Kendziera paces Prospect at Conant
Prospect’s Dave Kendziera broke the meet record in the 300-meter hurdles Friday night in the 39th annual Ron Gummerson Cougar Track Classic hosted by Conant, helping Prospect to a runner-up team finish in the flighted meet.
Kendziera finished in 37.8, topping runner-up Mark Eilrich of Conant (39.7) for the A flight victory.
In the team standings, Minooka came out on top with an impressive 245-point showing. Prospect was second at 140, followed by Maine South (131) and Conant (127).
Kendziera was also a winner in the 110 high hurdles (14.0), and Conant’s Zach Dale had the top effort in the 1,600 run (4:17.3), edging Prospect’s Quentin Shaffer (4:20.1).
Conant won the 3,200 relay (8:03.2), and Propsect won the 1,600 relay (3:31.5).
at Hinsdale Central: Palatine won the McCarthy Memorial hosted by Hinsdale Central, finished with 90 points to edge Lincoln-Way Central (88) and Downers Grove South (74) in a competitive field.
Individual winners for Palatine were Christian Zambrano in the 800 run (1:58.9), Zach Stella in the 1,600 run (4:26.35) and Cam Kuksa in the 110 hurdles (14.22). Brian Smith was runner-up in the 3,200 (9:39.20).
Barrington wins Lake County meet: The shot put event had already been wrapped up for Libertyville senior Matsen Dziedzic. His best throw of 60 feet, 5 inches was good enough for the win — but Dziedzic still had one throw left.
The Illinois-bound Dziedzic stood outside the ring one more time and took several deep breaths. He slowly entered the ring, took his spot and launched the shot farther than any thrower in school history.
When the shot came back to earth, it had traveled 62-7.5 for a new Lake County and school record.
Oh, and he won the event too.
“I just tried to clear my head, sing a little song and think about throwing,” Dziedzic said.
So what was the song?
“All-Star by Smashmouth,” he said with a smile.
How fitting as the throw by Dziedzic was an all-star-type throw breaking the mark set by David Lenzini, way back in 1977.
“It was the last throw I was going to get for a week so I knew I had to put everything I had into it,” Dziedzic said. “When I hit 60 earlier this week I knew I had this in me.”
Barrington had the best team effort of the windy and chilly evening at Mel Eide Field at Lake Zurich. The Broncos, fresh off their outstanding effort in winning the Palatine Relays last weekend, rode four relay wins to 104 points and the team title. North Suburban Conference power Lakes ran second with 86 followed by Stevenson (73), Grant (56) and defending champion Deerfield (51).
Relays were the thing for Barrington. The team of Konrad Eiring, David Cerny, Ryan Perkins and Adam Phillips started the night off right for the Broncos, winning the 3,200 in 8:03.79.
Super sophomore Scotty Miller helped lead the 400 relay team that included Parker Deloye, Ray Tolentino and Terrance McGovern to a win in 43.94.
Miller took top honors in the 100, then helped the 800 relay team to another win in a season best 1:30.30. JP Brooks, and Brendan Melynchuk teamed with Deloye for the event win.
To close the night, the Broncos came from behind to win the 1,600 relay in a season-best 3:27.17. Johnny Andraschko teamed with Eiring, Phillips, and Melynchuk for the relay win.
Dziedzic wasn’t the only one to set a meet record Friday night. Grant senior Brandon Lombardino, who finished second to Dziedzic in the shot put (59-10), put together his best afternoon of discus this spring. With a comfortable lead into the finals, Lombardino saved his best for last. The Arkansas State-bound Lombardino tossed the disc 196-1 — the longest effort by any thrower in Lake County history.
“I just felt much more comfortable in the ring in the disc and that definitely helps to keep the upper body more relaxed,” said Lombardino who had 3 throws over 190 feet on Friday. “I was just off the state record tonight. I feel one of those throws coming soon.”
The newly crowned NSC Prairie division champion Bulldogs also got event wins from Jonathan Wells, who won high jump with a leap of 6-5, and Kyle Hatton, who ran a season best 1:58.33 in taking the 800.
One of the best races of the night came early in the meet. Despite chilly temps and occasional drizzle, Illinois-bound Deerfield senior Alex Gold and Purdue-bound Lake Zurich senior Alex Milner hooked up in a great duel in the 3,200-meter run.
The two traded the top spot through the first 2,000 meters before Gold finally started to pull away. The fast pace was good enough for Milner to break the Bears school record finishing second in 9:18.70.
“Today I wanted to let (Alex) set the pace and just go from there,” Milner said. “We had talked before the race to take off with 1,200-meters to go. He took off and I couldn’t catch him.”
Another tight race came in the 400 where neighborhood rivals Antioch and Lakes battled. At the very end, Leroy Chapman of Antioch edged out Trevor Ray of Lakes in 50.02 to 50.30 for Ray.
Other individual winners included Corey Hertz from Lakes taking the 200 in 22.09, Myles Garner of Warren winning the 110 high hurdles in 14.96, Martin Martinez from Warren winning the 1,600 in 4:22.51, Alan Velev of Stevenson with a personal best in the 300 hurdles (40.39), Ki Hwan Kim from Stevenson in the long jump (21-3) and Oleg Babin of Vernon Hills winning the pole vault (14-0).
— Jeff Newton