Boys track and field: Barrington's growth continues at Lake Zurich

Barrington junior John Stefan exemplifies the type of track and field team the Broncos have this season.

At first glance, Stefan is an imposing 6-4, 295 pound giant of a man. Up close, his youthful appearance and soft-spoken demeanor are what stand out most.

Prior to last season Steffan was an unknown, but already he's become one of the young leaders on a Barrington team that is still trying to find its way. Just in the past week, the Broncos have started to show signs of being a team similar to the one that captured the Mid-Suburban League outdoor title last year.

A strong performance by Stefan and the Broncos on Tuesday at the MSL West Division meet carried over to the Lake Zurich Bears Invite at Mel Eide Field on Friday night. Barrington captured the team title with 205 points, while Lakes ran second with 186, just ahead of Wheeling (184) and Vernon Hills (178.5).

Stefan played a big role in the success, winning the shot put (50-9) and the discus (149-8).

"Last summer, I was still playing football, but I started working on my throwing a lot more," Stefan said. "And it's funny because I do still have the 10-year-old face, but I think everyone can see what I am and what we as a team are capable of."

Barrington collected points on the frosh/soph level, but had significant time drops on the varsity level as well. The Broncos' 1,600 relay dropped nearly 4 seconds from its seed time in a second-place finish (3:26.89) with Luis Cossio, Jacob Barron, David Lozzio and Mark Landwer.

"Tonight we had some kids that just had outstanding PR's," Barrington coach Todd Kuklinski said. "We have a young group and we are trying to mix that with the upper class, and we got some nice results from the young guys and the older guys."

One of those elder statesman was senior Alex Maher, who won the 3,200 in 9:44.28, just ahead of sophomore Nick Lanning (9:47.07).

Meanwhile, Lakes' 1-2 combination of Cameron Ruiz and Brandon Thiel continued their friendly duel in the 400 meters. Much like last week, Ruiz, who also won the long jump (21-5), led Thiel for most of the race only to see Thiel pass him with 120 meters to go and pull away for a meet record time of 49.60. Ruiz was second in 49.66.

Another meet record fell in the pole vault for the Eagles, as Illinois-bound senior Cooper Jazo cleared 15-6. That effort also marks a school record.

"All year I have been feeling really good," Jazo said. "Today I was able to piece it all together and really started to feel like myself again."

The Eagles' 1,600-relay team of Thiel, Robert Kuhlmann, Leon Small and Jordan Mercure were also victorious, winning in 3:26.77.

Vernon Hills and junior Tim Krashevsky continued to show why they should be a factor in the Class 2A state meet in May. Krashevsky along with Caleb Ju, Trevor Moyers, and Nikolay Kravtsev came within a whisker of breaking the school record in the 3,200 relay. Their 8:07.17 clocking was less than a second off the school mark.

Krashevsky then led wire-to-wire in a win in the 800 (1:57.71).

"A lot of tonight correlates into how we finished up last season," Krashevsky said. "It's translated into this year, where we feel like we have a great team with great depth."

That depth was on display in the 200, where Josh Williams pulled away from the field to win in a personal best 22.48. Tennessee-bound senior Noah Agnew took the top spot in the high jump by clearing 6-9.

Wheeling did itself proud in the sprints again, and the 800 relay just may have answered some questions for coach Mike Kamedula. Led by Blake Greenberg and Jason Shannon, the Wildcats ran a season-best 1:30.57, coming within .02 of breaking a nearly 50-year-old school record.

Wheeling senior Dylan Draka held off Williams to win the 100 in 10.96, and Wildcats senior Josh Diaz won his 300 hurdles in 41.01.

Hoffman Estates ran solidly again in the 400 meter relay, with the team of Declan Rustay, Jelyn Hill, Julian Pablo and David Garcia winning in 43.11. Sophomore PJ Rodriguez ran a season-best 15.32 to win the 110 high hurdles for the Hawks.

The host Bears earned individual wins in the 1,600 from Brian Griffith (4:30.10) and in the triple jump from Hyaan Khan (41-4).