Edwardsville could be Class 3A team to beat
Professionally, Neuqua Valley assistant boys track coach Jaime Janota is an English teacher. After Neuqua Valley won the Class 3A Plainfield North sectional he morphed into numbers-crunching mode and handicapped the entire 3A meet.
Calculating points on individual and relay seeds coming out of the 11 sectionals, Janota scored the meet as if those results will hold firm this weekend. Due to any number of factors, from typical Charleston swelter to simple luck good or bad, that won't happen.
It's still fun to contemplate.
Edwardsville, the Normal Community West sectional winner which in 2014 tied Lake Park for second place in 3A, is slated to come out on top with 50.2 points based on seeds entering the state meet. Last year, York won 3A with 40 points.
The rest of Janota's top 10 with prospective points: Lakes (34.25), Evanston (33), Neuqua Valley (30), Plainfield Central (28), East St. Louis (26), Springfield (26), Barrington (25.5), Oak Park (23.5) and Lake Park (23.25).
Janota didn't score either 2A or 1A - he's crazy but he's not nuts, since Neuqua deals only with 3A - but he did extend his work to all 82 3A teams that enter Charleston with a top-nine seed. Such as St. Charles North with senior pole vaulter Josh Pelock. His No. 3 seed at 15 feet counts as a theoretical 7 points.
In this model West Aurora has the potential to be the highest scoring 3A team from Kane County, 17th overall with 15.5 points. In addition to Connor McCue, whose 1,600-meter sectional time of 4:20.32 is in the middle of the pack, the Blackhawks return 2014 triple jump runner-up Chris Walker and 11th-place DaVion Cross seeded third and fourth, respectively. Cross also is seeded seventh in high jump among a crowd at 6 feet, 5 inches.
As prospective top dog, Edwardsville has possible points spread out across all events. The Tigers' 400-meter relay is seeded first as is A.J. Epenesa in discus. Lakes has the speedy Corey Hertz while Evanston's numbers come mainly from three relays seeded no less than fourth.
Right behind Neuqua Valley in a prohibitive fourth place, defending 200 and 400 champion Khamari Montgomery of Plainfield Central is the top seed in those events and second in the 100.
Batavia has high seeds in high jumper Jay Hunt right behind West Aurora's Cross at 6-5, Tyler Mansfield and his 14-3 pole vault, and 300 hurdler Peyton Piron, fifth at 39.02 seconds.
"It's pretty cool," said Piron, familiar with the Charleston experience having accompanied his father, Batavia coach Dennis Piron, each year since sixth grade. "It's almost an honor to run with all those people, and especially to be seeded so high. I hope I can run up to my seed."
St. Charles East's Chris Bosworth figures to be the busiest coach among local 3A teams, qualifying seven positions. Several athletes will pull double duty, like Devon Kelly and Joe Komlanc in the 400 and relays, and fellow senior Kyle Decker, in both hurdles races and a relay as well.
In Class 2A, Sterling sectional champion Burlington Central and Stanford-bound hurdler Lucas Ege, the defending 300 state champion seeded first in the 300- and 110-meter hurdles, may be the best bet to keep Cahokia from becoming the first boys team to win five straight boys track championships.
Kaneland, which could have upended Cahokia in 2014 had a couple things broken differently, shouldn't fall too far from its runner-up spot, coach Eric Baron believes.
"I think we're a top-ten team, maybe a top five," Baron said. "The possibility of being a top-three team is always out there but would require everything going perfectly for us."
That means pole vaulter Danny Walker needs to keep going higher, a step up in the 1,600 by returning state qualifier Austin Kintz and each of the Knights' three state-bound relays. Also, perhaps a couple points from hurdler Tanner Robertson, shot putter Zach Thielk and a second 1,600 runner, freshman Matt Richtman.
Mainly it starts with senior Ben Barnes, whose final long jump in the 2014 meet, a school-record 23 feet, 5 inches, beat favored Jamari Ward of Cahokia, who likewise returns.
Barnes, injured early, has come on with some of the best jumps in his career. He's seeded third in long jump at 22-6½ and fourth in triple jump at 44-11. At sectional Barnes slightly fouled on a long jump Baron believes would have surpassed 24 feet.
"Besides Ben it's a pretty young group of guys and I'm not sure how they'll respond to the pressure. We'll see what they can do."
After winning Class 1A a year ago, Aurora Christian qualified only pole vaulter Josh Schien, seeded 10th at 13 feet, 6 inches. Mooseheart, headed by hurdler Joe Feemorlu and sprinter Josh Gordon, qualified eight positions including three relays.