Boys track and field: Hurdlers help Jacobs take third at Nally Invite
Hurdlers are not necessarily born, but made.
It works well at Jacobs, where the Golden Eagles placed third among 19 Class 2A/3A teams Saturday at the 51st Carlin Nalley Invitational, a dual-level boys track meet at Bolingbrook also with 11 Class 1A teams.
Jacob junior Tommy Subaric won the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.15 seconds, senior Jermaine Maegdlin-Ferguson pulling in fourth at 15.69.
A few hours later Maegdlin-Ferguson won the 300 intermediates at 40.09 seconds, Subaric third at 41.03.
"I think personally I might be a little faster than Jermaine, but Jermaine has way more endurance than me," Subaric said.
Neither athlete enjoyed hurdles when they arrived on the scene, if terms like "hated them" and "didn't really like them" are an indication.
Now, things are different.
"I enjoy it, because the 300 is a nice endurance, speed and technique kind of race, and it's very competitive in the state," said Maegdlin-Ferguson, seeking Dom Blake's program mark of 38.89 seconds.
"We try to find young kids who are athletic," said Jacobs coach Jason Borhart, who ran hurdles his senior year at Marengo. His son, Blaine, also at Marengo, trailed Maegdlin-Ferguson's victorious 300 at the recent McHenry County Meet but beat Subaric. That's been good for some yucks.
"They might not be the fastest kid as a freshman or sophomore, but we say, hey, why don't you try the hurdles? And then they kind of stick with it," Jason Borhart said. "Jermaine, it wasn't the thing he wanted to do as a freshman but he kind of kept working at it and he got better, he was a state qualifier last year, hopefully again this year.
"Tommy's in kind of the same boat, on that track. If he continues to improve he should be a state qualifier. And we've got a freshman (Connor Frank) this year, when Jermaine leaves the next kid's going to kind of fall in and keep that going."
As Subaric said, he's currently got the speed going while Maegdlin-Ferguson has the stamina, but it's a day-to-day proposition.
"Almost every day we go over form and just kind of compete against each other," Subaric said. "So I think us competing really gets us both to our best ability because we want to beat each other. It's a friendly competition between us two."
Jacobs, whose 77 points followed Lincoln-Way East (90) and T.F. South (85), kicked off Nalley 2A/3A track events by winning the 3,200-meter relay in 8 minutes, 8.99 seconds behind Brett Bognar, Brandon Cole, Jacob Melgosa and Zach Albrecht.
Loren Strickland won long jump at 21 feet, 5 inches, and placed fifth in the 100 dash. Gary Richardson scored in the 3,200 while the foursome of Subaric, Frank, Nick Agenlian and Cole Patrician finished fourth in the 800 relay.
Albrecht and Mark Lemke finished third and sixth, respectively, in the open 1,600. They returned, with Agenlian and Bognar, for a second-place 1,600 relay at 3:35.34.
"The mile (1,600) is kind of new for me. A day like today, it's pretty hot, and I'm expecting times to not be as fast as usual, so I'm very happy with that," said Lemke, a junior who ran it in 4:34.69.
"We knew as a team all around we could place at least top-three. It's a good team day, but, whoah, I'm tired."