Boys track and field: Hannula helps Kaneland take 2nd at sectional
ROCHELLE - With a complete lineup at its disposal, the Kaneland boys track team put together an impressive performance in Thursday night's Rochelle Class 2A sectional.
Sparked by a pair of first place finishes from junior Clayton Hannula in the shot put and discus along with second place showings from junior Matt Richtman in the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs, the Knights took second place with 85.5 points.
Fellow Northern Illinois Big XII Conference rival Sterling won the meet with 90.5 points.
"They just competed their butts off tonight and it was awesome to watch," said Knights coach Andy Drendel. "We qualified everybody we were expected to and we exceeded the points we were seeded to get."
Hannula, coming off a personal best 58-4.5 shot put effort in the Northern Illinois Big XII Conference meet, collected the sectional title with a 56-2.5 throw. Hannula followed that up by claiming the discus crown with a solid 167-9 effort.
"I was seeded second in both events, so taking first was of my main goals," said Hannula, who will be making his second appearance at state.
Knights senior Danny Walker easily claimed the pole vault championship, clearing 15-3, while teammate Jack O'Sullivan also advanced to state with a fourth place 13-1.
"I think a lot of guys really pulled through today," Walker said, as he qualified for state for the third time. "I'm really excited for next week for all of us to be out there. It will be a strong team."
"Field events have been awesome all year," Drendel said. "Those guys got us going right away and then track stepped up."
The Knights' 4x100-meter relay team of senior Adam Rivas, sophomore Noah Butzman, and seniors Matt Noel and Cody Delarme posted a winning time of 43.41.
Kaneland's 4x200 meter team was nipped at the line by Sterling, but still advanced with a solid time of 1:32.28.
Richtman went through with a 9:31.11 in the 3,200 run and came back to post a second place 4:24.56 in the 1,600.
"The 3,200 was my main goal tonight and the 1,600 was just to see if I could do it and hopefully score some more points for the team."
Drew Gould finished in a fifth-place tie in the 100 meter hurdles to qualify with a 15.11.
"I think we can make some noise down in Charleston," Drendel said.
Burlington Central's 4x800 relay team of Logan Anderson, Adam Kries, Enrique Martinez and Josh Teets finished sixth, but shaved nearly 5 seconds off their seed time to narrowly qualify in 8:09.68.
Central's 4x100 quartet of Michael Kalusa, Aakansh Sharma, Jimmy Badillo and Jacob Teets qualified second at 43.91 while the Rockets' 4x400 team also squeaked in at 3:26.97.
"We considered it a real good night getting three of our relays through," said Central coach Mike Schmidt. "Our 4 x 100 was seeded seventh coming in, but we've had a lot of injuries with that team and we were able to put it together tonight and made it, which was a nice surprise."