5”.

“[My goal is to start] jumping farther. I want to jump over 19 feet for long jump and 39 feet for triple jump. But also getting faster is a priority because it translates into jumping.”

In addition to competing in three individual events, Maletich competed in the 4×400 relay along with seniors Emma Moravec, Gina Kowalewicz and junior Rachel Sprague.

“I am very proud of our team win this year,” Moravec said. “We haven’t won the meet since the early ‘90s so it’s really amazing to be a part of the victory.”