Fremd, Prospect net division wins
At Monday’s practice, the Fremd coaching staff laid out the plan of attack necessary for the Vikings to capture their first Mid-Suburban League West boys track title since 2005.
The dry erase board in particular had a prediction for senior Eric Wolski in the 200-meter dash. A second-place finish didn’t sit well with Wolski, though, as he promptly upgraded the message and changed the place to first.
Wolski and the Vikings clearly got the message.
Fremd won the final three races of the night, including the 200-meter dash by Wolski, to hold off defending champion Palatine to win the MSL West division title with 144 points. The Pirates ran second while the host Broncos were a strong third with 100 points.
“We like to get (Eric) all riled up like that,” said Fremd coach Jim Aikens, who captured his eighth divisional crown in 12 seasons. “All of our seniors stepped up tonight and contributed. This was a tremendous effort by all of our guys.”
Wolski’s win in the 200 (22.3) came right after the biggest race win of the night for the Vikings. Senior Andy Mack battled through an all-star field in the 1,600 to win the event in 4:31.3. His finish edged Palatine junior Tim Johnson at the line, giving the Vikings 10 valuable points.
“He may be the smallest guy on our team but he really showed the biggest heart in that race,” Aikens said. “Things could have really gotten away from us there in that race, but Andy really stepped up like a champion.”
Mack, who has emerged as a state contender over the last few weeks, broke away from the field with just less than 200 meters remaining to edge Johnson by .2 seconds.
“I saw the Palatine guys go, and then the Schaumburg guys went, so I knew I had to go,” Mack said. “I have had a lot of bad luck with illness and injury. I knew I could do this all along and now that I am healthy it’s all coming together.”
The turning point in the meet for the Vikings came in the 800-meter relay. The team of AJ McGhee, Justin Wallace, Christian Vail and Wolski ran 1:31.4 to win the race and started a run where Fremd won four of the next five events.
Including the Wolski win in the 200, the 1,600-relay team of David Ferguson, Jarrell Lewis, Vail and Wallace ran a season-best 3:26.3 to win the event and secure the meet title.
Lewis finished second a few events earlier in the 300 hurdles to Ben Bowers of Conant while Ferguson captured the 400 in a season-best 50.70.
Other Viking winners included Ohio State-bound senior Brian Bobek in the shot and discus. Competing in both events for the first time in three weeks because of injuries, Bobek won the discus with a toss of 153-11. His win in the shot put established a personal best; his second throw of 58-4.5 is the fifth-best throw in the state this spring.
“Just got to keep him healthy until the state meet,” Aikens said of his thrower.
Other event winners included Bowers taking the 110 high hurdles and his teammate Bart Daniel taking the high jump with a best effort of 6-3. Palatine’s Dan La Rocca won the pole vault, matching his season best of 13-0. Steve Grajek of Hoffman Estates captured the triple jump (42-5) and the long jump (20-8) and Barrington earned wins in the 3,200-relay (8:04.20), 100-meter dash (Taylor Calacci) and the 3,200 meter run (Erik Peterson).
Palatine also took top honors with Ryan McGough in the 800 (1:58.9) and the relay team of Terry Halloran, Kendrick Cornelius, David DiCristofano and Will Stein in the 400 relay.
Prospect repeats: The Knights captured three relay wins and six individual event wins to earn a second straight Mid-Suburban East Division title. Prospect scored an impressive 176.5 points to finish ahead of second-place Hersey (109). Buffalo Grove was third (107.5) followed by Wheeling (72).
Ohio State-bound senior Nick Batcha won three events for the Knights — high jump (6-2), long jump (21-11) and the 400-meter dash (50.4). Anthony Babicz won two events for the Knights, shot put (51-10) and discus (148-4).
The runner-up Huskies’ best performance came in the 1,600 where Nate Knautz and Steve Tubergen completed the 1-2 sweep in the event. The third-place Bison earned wins on the track from Jereme Atchison in the 3,200, Mike Garrity in the 110 high hurdles and Ryan Darcy in the 100 dash.