Neuqua Valley breezes to victory

Saturday's Red Ribbon Classic boys track meet at Waubonsie Valley was about breeze and wind.

First, the breeze came from Neuqua Valley. The Wildcats won the competition by 45.5 points over second-place Minooka (111.5), which had won the meet the last two years. Waubonsie Valley placed fifth (70 points), Wheaton Warrenville South sixth (34) and Metea Valley ninth (24).

The wind came in the form of a sustained heavy wind gust that found its way into Dick Kerner Stadium about two-thirds of the way into the meet. The wind lifted anything light not secured and sent most if not all of the pole vault landing pads about 30 feet into the air to the center of the football field. The gust lasted about between 15 and 20 seconds and delayed the meet around 13 minutes.

Several coaches and meet officials said no one was hurt.

"I have been in bad weather (at meets). I've never seen anything like that," said Neuqua coach Mike Kennedy.

Neuqua Valley finished fourth in Class 3A last season, and the Wildcats are hungry for a title this spring. Kennedy said a meet such as Saturday's is a perfect tuneup for the postseason, which begins in the next couple of weeks..

"We try to use this meet to try and figure out what we'll do in the postseason, where to put athletes in their best events and how to score as many points possible. We want a state championship," he said.

The Wildcats' first victory came in the meet's first event, the 3,200-meter relay. Setting a meet record of 7 minutes, 54.42 seconds were Matt Horsley, Kyle Bender, Isaiah Robinson and anchor Ty Moss. Moss, a senior, was a member of the 2014 relay that won the state championship.

The 3,200 was all Neuqua junior Dominic Dina and senior Daniel Weiss. They separated from the pack almost from the start of the race with Dina crossing the finish line first at 9:40.95 followed by Weiss in 9:41.06.

"The first few laps you want to stay comfortable and not get ahead too early. But when Dan took the lead, I wanted to stay with him," Dina said.

For Weiss the chance to run with a teammate is invaluable.

"At Neuqua we all have this sense of comradery. We know the game plan and we can count on each other," he said.

Senior Zac Espinosa, fourth in the 400 at state a year ago, won the event Saturday in 47.81, another meet record.

"I felt really good. Coach (Orville) Sweeney said my goal should be to make up the stagger at 200 mark and that's what I did," he said.

Espinosa said his focus right now is on the team. Espinosa later won the 200 in 21.78.

"I'm just trying to score as many points for my team to get a state championship," he said.

Waubonsie Valley junior Tyler Kirkwood began his day by winning the 110 hurdles in 14.82.

"I'm ecstatic (about winning). I was a little nervous at first, but I trusted by coaches and my training and let it go from there," he said.

Tyler and teammate Jeff Penny were getting set for the final heat of the varsity 300 hurdles when the wind came up Kerner Stadium just before the third heat.

Besides the pole vault landing pads going airborne, athletes dashed to prevent the wind from blowing away the tents that schools set up at meets such as this for athletes to rest between events.

The pole vault setup was located on the west side of the stadium, parallel to the straightway, and the landing pads made their way to the center of the football field.

"I had to blink and wipe my eyes. I have never seen anything like that," Penny said.

He won the 300 hurdles in 40.33. Kirkwood was fourth.

"I felt good overall. The whole thing (the wind) took my mind off the race and I performed better than I thought I would," he said.