Neuqua Valley well-represented in California

At the top of the Arcadia Invitational website home page, four athletes are pictured. Two of them are Neuqua Valley graduates - Chris Derrick and Maya Neal. That's representation.

The Wildcats continued to represent at last weekend's elite California meet. Tying last year's numbers, 13 Neuqua athletes made the trip led by coach Mike Kennedy, distance coach Paul Vandersteen and Neuqua assistant principal Lance Fuhrer, the school's first boys track coach.

"There were a few bright spots, but we didn't run as well as we wanted to," Kennedy said.

Highlights included Isaiah Robinson's 800-meter time of 1 minute, 55.85 seconds, good for third in his section and fifth overall. Robinson's time surpassed the Illinois High School Association Class 3A qualifying standard.

Most of Arcadia's events are seeded from Invitational to Seeded to Rated to Open in terms of caliber of times accepted. In Jake McEneaney's Seeded 3,200 run the senior battled a sinus infection but ran 9:16.64, more than 10 seconds under the state-qualifying time of 9:26.72. In the same race Scott Anderson eclipsed the standard at 9:24.99.

In his Rated 3,200, Jackson Jett ran 9:22.83 and Ryan Kennedy, Mike's son, went 9:23.08 in an Open 3,200 heat.

The 6,400-meter Invitational relay of McEneaney, Tyler Bombacino, Anderson and Josh Mollway place fourth in a heat where American Fork, Utah, set a meet record by 30 seconds.

Other outings did not qualify as Wildcats highlights.

The 1,600 relay earned a DNF - did not finish - due to JaQuere Williams' minor hamstring pull.

"He's OK," Mike Kennedy said.

Crowded exchange zones hampered Neuqua's 800 and 3,200 relays. Live and learn.

As Kennedy wrote in his post-meet notes, "This weekend taught us that we still have work to do before the state meet in May, while giving us a taste of what could be."

Winner's circle:

In the same Open 3,200 heat Neuqua Valley sophomore Zach Kinne ran 9:31.02 to place 18th on Friday night at Arcadia, Hinsdale Central junior Sean O'Connell pulled out a gutty victory.

Red Devils coach Noah Lawrence had to stay home to manage the Hinsdale Relays on Saturday, but O'Connell's father, Timothy, watched the victory on site.

Sean O'Connell hung back the first mile to stay out of traffic - 31 runners were in his heat - and finished the first 1,600 meters in around 4 minutes, 43 seconds.

O'Connell started working his way up. On the live computer stream from Arcadia, suddenly there he was among the leaders. With around 500 meters left O'Connell took the lead, but 150 meters later Manny Olivo-Quinon, a senior out of Buena, Arizona, overtook him.

Hanging tough, out of the final turn O'Connell drew even then with about 85 meters left he surged past Olivo-Quinon to win in 9:20.06. That's more than six seconds faster than state-qualifying time and about 36 seconds faster than he ran last spring.

Lawrence waited until Saturday morning to view the race video. Otherwise he "never would have fallen asleep," he said.

"I did not expect to see Sean's name on top, so I was very excited to see that. It was a great way to wake up," Lawrence said. "He showed extraordinary poise for an athlete who's never been in that type of a big-meet situation."

Hurdles and more:

Jon Schweighardt still owns the IHSA record in the 300-meter hurdles, 36.77 seconds as a senior at Wheaton Warrenville South in 1999. One might figure the sixth-year Hilltoppers coach is all about the hurdles.

At Wheaton North's Best Four Invitational on April 8, Glenbard West athletes won five of eight hurdles races spanning four heats of both the 110s and 300s. Pat Howard and Brady Heller won their levels at 110 meters, Heller, Vince Divenere and Kameron Bedford at 300.

Schweighardt enjoyed this, but he's got to be all about everything.

"You've got 18 events you've got to worry about, so I can't just load up one thing," he said. "We are fortunate to have some good hurdlers this year. That was some nice points for the team that we scored in that event, so I'm happy with that. Those kids all do other events and they all are successful in other events, too."

Bedford won his heat of the 100 dash and Heller was a three-time winner in addition to running on a second-place 400 relay. In the top level of the 200 dash Heller edged WW South's Christian Harris by the slightest of margins, at 22.86 seconds.

"I didn't think I could do that," Heller said after his long day.

Yikes:

There was an anxious moment at the Best Four when all-state WW South pole vaulter Tom Ansiel came down hard in an attempt at 16 feet, 1 inch. The senior had already won the event at 15-1 but attempted the foot increase because it was "higher than 15-7," he said, which is his outdoor personal best and a school record. Ansiel went 16-7 indoors this year.

Unable to clear the bar, he descended facing the runway, taking a jarring seat on the firm padding on the "box" where the vaulter plants the pole on takeoff. Ansiel stayed put for a few moments before being helped up and walking off to applause.

Several minutes later Ansiel said he had felt his back "compress" in the crash, but he looked comfortable. A stern crosswind may have been on his mind during the attempt.

"You start to worry about that more than about jumping," he said.

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