Just stay healthy and get downstate

Boys track and field sectionals approach Thursday. There are no guarantees. Make the state-qualifying standard or finish top-two in an event, or turn in the uniform.

Barring injury or unexpected calamity some athletes appear destined to reach or return to Charleston for the state meet.

Neuqua Valley all-state sprinters Ty Moss and Zac Espinosa, Lake Park's defending Class 3A 110-meter hurdles champion Antonio Shenault and all-state discus thrower Mike Prestigiacomo, distance runners Matt Plowman of York, Ryan Clevenger of Downers Grove North and Connor Horn of Neuqua Valley fit in this category.

It would be an upset if Glenbard South's Jack Curtis or Lisle's Aaron Harris didn't qualify in three open events and perhaps a relay.

Again, barring injury.

Waubonsie Valley in 2014 lost 47-foot triple jumper James Travis to a hamstring pull at the Class 3A Joliet West sectional. Warriors sprinter Tony Durns, among DuPage County's fastest athletes, looked to be a near-cinch for both 100 and 200 qualification until a leg injury that day ruined it. He pulled out of the 100 but not the 200, and in the state preliminaries Durns could muster only a game effort at finishing the 100.

Then there are those for whom the sectional will be the biggest event of their track lives. Bigger than the state meet, really, because for these bubble guys - athletes right on the cusp of qualifying - state would be gravy if they were fortunate to make it.

Fenton coach John Kurtz had one of those no-brainer qualifiers in the late 1970s, future Olympian Jim Spivey. Now Kurtz has a pair of bubble guys, both seniors, hurdler Josh Casey and middle distance runner Axel Nava.

Casey needs to cut a half-second off his time; Nava, nicknamed "El Caballo," needs to slice a second.

Kurtz is encouraged because Nava ran a 49-second relay split in his third race of the Metro Suburban Conference West Division meet. As a coach, there's nothing quite like seeing an athlete make the state cut.

"The winning and the success never changes, I don't care who it is, what it is, where it is," Kurtz said. "But in the past where someone came out of nowhere to qualify, that's a crazy, wonderful feeling."

Neuqua Valley coach Mike Kennedy felt that last year at Joliet West. In the 3,200 run an exhausted Michael Widmann fell 10 meters from the finish. Widmann struggled to sprawl across the line less than a second under the standard, and went on to place 18th in Class 3A with no sign of letup now as a senior.

"His qualification is so memorable because the determination and conviction was so apparent at the end of his race," Kennedy said. "Only a determined athlete would get up and dive across the finish line like he did."

Coaches must consider what's best not only for the individual but for the group. While Addison Trail's Jaavion Bradley is somewhat on an island attempting to clear 6 feet, 5 inches in high jump, Blazers coach Bruce Kelsay will use all available time to contemplate what's best individually and relay-wise for sprinter Darius Conrad on Friday at York, which Kelsay calls "the sectional of death, where good runners go to die."

It's particularly touchy for sprinters, who run preliminary heats and if they're fast enough, finals. Then, add a couple relay legs. Conrad's best open event is the 200, second-to-last of the day.

"When you're trying to get downstate and it's your sixth race of the day the legs can be a little bit heavier," Kelsay said. "You want to keep an athlete like Darius as fresh as possible. It's a moment-to-moment thing sometimes."

Nearly every team has one or more on the cusp. Throw a shot put and you'll hit one: Benet's Frank Scheck, Wheaton Warrenville South's Brandon Bell, Hinsdale South's Roman Drabchuk, Waubonsie Valley's JaQuere Williams, Glenbard East's Patrick Mikel, Downers Grove South's Nick Kersting, Glenbard West's Mohamed Gborie, Willowbrook's Donnie Hawkins. Et cetera.

Naperville Central coach Steve Wiesbrook had a nice surprise last year at Joliet West, which advanced the most entries to state of any sectional, 126. The Redhawks' 800 relay was seeded seventh but finished fifth, under qualifying time.

Last season seven 800 relay teams advanced out of Joliet West - which morphs into Thursday's Class 3A Plainfield North sectional on Thursday. Weisbrook hopes similar group achievement helps hurdler Kyle Hilton achieve his downstate goals.

"We just have to go out and we have to compete," Wiesbrook said. "If everybody on the track is competing, everyone in the ring is competing, they're going to raise everyone to new heights."