Boys track and field: High points for Grant's Halverson, NLCC champ Antioch
Athletes draw inspiration from a number of outlets.
For Grant senior Henry Halverson, it's all about honoring the memory of former classmate Mariah Soeder, who was taken from us too soon a couple of years ago when Halverson was a sophomore.
"She was a great friend and track athlete. I just think of her before every meet and jump, and it fires me up because I know she would want me to do well," said Halverson. "That's where I get a lot of my energy and inspiration from."
Well, Soeder would be proud because Halverson put his stamp on the high jump title at the Northern Lake County Conference meet hosted by Grant in Fox Lake on Thursday afternoon.
Halverson owns the conference record, set last year when he jumped a personal-best 6-5. On Thursday, he won with a jump of 6-2.
"Right now it's all mental, and all about speed," said Halverson, who also took third in the long jump (20-2) and will be looking for a third trip to Charleston and the state meet in a couple of short weeks.
Grant finished second in the team standings (106 points) behind champion Antioch (143).
Junior Michael Smith won the triple jump (42-10) and junior Jason Thormo was a tri-champion after winning the 100 (11.16), 200 (22.46) and 400 (50.16).
The Bulldogs' 400 relay also earn a conference title when the quartet of when Bobby Cayet joined Jonathon Bolton, Alex Alva and Thormo to run a 43.61. Cayet also won the 300 hurdles in 39.32.
Like Grant, Antioch has a ton of depth and it showed Thursday.
Junior three-sport athlete Zach Grindley won a conference title in the long jump with a PB of 20-10½ in only his first year running track.
"I wasn't expecting this at all, so it's awesome winning a conference title," said Grindley, who also took second in the triple jump (41-10¾) after Grant's Smith edged him out on the final jump. "I've only been doing triple jump for three weeks and my speed in all phases is getting better."
Sophomore Charlie Smith was also a conference champion in the 3,200 run (9:59) and 1,600 run (4:28.89), while junior Matt Becker put an exclamation point on titles in the shot put (51-10) and discus (148.9).
Lakes junior Evan Selby was a conference champion in the 110 hurdles, where he ran a PB of 16.24.
"This is really cool (to win the 110). I wasn't expecting that. I just trusted my steps and practices," said Selby, who also took third in the 300 hurdles (42.58) and help the Eagles to a third-place finish (61.5).
The Lakes quartet of Charlie Halberg, Jack Erwin, Talon Knauf, and Jeff Milostan won a conference title in the 3,200 relay (8:13.41). Erwin, Ethan Greenfield, Knauf, and Milostan then joined forces to win the 1,600 relay (3:31.92). Knauf also won an individual title after running a 2:00.07 in the 800 run.
Grayslake Central senior Parker Troy tied his personal-best of 13-6 after winning the pole vault.
"I never really enjoyed running and wanted to do something different," said Troy, who hopes to compete for Marquette next fall. "Definitely want to kick it up a notch and go out with a bang. Coaches have me doing a lot of upside-down stuff so I can get my legs up and swing more. I've also been using a bigger pole for practice and reps."
As a team, the Rams finished fourth (51.5) ahead of Grayslake North in fifth (37).
Round Lake, which finished sixth with 15 points, produced a conference champion when Justin Langwinski, Daniel Lopez, Davon Horton, and Ernesto Vargas won the 800 relay in 1:33.88.