Neuqua Valley the best of a good group
Sixteen teams meant loads of great athletes at the Upstate Eight Conference boys track meet Thursday at Metea Valley.
The 800-meter run featured two of Illinois' best going head to head.
Neuqua Valley's Ty Moss entered the meet in Aurora with the state's best time on the Dyestat board. West Aurora's Connor McCue ranked sixth.
"I just knew it was going to be tough competition, no matter what," Moss said.
"The second you step on the line, none of those times matter," McCue said. "You've got to do it on the day."
Moss, the Nebraska-bound senior, took it out hard and ran his first 400 meters in about 55 seconds. McCue was in perfect position, however, no more than 2 yards behind, pacing Moss.
With about 300 meters left McCue made a slight move and tried again with 200, rounding the third turn.
"I knew he was coming, he was right behind me, and I felt his presence so I just had to stay up front and keep battling for that position, make sure he doesn't pass me," Moss said.
McCue issued a final challenge with 70 meters left, one of the best kicks in Illinois. It was not enough as Moss finished in 1 minute, 54.39 seconds to McCue's 1:54.60 in the rain.
"I was charging on him at the end, but I just ran out of real estate. He's a great runner," McCue said.
"I just always listen to what my dad (Raymond) has told me," Moss said. "He trained me as a sprinter. His thing was always lift (the knees) and drive, so that's what I just kept doing."
With results like Moss', Zac Espinosa's 400-meter win, the 1-2 finish of Connor Horn and Michael Widmann in the 1,600 and Dan Weiss and Jake McEneaney in the 3,200, plus taking three of four relays, Neuqua repeated as the UEC's overall and Valley Division winner, with 138 overall points.
Batavia, the River Division champion ahead of Geneva, finished second with 92, starting with Jay Hunt's win in high jump. West Aurora (76 points), vastly improved St. Charles East (59), Waubonsie Valley (57), Geneva (53) and Bartlett (51) followed.
Bartlett coach Erik Kramer had words of advice on form for his ace sprinter, Bryce Petty, even after Petty won the 100-meter dash in 11.08 seconds, ahead of Geneva's Ryan Skibinski and South Elgin's Shawn Griffin.
"His shoulder is doing too much movement in the race for my liking," said Kramer, who later saw Petty and Hawks teammate A.J. Santori finish 1-2 in the 200. Those two also ran with Nolan Bernat and Harris Ross for a first-place 400 relay, the one Neuqua didn't win.
Kramer was fine with Petty's end result, after he joined 2012 and 2013 UEC 100 dash winner Aaron Everson for the flying Hawks.
"That was kind of the conversation, because we wanted to get back to being the fastest man in conference," Kramer said.
Speaking of conversation, West Aurora's DaVion and DaQuan Cross enjoyed trashtalk between twins.
DaQuan finished between Batavia's Hunt and Peter Rudelich in high jump - each at 6 feet, 3 inches - when he saw his brother had surpassed 22 feet in long jump.
"He jumped a 22 and I had to go up there, too," DaQuan Cross said.
They proceeded the back and forth.
"That's what helps us fight to go even further," DaVion said. "It's just good competition when you trashtalk."
DaVion ended up beating his brother by three-quarters of an inch, and then won triple jump by the same slim margin, edging Neuqua's Kimani Mobley each over 43-4.
Senior Brett Boddy became Metea Valley's first outdoor conference champion, in shot put. He also was the Mustangs' first indoor conference champion this season, and both came at the expense of West Aurora's Hunter Siler.
The big men were tied at 51-9½ when Boddy entered the ring for his last throw. He sent it 52-2, again stealing a win from Siler as he had at the UEC indoor meet in March.
"I've been working on it all this time and I've done track for four years," Boddy said.
Seeing all the older guys going down to state and doing all these great things, I just wanted to live up to them. It was fun."
In another dynamite pair of events, St. Charles East's Kyle Decker kept coming in the 110 hurdles, in Lane 4 and splitting the Waubonsie Valley duo of Jeff Penny and Tyler Kirkwood, who fell after the last hurdle yet still took second.
Decker returned in the 300 hurdles to face Batavia's Peyton Piron. In a battle between Piron's outright speed and Decker's form and technique, Piron came on down the stretch, finishing in 39.03 seconds to Decker's 39.29.
"Peyton, he's a closer," said his father, Batavia coach Dennis Piron. "And if he's with you near the end you're going to be in trouble because he's so strong."
"I've had better kicks than that because I can tell by my steps," Decker said. "I think I'll be able to catch him, but that's just me."