Kara Glenn admitted that she was a little nervous heading into the 400-meter race Thursday.

The St. Charles North sophomore, who had already set the meet record in the 3,200 earlier in the DuKane Conference girls track and field meet, had volunteered for the event earlier in the week despite admitting she hadn’t felt her best in the event since the beginning of the outdoor season.

“It was definitely nerve-wracking at first,” Glenn admitted. “But at the end of the day, running a good time would be really cool for me, but I think showing that I’m able to do different events to give other opportunities to other people is an important part of the sport.”

Glenn ended up winning the 400 in 55.41, setting her second meet record of the day and the second-fastest time in Illinois, to help pace St. Charles North to 149 points to defend its team title.

“Boy oh boy, what a feeling,” North Stars coach Tony Enright said. “This is a great feeling.”

The North Stars finished the meet with five wins across, with three of them getting meet records. Glenn was the only North Stars runner with multiple wins, running a 10:31.56 in the 3,200 alongside her 400.

“It felt really good being out there, and I think I’m just most excited about being back and fully healthy,” Glenn said. “I’ve got nothing that hurts, and that’s most important at the end of the day.”

Gwen Hobson had the team’s other meet record, one of 10 set on the day, winning the 800 in 2:16.30. Katie Shook took the gold in the 300 hurdles in 45.16 and Madison Brolsma won the shot put with a throw of 11.49 meters.

“The vibe with the team is just really good,” Glenn said. “We’re all in a really good place to do well at sectionals.”

St. Charles East walked away from the meet with the most new records under its belt. The Saints had four of their five wins set new conference-bests to secure a second-place finish with 110 points.

“We kind of picked and chose what we wanted to focus on for this conference meet,” Saints coach Bradley Kaplan said. “The girls rose up and took advantage of the opportunity against some great competition. And to lose to a quality team like St. Charles North, you just have to tip your cap to them.”

Setting the tone for the Saints was senior sprinter Madeline Piekarz, who set the meet record with her wins in the 100 (12.22) and 200 (25.12). The Butler commit also anchored the 4x100 to a victory in 48.33, missing the meet record by three-hundredths of a second.

“I honestly had a harder training week than usual to lock in for sectionals,” Piekarz said. “I didn’t know what all I was going to do heading into the week, but I rested up, made sure to lock in for my races and had just had out there.”

Nicole Mayer played a part in the other two meet records for the Saints, running a 5:01.98 to win the 1,600 before running the second leg of the 4x400, which ended the night running a meet-record 3:59.43.

“She ran a 5:01 and then had to run a sub-60 just 20 minutes later,” Kaplan said. “We’ll look to give her some more time when we move her back to the 800. But overall, it was a great night for us.”

Batavia rounded out the podium in the team standings, finishing with 102.16 points. The Bulldogs had both of their wins come in the jumps, with Abby Wirth winning the long jump in a meet-record 5.60 meters and the triple jump in 11.32 meters and later added a second-place finish in the 100 hurdles.

“Abby is such a special individual,” Bulldogs coach Justin Allison said. “She’s a gamer and she knew during indoor season when she had a quad strain that she’d have put the work in, and she hasn’t missed a step. She exudes the work ethic and mentality to get back on the track and field.”

Geneva, the hosts of the meet, fell just short of a podium spot with 95 points. Alyssa Flotte accounted for the Vikings’ only win in the 100 hurdles (15.05), but coach Peter Raak was still proud of the amount of double scoring the team had.

“It’s just a fine line of getting enough points for the meet but not overloading them too much before sectionals,” Raak said. “But it’s fun to see them compete at the home track. It’s nice to see some double scorers with the talent in this conference.”

Wheaton North placed fifth in the meet with 65 points. Kara Wilkinson provided the only win for the Falcons in the meet, winning the pole vault with a leap of 3.55 meters.

Wheaton Warrenville South was right behind the Falcons with 61.33 points. The Tigers’ lone win came in the 4x800, with the team of Emily Fahrman, Clara Franken, Kate Jeffers and Addy Lindsay running a 9:24.08, the second-fastest time in the state this season, to break the meet record.

Lake Park took seventh place with 58 points. Klara Volkova set a meet record in the discus throw in 43.77 meters, clearing the field by 12 meters. Olivia Stranz added a win in the high jump after clearing 1.57 meters.

Glenbard North rounded out the teams with 48.5 points, with its only win coming in the 4x200 in 1:46.14.