St. Charles East's Decker breaks 2 school records

Even a role model's records are made to be broken.

St. Charles East senior Kyle Decker had just finished running the 300-meter hurdles. Having already set a new Saints record in the 110 hurdles Saturday at West Aurora's John Bell Invitational, Decker was crossing his fingers his 300 time set another.

Eventually the time came up and it was good - Decker's clocking of 39.42 seconds slid just under the 39.46 Nick Devor ran at the 2012 St. Charles North sectional.

Earlier on Saturday Decker twice edged Devor's 110-meter program record of 15.21 - first in the preliminaries (15.17) and again in the finals (14.89).

Decker was a freshman when Devor set those records.

"He was a role model for me. He was a great kid," said Decker, second in both races to Thornton's Demetrius Mitchell.

"It's cheesy, but I want to be like him," Decker said of Devor. "He was just such a good leader to our hurdle crew and really brought us together. His work ethic was amazing. I definitely look up to him."

Decker qualified downstate in the 110s as a junior. Entering the season Saints coach Chris Bosworth held the 300s as a goal as well.

"I feel this year I've definitely gotten the flow of it," Decker said. "I've been doing a lot more 400 work so it's helped my endurance a lot. I've gotten used to the strides in between. I think that's the biggest part."

Fifth at the 15th annual Bell Invitational behind Thornton, West Aurora - by a half-point! - Downers Grove North and Oswego, St. Charles East was sharp with Decker and on the track in multiples of 400.

Joe Komlanc finished second in the 400 - a finish mirrored by Colton Weber in pole vault - and from 800 through the 3,200 St. Charles East got top-six finishes by Hunter Klose, J.B. Sandlund, Mike Skora and Mike Gerkin.

The crowning achievement came in the last event when seniors Komlanc and Klose joined junior Devon Kelly and sophomore Sandlund on a first-place 1,600-meter relay,

Komlanc started it with a split time of 50.9 seconds; Kelly, in his first race since the indoor season due to a hamstring injury, anchored in 50.6.

"I just knew that I had to do this for the team because they were already doing so well anyway I couldn't let them down," Kelly said.

"Both Devon and I worked really hard to get to this level where we're at, and it really shows both of us how far people can come when they really put in the effort," Komlanc said.

Thornton's 110.5 points inched by the host Blackhawks' 110 when West Aurora coach Cortney Lamb was forced to pull his 1,600 relay due to injuries to Kiwanne Johnson and Baron Smith.

Along with Connor McCue's crackling 800 win in 1:54.42, the Blackhawks mainly rode their bread and butter, scoring 80 points in field events.

Going 1-2 with Alex DeBolt in shot put, Lewis University-bound Hunter Siler launched a personal-record 54-footer on his first try.

"I hadn't PR'd for a while, so that boosts my confidence a lot," Siler said.

DaQuan Cross and Trevon Weathersby went 1-2 in high jump, as did Chris Walker and DaVion Cross in triple jump. Later, the Cross twins joined Chandler Behrens and Michael Pryor on a second-place 800 relay.

When Walker approached triple jump, Blackhawks jumps coach Chuck Hilby noted DaVion Cross had already gone 45 feet, 3 inches in preliminaries. The challenge issued, the 2014 Class 3A runner-up went 46-¼ on his second attempt.

"Give me a little push like, 'I know you can do it,'" Walker said. "Because me and DaVion, we like to have that little competition, and that's always good. We just pretty much have fun with it."