Boys track and field: Batavia runs away with Peterson Prep crown
The Batavia boys track team put together a total team effort Saturday to claim top billing in the highly-competitive Peterson Prep Invitational hosted by Kaneland High School.
The Bulldogs won just two events - the high jump and the 400-meter relay - but racked up 115 points overall to easily beat out runner-up DeKalb, which finished with 91 points.
Geneva won three events and finished third overall with 83 points while Kaneland (69 points) and West Aurora (57 points) rounded out the top five in the 17-team field.
"Our depth really showed today," said Batavia assistant coach Bronco Meeks. "We really didn't run our strongest lineup necessarily, we were kind of mixing things up, but guys were still double scoring in a lot of events which is impressive to see."
The Bulldogs produced a crucial 1-2 finish in the high jump as junior Peter Rudelich cleared a personal best 6 feet, 5 inches to win the event. Teammate and event favorite Jay Hunt, who was forced into duty in two running events, took second at 6-1.
"We have a friendly competition between us, and he's been winning a lot this season, so it was kind of funny when I took the lead here," Rudelich said.
Jordan Birkhaug, Reggie Phillips, Jeremiah Evers and Hunt collected the 400 relay title for the Bulldogs in 43.57 while the 800 relay team took second at 1:30.98.
Josh Young and Nick Stuttle went 3-4 for Batavia in the 110 hurdles while Phillips and Charles McMarrow also went 3-4 in the 400. Stuttle also contributed a third place 22-02 in the long jump.
"It's exciting for the team to win this meet because it's against a lot of the competition we'll see in the conference and sectionals," Rudelich said.
Geneva, despite getting nicked up with in-meet injuries to Ryan Skibinski and Donny Friedel, made a solid showing.
Junior Brian Kuehl notched a victory for the Vikings with a 1:59.47 in the 800 while teammate Tyler Dau took third in the event.
"We just wanted to work together and stick together in the race and I think that worked out really well," Kuehl said.
Vikings senior Zeke Buck cleared 14-1 to win the pole vault and teamed with Friedel, Justin Taormina and Skibinski to post a meet-record 1:29.76 to win the 800 relay.
"Due to injuries, we're probably not everything we could have been today, but everyone else did really well," said Geneva coach Gayle Gross. "The first and third in the 800 was great and the throws and jumps were solid."
Kaneland, which will compete in the Class 2A state series, held its own against a host of quality 3A schools. Matt Richtman set a personal record and smoked the field by over 5 seconds to win the 3,200 in 9:41.69.
"It was a really cool race because we were all so close in competition. It was nice to get out in front those last two laps and really push it," Richtman said. "It was a big meet for us to know where we stand and try to improve on our times."
Will Kuipers, Sean Spaetzel, Drew Franklin and Austin Kintz collected the 3,200 relay title in 8:07.74 for the Knights while Kintz took second at 2:00.48 in the 800. Tristan Kinder and Clayton Hannula finished 2-3 in the discus while Tanner Robertsen was third in the 300 hurdles.
"This has been a great preparation for us, plus we have Rochelle and Freeport here that are solid 2A programs in our sectional," said Knights coach Eric Baron. "We're trying to get this meet back to the level it was in the 80s. This was the meet to be at on this weekend and we're getting there."
Senior Chris Walker collected a first place 45-11½ in the triple jump and took second in the long jump (22-2) for West Aurora, which competed without standout Connor McHue.
Dundee-Crown's 1,600 relay quartet of Carlos Sanchez, Freddy Martinez, Oscar Garay and Nick Shydlowski finished fourth (3:32.55) while Anthony Hurgoi placed fifth in the 3200 (9:56.85) for the Chargers. Fernando Vargas was fourth in the discus (148-8) for Elgin.