Inspired Barrington races to MSL title
Earlier in the week, Barrington senior Konrad Eiring and his teammates adopted a slogan to honor assistant boys track coach Kevin Kaplan.
And then on Friday, Kaplan's brother Jake passed away after a long battle with cancer. His fight inspired the Broncos.
"All week long we talked about 'slaying the dragon,' " Eiring said. "We just wanted to honor coach Kaplan in this tough time, and that was what we went out and did tonight."
There couldn't have been a more fitting way to honor the Cary-Grove graduate, as the Broncos rolled through the Mid-Suburban League track and field championships at Prospect on Friday night.
Barrington amassed 175 points while setting a conference record for most points and largest margin of victory in the meet. The host Knights ran second (108), followed by Hersey (98.5), Palatine (81), and Schaumburg (77).
It also marked the first time in school history that the Broncos won back-to-back conference titles.
"We were dialed in from the very beginning tonight," said Barrington coach Todd Kuklinski. "Walking in tonight, you could see how focused they were. There was no chatter or anything - you could just see it."
It didn't take long for Barrington to make a statement on the track.
The 3,200-meter relay team of Andrew Gensburg, James Pirie, Tyler Anderson and Eiring cranked out a blistering 7:43.51. It was the fastest time in Illinois this season, as well as a school and conference record.
"When we saw the frosh-soph relay go out and do what it did before us, we were so pumped," Eiring said. "We were really ready to race tonight."
Barrington needed everything it could muster to win the race because the host Knights were stride-for-stride with the Broncos the whole way. Matt Cozine, Greg Suarez, Luke Filipec and Mike Anderson also ran a school-record time of 7:44.19, marking the second fastest time in the state so far this spring.
"We all just went out there and ran fast times tonight," Cozine said. "We all still believe there is room for improvement and we can get faster."
Barrington continued its roll into the 400 relay, taking down another school record.
Griffin Claes, Brendan Melynchuk, Terrance McGovern and Scotty Miller ran 42.00 to hold off a hard charge from Schaumburg (42.27) and Fremd (42.44).
Miller was far from done, as that relay jump-started his night. He set a conference mark in winning the 100 dash (10.57) and later set another when he captured the 200 dash (21.73).
"Conference is always the big meet we come out and try and win," said Miller, who will play football at Bowling Green in the fall. "We came to compete today, and we showed it on the track."
Barrington also took the 1,600 relay in 3:24.96 with Eiring, Melynchuk, Jack Nicoletti and Anderson making up that group. Eiring won the 400 (50.11) and Matt Haller took the high jump (6-3).
The Broncos' 800-relay team popped off a season best 1:28.22 in a second-place finish in the event.
Fremd took top honors, running the second fastest time in the state so far this spring as the team of Jawan Gaines, Kenny Lyke, Kyle Lewis and Darius Burchette ran 1:27.79.
Following up the blazing sprint events was hard, but Elk Grove senior Paul Ifianayi did just that with a splash in the 300 hurdles.
Ifianayi, who committed to Illinois State earlier in the week, took the event in 38.80 just ahead of his brother Peter (40.31).
"This whole week has been great for me," Ifianayi said. "To get into a program like Illinois State with a great coach and then to win tonight was just awesome. I am so blessed."
Illinois-bound senior Zach Dale of Conant battled through illness to hold off a talented field in the 1,600. His time of 4:18.46 just edged out Buffalo Grove's Kevin Salvano (4:19.06) and Palatine's Graham Brown (4:19.58).
Other conference champions included Jake LaRocca of Palatine in the pole vault (15-0), Jarman McMillon of Schaumburg in the long jump (22-5), David Rodriguez of Hersey in the 800 (1:55.26), Cole Monckton of Hersey in the triple jump (44-6.5), Bhupinder Chahal of Wheeling in the shot put (50-4.5), Brendan McKinney of Buffalo Grove in the discus (167-9), Shiv Patel of Hoffman Estates in the 3,200 run (9:35.86) and Rob Fekete of Palatine in the 110 high hurdles (15.09).