Boys track: Cossio, Elischer share McElroy award

Barrington's Luis Cossio and Palatine's John Elischer made the most of a rainy, windy and cold day at the 85th annual Palatine Relays on Saturday at Chic Anderson Stadium.

Cossio picked up four first-place finishes and Elischer secured four second-place finishes.

At the end of the day, they were co-winners for the McElroy Award given to the meet's outstanding male athlete.

Cossio started his day by securing a first-place finish in the 400 (50.51).

He then switched his attention to the relays, anchoring his team to first-place finishes in the 400 relay (44.28), 800 relay (1:32.04) and the 1,600 relay (3:34.20).

"Coming out with four wins is a very solid day," said Cossio of his stellar performance. "Coach (Todd) Kuklinski always says historically Palatine is where we start to amp it up, and I thought that is what we did today."

The Broncos junior was slowed by a knee injury early in the season but showed he is back in form with his performance on Saturday.

"He is starting to hit his stride," said Kuklinski. "He had a great day. There is not much more he could do than four gold medals."

Elischer did a nice job in matching Cossio's performance.

The Pirates senior started his day by taking second in the 300 low hurdles (39.42).

He came back to take second in the 400 (51.23) and aided his team's second-place finish in the 440 high hurdle shuttle relay (1:07) before capping a fine performance by taking second in the 200 (22.36).

"I needed to do whatever I could do for my team," Elischer said. "You take whatever conditions are given to you and do the best, that's what got me through the meet. It feels great."

"It was a long day for him," said Palatine coach John Nalley. "He does a great job of taking care of himself. He's a great student and he does everything right."

Palatine edged Barrington for the team title, 141-135. It was the Pirates' second consecutive Palatine Relay title.

Fremd took third with 106 points, followed by Mundelein (89 points) and Portage, Ind. (67 points).

Palatine was powered by its senior core, including Courtland Cornelius who took first in the 100 (11.17).

Cornelius was also part of the Pirates' 800 relay (1:34.56) that took second and the 400 relay (44.72) and 1,600 relay (3:41.11) that took third.

"It feels great to win the title two consecutive years," said Cornelius, who anchored the 1,600 relay to nail down the title for the Pirates. "Coming through in the last minute in that relay, I was just trying to help out the team."

Senior Brian Leonard, junior Rahul Gudivad, senior Nate Izewski and junior Evan Eckels combined to lead the Pirates to a first-place finish in the distance medley (10:58.66).

Palatine senior Cordell Griffin tied for second individually in helping his team to a first-place finish in the high jump relay (16-07). Senior Kendall Johnson (42-04.25) took first individually, leading the Pirates to a first-place finish in the triple jump relay (119-02.25).

"We have 26 seniors on this team and they all did amazing," said Nalley of his veteran attack. "They all came in focused."

Barrington hung tough capturing seven titles, including the four Cossio was involved in.

Nick Laning added some huge points for the Broncos by capturing first in the 1,600 (4:32.05) and 3,200 (10:02.61). The Broncos junior picked his spots in both races, using strong finishes.

"I was happy with both races," said Laning of his power double. "The weather was a huge curveball but you just have to adapt to it."

The Broncos added a victory in the frosh/soph 800 sprint medley (1:41.57).

Barrington senior John Steffen continued his assault in the throws, capturing the top individual spot in both the shot put (56-02.5) and discus (155-01).

Fremd junior Jaden Jackson also had a pretty sweet day. He opened the competition by cruising to a first-place finish in the 300 high hurdles (39.0).

Jackson later anchored his team to a first-place finish in the 440 high hurdle shuttle (1:04.20) and finished up by coming from behind in the final lap to power the Vikings to victory in the meet-ending 1,600 relay (3:40.89).

"I felt pretty good," said Jackson. "Despite the weather you have to push through it, you just have to have the mental toughness."

Fremd's 3,200 relay hit a nifty 7:52 at Prospect on Friday night. On Saturday, senior Jack Buban, junior Ed Worthem, senior Luke Vogelgesang and senior Danny Peterson had no letdown.

The Vikings foursome powered to another victory in 3,200 relay (8:10.46).

"We are all very excited," said Peterson. "This relay has been our focus throughout the whole year, we have some big goals."

The Vikings also were tough in capturing both the shot put relay (157-00.5) and discus relay (418-08).

Senior Ethan Hanson took second individually in shot put (56-02.5) with senior Roman Murashko (145-02) and senior Matt Bilek (144-10) going 2-3 in the discus.

Mundelein junior Bobby Nuzzo won the 200 (22.33). He added a second-place finish in the 100 (11.22) and third in the 400 (52.59).

The Mustangs also took second in the 400 relay (44.32) and the 3,200 relay (8:25.76) with sophomore Robert St. Claire adding a second-place finish in the 3,200 (10:06.19).

Mundelein also ran to a first place finish in the frosh/soph. 1,600 sprint medley (3:50.64).