Depth does it for Wheaton North
Wheaton North's second-place finish at Saturday's 28th annual Jim Arnold boys track invite at Glenbard West was really a first-rate outing.
Falcons coach Don Helberg rested hurdle/sprint ace Mike Trumpy, didn't load all the relays, and ran a few quality athletes in one or two events.
Yet Wheaton North trailed only Oak Park in the rankings.
The Falcons won the 3,200-, 1,600- and 200-meter races and high jump with, respectively, Chase Kadlec, Graham Farnsworth, Kenny Collier and Austin Cristofaro.
Another win came via the 3,200 relay team of Sean Bomher, Ryan Mademann, Adam Siemer and Brian Schlick.
Kadlec and Farnsworth battled 25-mph gusts of wind to win races they don't figure to run again this spring.
"I'll stick with the 800," said Farnsworth, who used Lockport's Kyle Engnell as a windbreak until his decisive kick with 120 meters left. "This is more getting ready for the postseason. Getting in my last high school mile. It's a good way to finish."
Kadlec will move to the mile and a distance relay. Part of his motivation Saturday was the strong, second-place effort by fellow Falcons senior Justin Soderlund.
"I didn't want to lose to my teammate," Kadlec said.
For another year, bordering Lake Ellyn remained safe from a discus splashdown by Lake Park junior Dan Block.
The Illinois record setter threw a pedestrian -- only for him -- 183 feet, 11 inches to extend his meet record. He doubled up on that win with another in shot put, at 60-1.
"Today I just really kept trying to kill it, just bomb one out there," said Block, who had ring fouls on four of six discus throws. "And that's the opposite of what you want to do."
Naperville North teammates Tommy Quevillon and Sean Denard followed Block closely in the standings. And, to improve as throwers.
"It just makes me see how good he can be and see really good technique, right at hand," Quevillon said.
Along with distance runners, pole vaulters were among the most wind-abused. Glenbard North's Tom Stacey Jr. finished second, at 14 feet, followed by Lake Park's Dave Zillner.
"In my head," Stacey Jr. said of the wind, "it affects me a lot."
Another Panther, Brian Hackett, ran the fastest preliminary time in the 110 hurdles. In the finals, he and No. 2 man Pershaun Mathis of Bloom both crashed, leaving the door open for Glenbard South's Luke Zanoni to take second. Mike Oratowski and Zanoni went 2-4 in the 300 hurdles.
"I'm kind of surprised," Zanoni said of his 110 excitement, "but it's a good thing."
Glenbard West senior Robert Cooper was in his last home meet. Running the 3,200, the wind and his own doubts challenged an eventual fifth-place finish.
The wall threatened to take him down. He burst through it instead.
"After six (laps) I thought I was pretty much done," he said.
"I thought, we've done a bunch of 1,000s in practice and I only had like 600 meters left. I thought that was it, so I might as well try. And I did."