Lincoln-Way C. tied for first place
CHARLESTON -- Entering this weekend's state badminton tournament, both Lincoln-Way Central and Lockport High Schools were optimistic about their chances for a medal as each team had six girls qualify.
After the first day of play Friday, Lincoln-Way Central's hopes may move up from just a medal to one of a certain color -- gold.
The Knights have amassed 9.0 points and are tied with Hinsdale Central and Andrew for first place. Lockport, meanwhile, is tied for 22nd with Lincoln-Way East, both with 3.0 points. Plainfield North has 1.0 point and Plainfield Central has 0.5.
Lincoln-Way Central's Kelly Byar, who entered the tourney with a 52-1 record and was a 3-4 seed, won all three of her matches Friday to reach the quarterfinal round. She defeated Sandburg's Clarissa Mertens, York's Megan Moran and West Aurora's Lauren Henry.
The other Knight singles player, Ellen Sawin, won her first two matches, defeating Andrew's Princess Clemente and Glenbard South's Sara Wissmiller. She then lost to Naperville North's Stephanie Chang and New Trier's Courtney Lai.
The doubles team of Meghan Chevalier and Stephanie Farina beat Schaumburg's Amanda Hardt and Katrina Naeve before losing to Oak Lawn's Sarah Grisko and Megan Sullivan. They then beat Leslie Jacob and Kelli Takagi of Glenbrook South and Naperville North's Brittany Yank and Irene Hao before falling to Katy Heinz and Amanda Schwartz of Glenbard West.
The doubles team of Samantha Chevalier and Nikki Pelletier beat Anooja Rengnekar and Jenna Bujarski of Bartlett and Katie Cortopassi and Melissa Moucka of Hinsdale Central before losing to Hinsdale South's Deepa Ramadurai and Anjylla Foster and Evelyn Chou and Alex Winans of Glenbrook South.
Lockport's Kacie Cassity won her opening match against Christina Hung of Neuqua Valley before losing to Alanna Burnett of Oak Park-River Forest. She then beat Alison Ledbetter of St. Charles East and lost to Mel List of Wheaton Warrenville South. Teammate Elyse Hertko lost to Sherry Lin of Downers Grove South and to Emily Danchisin of Downers Grove North.
The Lockport doubles team of Kaitlin Brassil and Kayla Salomone beat Elise Jaros and Anjali Raichura of Glenbard East before losing to Buffalo Grove's Heather Nisbet and Ashton Nisbet. They then beat Janely Villa and Melissa Valenzuela of East Aurora before losing to Monique Duazo and Jaclyn Musser of Glenbard East. Teammates Cindy Donai and Ninna Baer lost to Sherri Crumley and Malorie Tomasik of Oak Lawn and to Duazo and Musser.
Lincoln-Way East's Carrie Miarecki won all three of her matches, defeating Karolina Sabaliauska of Wheeling, Ellen Stein of York and Kirsten Damon of Hinsdale South. She will play in today's quarterfinals.
Plainfield North's team of Tahreen Iqbai and Jaclyn Rinehart lost to Katie Zillmer and MaryAnn Lee of Glenbrook North before beating Kelsey True and Ashley Nelson of St. Charles North and Emily Kuntzi and Alicia Hizel of West Aurora. They then lost to Jillian Cabrera and Ashley Thomas of Hersey.
Plainfield Central's Monica Davis and Monique Davis lost to Katie Thornton and Korrine Haas of Willowbrook before beating Gladys Leung and Shama Patel of Naperville North. They lost to Marie Kania and Alice Liu of Fremd.