Multiple wins from Hayden and Steele help Lincoln-Way East to NCC Girls Cardinal Classic title

State leading times by Glenbard West, Naperville North in 4x8; Distance races go wild inside Res-Rec

By Michael Newman

Naperville, Ill – This is normally a breakout meet for Lincoln-Way East to show what talent they have for the upcoming season. We won’t see what kind of lineup the Griffins will have until we get to May. If Thursday’s meet is any indication, the 2025 edition of this Lincoln-Way East team could be challenging for a trophy in Charleston.

Results | Race Videos

Lincoln-Way East scored in just 9 of 15 scheduled events inside the Res-Rec Center on the campus of North Central College Thursday evening. Multi-events wins by Kyra Hayden and Alaina Steele helped their squad win the meet team title with 88.5 points. Neuqua Valley (77 points) and Naperville Central (65 points) finished second and third. Downers Grove South (54 points) and Naperville North (44.5 points) rounded out the top five in this 17 team meet.

Hayden has done the sprint hurdle double in her sleep in the four years competing for her school. What made things different in this year’s meet it was the first meet that she had run the hurdles. An injury stopped her training this winter until the beginning of February. The first time she went over hurdles in practice was in the last 10 days. You could not tell as she came out of the blocks in the final section of the 55 Meter Hurdles.

Hayden was challenged early by Shepard’s Kyla Motley and Rajae Stevenson over the first three hurdles before Stevenson crashed into the third hurdle and fell to the ground. Hayden exploded over that third hurdle and was on her way to the win. Hayden missed the meet record by six hundredths of a second. She still ran 8.37 to run the fastest time in the state at that distance Motley ran 8.58 to finish second. (Hayden Interview)

Hayden was back in the blocks 15 minutes later in the final section of the 55 Meter Dash. She would have a challenge as Avery Bonino of Hinsdale Central had run a personal best of 7.45 to win Section 5 setting a high standard for Hayden. Nevertheless, the senior came out of the blocks nicely and held off Autumn Gruenwald of Wheaton North to win with a 7.41 time. Bonino ended up finishing seconds overall. Gruenewald ran a personal best of 7.46 to finish third.

It was then Alexa Steele’s turn to take the center stage for Lincoln-Way East. Steele warmed up tying for sixth in the 55 Meter Dash. She ran a strong first lap in her section of the 400 Meter Dash. The all-state runner from last year ended up with the win running 58.81 (IL #6). Natalie Nahs of Minooka (1:00.39) and Olivia Dalson of Neuqua Valley (1:01.23) finished second and third. Hayden ran 1:02.62 to finish sixth in her third race of the meet.

Steele came off the final turn in the lead in the 200 Meter Dash. The sophomore ran 26.28 for the win holding off Gabi Karvelis of Neuqua Valley (26.35) and Valencia Ingram of Naperville Central (26.53). (Steele Interview)

One of the main stories of this meet were the four-distance events that took place. This meet is traditionally has great distance races. The tenth addition of this meet was no exception.

The 4x800 Meter Relay produced the top two times in the state (as of 3/6/2025) in this race. Glenbard West took the lead during the second leg of the race. Mackenzie Gilbert had a nine second lead on Naperville North when Emma Berres took the baton for the Huskies. Berres ran a 2:16.2 anchor leg for her team but ran out of real estate before she could catch Gilbert. Glenbard West’s quartet of Gilbert, Alexa Novak, Maia Kaslewicz, and Shane Dietzen ran a state leading 9:39.85 for the win. Naperville North ran 9:43.08 (IL #2) to finish second. Wheaton-Warrenville South, behind a strong 2:22 opening leg by Nicole Poglitsch, ran 10:02.66 to finish third.

The 3200 Meter Run produced one of the closer finishes in the meet. Rianna Tandon of Naperville North, Maddie Romaine of Wheaton North, Elizabeth Hall of Neuqua Valley, and Taya Gummerson of Minooka broke away from the rest of the field after four laps of the race. It was then Romaine that pushed the pace breaking everyone, but Tandon who refused to let up the pace, Tandon took the lead with three laps to go. Romaine took back the lead using a pack of lapped runners to take the lead. Romaine held on to run 11:05.47 (IL #8) to capture the win with Tandon running a strong race in running 11:06.80 (IL #9). To finish second. Gummerson ran a big personal best of 11:11.50 to finish third with Hall running 11:15.59 to finish fourth. (Romaine Interview).

The final section of the 800 Meter Run was electrifying. Lola Satre-Morales of Naperville Central led the pack through a swift 65 seconds for the first 400-meters with Lily Hodneland of Hinsdale Central and Athena Triner of Yorkville close behind. The final lap and a half belonged to Hodneland and Satre-Morales trying to hold her off. Hodneland took position to take the lead coming off the final curve having the lead for less than two seconds. Satre-Morales got the win catching the Hinsdale junior at the line. Satre-Morales finished with a 2:16.86 time (IL #6) with Hodneland running 2:16.96 (IL #7) to finish second. Triner ran 2:19.46 to finish third with Nicole Meyer of St. Charles East running 2:19.92 to place fourth.

Maya Ledesma of Minooka kept ramping up the pace in the final three laps of the 1600 Meter Run taking the lead ahead of Alexa Novak and Shania Tandon of Naperville North. Ledesma closed in a 32 second final lap to run 5:04.67 to claim the win in the event. Novak was also closing fast running 5:06.89 to finish second. Tandon (5:12.00) and Nicole Poglitsch (5:18.87) were the only other runners under 5:20. (Ledesma Interview).

Other Meet Highlights

Naperville Central ran two great races to capture the two other relays in this meet. The Redhawks took the lead early in the 4x200 Meter Relay and never gave u that advantage. The quartet of Valencia Ingram, Adeline O’Neill, Maya Strohner, and Emily Tilton ran 1:46.54 (IL #8) to win the event ahead of Lincoln-Way East (1:48.30) and Downers Grove South (1:48.58).

Lola Satre-Morales gave Naperville Central the lead running a 58.5 opening led. Their other relay members of Eloise Graft, Keira Friant, and Brooke Bilik ran 4:06.57 (IL #4) for the win. Naperville North ran 4:08.34 (IL #6) to finish second with Glenbard West running 4:12.28 to place third.

Three athletes surpassed 18 feet in the Long Jump competition. Olivia Dalson of Neuqua Valley jumped 18-8.5 to win the event with Kyla Motley jumping 18-7.5 (IL #6) to place second. Gabi Karvelis jumped 18-1.5 in placing third. Karvelis came back in the Triple Jump with her third personal indoor best of the season. The Neuqua Valley senior jumped 39-1 (IL #3) to win the event ahead of Karen Boakye of Downers Grove South (37-5.75) and Dalson (37-3.25, IL #7).

Kendall Cullen of Glenbard West cleared 11-7.75 (IL #4) on her first attempt to win the Pole Vault. Kailee Rodeck of Downers Grove South cleared 11-5 (IL #9) to finish second. Hayven Harden of Downers Grove South cleared a personal best of 5-2.5 in winning the High Jump. Courtney Clabough of Yorkville dominated the Shot Put with a 38-11 best to win the event by over five feet.