Behind 15 personal best finishes, the Sandwich girls' track and field team clinched the team championship at the Herscher Invite last Friday night.
The Indians scored 122 points to tie Clifton Central and finish well ahead of Prairie Central's third-place score of 78. Sandwich scored big points in the relay events, winning two and taking second in two others.
"The girls did an outstanding job," Sandwich coach Dusty Behringer said. "We have our conference meet this week, so when we go to Herscher we like to use our conference lineup so it gives us a lot of confidence going into conference. Our girls really performed well."
Sophomore Kayla Schiera took the 1,600-meter invite record from Dwight's Daly Galloway, beating Galloway's 2015 record by three seconds as Schiera crossed the finish line in 5:16.86. Schiera also won the 800-meter run in 2:22.14. Both finishes are below the Class 2A state qualifying marks.
"Kayla ran a very smart race," Behringer said. "She's still very young, but she's a very skilled runner. She exercised the race strategy, and I'm very proud of her for being disciplined with how she was going to run the race."
Sandwich won the 3,200-meter relay behind the efforts of Schiera, Emma Roberts, Kayla Mueller and Marisa Fuchs, turning in a top time of 10:26.45, and the 400-meter relay of Emma King, Sarah Ness, Maddie Dawson and Emily Ness won with a time of 52.64 seconds. The 1,600-meter relay team posted a second-place time of 4:18.79 with Dawson, Schiera, Roberts and Fuchs in the mix. The 800-meter relay team of King, Sarah Ness, Rachel Goodin and Emily Ness took second in 1:54.38.
Maddie Robinson won the shot put with a mark of 36-7.
"I'm really proud of how consistent she is," Behringer said. "That's going to pay big dividends at conference and sectionals."
Roberts, in addition to being part of two relays, took second in the 800 (2:25) and third in the 1,600 (5:26) and was responsible for three of the teams' 15 personal best finishes that day. Dawson was second in the 400 (1:02) and Ness was second in the 100 hurdles (16.81) and third in the 300 hurdles (49.40).
Following the Interstate Eight Conference meet on May 5 in Seneca, Sandwich will prepare for the LaSalle-Peru Sectional on May 12.