Palatine ends 36-year MSL drought
Sitting in his office this past week, Palatine coach John Nalley took a look at the seeds for the Mid-Suburban League meet at Buffalo Grove and tried to figure out just how many points it would take to win the first conference boys track and field crown in nearly four decades.
As Nalley saw it, 100 points could win the meet, but 110 points would win it for Palatine. As it turned out, Nalley was right.
On a night where the performances were truly special, the Pirates came up with the best team performance of all. Palatine scored 110 points Friday to win the team title for the first time since 1972.
Prospect had a solid night running second with 82 points followed by Rolling Meadows (74) and defending champion Barrington (67).
"We figured that if we only scored 100 points, some teams like Prospect or Barrington could really get hot," Nalley said. "But we also figured that if we scored 110 points, no one else would be able to score that many."
In order to win the crown, Palatine needed to rely on its two key seniors in Tim Williams and Mat Smoody to get the job done. Between the two, Smoody and Williams won three individual titles, providing a significant boost to the Pirates chances. But the biggest shot in the arm may have come from Smoody in the 800-meter run.
Earlier in the week, Smoody decided the MSL record set in 1976 of 1:51.6 was something he wanted and with that, the Wisconsin-bound senior went out and took it away.
Smoody outraced the field with an impressive sprint in the final 100 to break the 32-year old record with an eye-popping effort of 1:51.4.
"I saw coach (Chris) Quick running towards me and some of the other coaches were trying to hold him back," Smoody said. "I knew something good had happened -- but I really wanted to go faster."
Williams earned wins in the 100 and 200 as he battled through a very sore lower back all night.
Palatine was hardly the only story at Buffalo Grove on Friday night. But the biggest story came from a runner very few people know much about. Not even the announcer at the stadium could get the name of Jeff Thode of Conant right.
After his amazing performance in the 1,600, maybe now everyone will know just who the Cougar junior is.
Matched up with Kevin Havel of Hersey and Smoody, Thode chose to stick with his pre-race plan and it worked to perfection.
Havel took the pace out fast as the runners came through the first 800 in 2:05. But with 200 left, Thode made a move past Havel and never looked back. Thode pulled away, sprinting to the line in what turned out to be the fastest 1,600 in the state this spring and in MSL meet history.
His 4:10.8 hit a goal for Thode this year and could be the first of many more to come.
"I thought that Havel would go at some point because he kept looking behind at me," Thode said. "I wanted to stay with him and at a certain point just make my move. It was nice to hit my goal tonight."
Meet records were broken in the field events as well. Junior Matt Newman established a meet mark in the high jump, clearing 6-8ΒΌ and barely missing on 6-10.
"Being at 6-8 this year I just have a lot more confidence," Newman said. "I had been struggling to get to 6-8, but now that I am there I feel like I can get consistent there and get ready for state."
Newman wasn't the only winner for the Bison. Steve Miller, Matt Erlichman, John Delaney and Steve Blackman took the 400 relay in a season-best 43.5.
Prospect earned two individual titles on the track and a pair in the field events. Senior Pat Ziegenfuss won the 110 high hurdles in a school-record 14.4 and the 300 hurdles in 39.1.
In the field events, the Knights' seniors Matt Babicz and Matt Kennedy won the discus and shot put respectively. Babicz threw a season and personal best 168-9 edge Taylor Stubbs of Hersey (165-2).
Elk Grove earned its first pair of individual titleists in more than a decade and has senior Jason Zerfahs.
Zerfahs ran away from a very good field to win the 400 dash in a school-record time of 49.1. He later anchored the team of Erik Ottosen, Matt McEnery and Michael Karwowski to win the 1,600 relay in a school-record time of 3:25.8.
Other winners included Billy Wisser of Hersey in the 3,200. Sam Ojuri of Barrington captured the long jump with a personal best 22-9 while Ty Kirk and Mick Viken of Rolling Meadows won the triple jump and pole vault respectively.