Monckton, Rodriguez pace Hersey at Loyola

Hersey's Cole Monckton and David Rodriguez were boys track sectional champions at Loyola on Thursday, helping the Huskies to a runner-up team finish in the Class 3A state-qualifying meet in Wilmette.

Evanston turned in the strongest team showing with 118 points, followed by Hersey (67), Deerfield (57), Niles North (53.3), Maine South (50) and Prospect (39).

Rodriguez, a senior, won the 1,600 meter run in 4:18.06, just edging out Loyola seniors Christian Swenson and Jack Carroll, who also had state-qualifying times.

Monckton, a senior, won the triple jump with a leap of 43 feet, 8¼ inches - just ahead of junior teammate Jared Polfuss (33-7¾).

Rodriguez teamed with Kyle Svoboda, Kevin Ziegenhorn and Seth Harden for a state-qualifying third-place finish in the 3,200 really (7:55.97).

Svoboda advanced to state individually with a runner-up finish in the 400 dash (49.76), and teamamte Josh Plishke earned a downstate berth with a third-place finish in the 3,200 run (9:26.93).

Prospect's highlight was the sectional championship effort by its 3,200 relay team, as Mike Anderson, Matt Cozine, Luke Filipic and Greg Suarez won in 7:52.21.

The Knights also a had a state-qualifying effort in the 800 relay, where Sam Garcia, Brady Schwartz, Nick Konstantinou and Dan Marshall placed second in 1:29.54.

Senior Austin Kane and junior Clayton Smith gave Hersey big points with a 3-4 finish in the discus, and Cody Bayless for third for the Huskies in the shot put.

For Prospect, senior Sam Garcia was third in the high jump.

at West Aurora: Schaumburg enjoyed a strong showing, qualifying its two sprint relays to the state meet along with some individual successes, including two victories from Shandall Thomas.

The Saxons senior won the 100 dash (10.75) and the 200 dash (21.88) along with taking legs on the victorious 400 relay (42.10) and the runner-up and state-qualifying foursome in the 800 relay (1:28.72).

Schaumburg will also be represented in next week's state meet by senior Sammy Ramini, who cleared 13-9 in the pole vault.

The top performance for Hoffman Estates was its state-qualifying 3,200 relay, which finished second to St. Charles East in a state-qualifying time of 8:13.54.