Tisza socks it to 'em
In the past, athletes have found extremely unusual ways to motivate themselves.
From your basic bulletin board material to honoring a fallen teammate with a tattoo or sign -- athletes have gone to rather odd measures to get the best possible edge.
Friday night, at the Hersey Travis Classic, formerly known as the Travis Relays, Hersey senior Mike Tisza used a pair of sweaty socks to keep himself focused.
On the top of one sock was the word business and on the other, naturally, the word socks. Tisza put on the "business socks" and got down to business in the 800-meter run.
Tisza pulled away from the field and cruised to a personal-best 1:57.3. His effort was a small part of a business-like effort from the Huskies.
Hersey amassed 285 points to take the team title for the first time in nine years. Buffalo Grove (258) and Maine West (209.5) rounded out the top three teams.
"For so long it had been Fremd and then Fremd again and occasionally Buffalo Grove," said Hersey coach Ken Blazek about the team race. "Tonight the kids were excited to race and we had some kids compete like all-stars."
Tisza was just one of many stars for the Huskies. Stanford-bound senior Kevin Havel ran one of the fastest outdoor 1,600 runs in the state this year with a 4:16.9.
"This was my first real outdoor race this year and I was really anxious to get out and race," Havel said. "Maybe I was a bit overanxious because I never went out that fast before."
Hersey showed its considerable depth in the discus event by winning all three levels. Seniors Taylor Stubbs (162-6) and Andrew Petro both threw beyond state qualifying.
Other wins for the Huskies included Erik Stanton in the 3,200 (9:55.3), Andrew Maginity in the 110 high hurdles (15.5) and Kyle Mengarelli in the triple jump (41-7).
But the best race the Huskies found themselves in was the last race of the night, the 1,600 relay. It was Hersey, Maine West and Buffalo Grove in a dead heat heading into the final 100.
At that point, Maine West junior Martin Chavez pulled away slightly from the pack and held off Mitch Pajcic of Hersey to win in a quick 3:28.0. Hersey wasn't too bad in second at 3:28.5 followed by a strong 3:29.7 from BG. Juan Chavez, Pawel Mirek and Eric Nash joined Martin Chavez for the win.
Martin Chavez also earned a win in the 400 in 51.3.
BG was relay dominant -- winning the 3,200, 400 and 800. Senior Clay Locke anchored the 3,200-relay to an 8:23.7. Locke also ran second to Havel in 4:33.7 in the 1,600. The biggest surprise of the day for BG came in the discus when Alan Baxter hit 156-2 to place second in the "A" division.
Junior Steve Miller won two events for the Bison and took second in another. Miller anchored the 400-relay win (44.3) and took the 200-meter dash (23.2).
Miller was edged by Fremd's Desmond Ogoke in the 100. Ogoke took that race for one of three wins for the Vikings. His 10.8 time is the fastest in the area to this point.
Jeff Bobek captured the shot put (51-5) and Ben Thomsen earned the win in the pole vault (12-0).
Matt Newman had the other Bison win capturing the high jump with a best effort of 6-6.
Pat Callan of Libertyville had the Wildcats lone win. His 41.7 clocking in the 300 intermediate hurdles was a season best.