MSL's elite join trophy hunt
Each sport throughout the high school year can claim its championship is the toughest to win. Within that, winning any state trophy is almost as tough.
But winning a trophy during the two-day track and field state meet each year is undoubtedly the toughest of any sport.
Unlike football, basketball or baseball, there are no brackets or March Madness-style upsets. Instead it is a case of individuals in 18 different events trying to amass enough points to earn one of the three trophies handed out at Eastern Illinois University's O'Brien Field every year.
The experience of winning one of the trophies has been a rather hollow one for the boys track programs in the Mid-Suburban League. Hoffman Estates' second-place finish in the 1997 Class AA meet, the only boys track trophy in the league's 45-year history, was thanks in large part to the supreme efforts of then-senior Pierre Leinbach.
In the last 10 full seasons, no team has finished higher than fifth and only five MSL schools have placed in the top 10. Certainly this is not for lack of talent.
The league has produced six individual state champions and three relay champions since 1997 and figures to produce a few more in 2008.
So what is this hidden recipe that has eluded one of the top track and field conferences in the state and why has no one broken through in the last 10 years?
"I think it has to be a day where everything goes perfect and a few unexpected things happen to other teams," said coach Todd Kuklinski of two-time defending conference champion Barrington. "We have had teams we thought might have a chance to break through including last year, but things really have to go perfect."
One thing needed, and Hoffman proved it 11 years ago, is star power at the top of the lineup. Every great team has a great star to go with them and this year, Palatine and Rolling Meadows have just that.
Palatine features the defending 800-meter state champion in Wisconsin-bound senior Mat Smoody. Senior Tim Williams is also a returning medalist in the long jump, which gives the Pirates the star power to contend.
Meadows possesses two home run hitters at the top of its lineup as well with senior Ty Kirk and junior Mick Viken returning. Kirk was a second-place finisher in the triple jump in 2007 and is a sure-fire medal contender in both jumping events this season.
Viken very easily could have medaled last season in the pole vault, but an ankle injury in warmups during the prelims limited the then-sophomore. This season, a 16-6 vault indoors has the defending state indoor champion ready to shoot for the outdoor title.
"(Mick) looks so good and is such a tremendous athlete," said Meadows coach Jim Voyles. "The sky really is the limit for this kid. There is no reason I can think of why he couldn't clear 17-feet outdoors this year."
Even with the star power of Meadows and Palatine, the guarantees simply don't exist that either the Pirates or Mustangs will be claiming trophies on the final Saturday of the season in Charleston.
"It is certainly a goal for us -- no question about it," Smoody said. "We know it has been a long time since anyone has done it and we know it will take a lot of hard work to accomplish that goal."
A little luck never hurts either.
"The kids have talked about what it would mean to win a trophy," said Palatine coach John Nalley. "But they also know, how far away something like that is right now. We have many other things that we need to do before we can start talking about that."
Beyond just good luck, and things falling in the right spots, it takes a team with a deep lineup and sprinter heavy to contend on Saturday at the state meet. Traditionally, the state meet has been dominated by sprint powers in Thornwood, Lake Park, East St. Louis Sr. and Springfield Lanphier. This is an area, where the distance rich MSL has fallen short in past seasons.
"You think about the teams that win down there and you look at their depth in the sprints," said Prospect coach Mike Kamedula. "With so many sprinting events those kinds of teams -- the Cahokias and East St. Louis' are built for winning this meet. Rarely do you see distance dominant teams win the meet."
York is the only team that has been able to break the sprint barrier. The Dukes did so thanks in large part to Stanford all-American Donald Sage in 2000.
The trophy-less streak is bound to come to an end soon. If not this season, the final in the two-class system, or in the future three-class system, the MSL is too good with too many good athletes to not have another trophy-winner.
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Ed Lee/elee@dailyherald.com
Rolling Meadows' Ty Kirk competes in last year's triple jump state finals.