Huntley pulls of surprising championship
ROCKTON -- Huntley ran a lot of important races during Friday night's Class AA Honongeah boys track sectional.
None were as emotional as head coach Jim Rolando racing from the nearly departed bus to the field house to report a scoring error. The error vaulted the Red Raiders form second place into sectional champions.
Originally, Jacobs won the team crown 65-62, but when the scoring was corrected, Huntley had edged out the Golden Eagles 58-57.
"It's hard to be disappointed finishing second out of 20 teams," Rolando said. "But we finished second to Jacobs two years in a row in conference. It was really hard to be excited the way the meet (originally) ended."
Huntley started off hot when sophomore thrower Marcus Popenfoose smashed his personal best by throwing a 182-08 in the discus. Popenfoose, who medaled at state in the discus as a freshman, also threw a personal best 54 feet in the shot put to finish second and qualify.
"Everyone is real competitive, but we're friendly," Popenfoose said of the competition. "It helps to be relaxed."
Popenfoose headlined a rat-pack like Fox Valley Conference group who sang themselves to state.
Prairie Ridge senior Dave Carbajal punched his first tickets to state winning the shot (55-11) and finishing third in the discus with a state-qualifying throw of 165 feet. Jacobs' Brad Foote finished second in the discus (171-09) and Carbajal's teammate, Brett Ramirez, threw a state-qualifying 163-11 in the discus.
"I had all the support from Brad, Marcus and Brett," Carbajal said. "It's going to be fun next weekend."
Huntley enjoyed most of the evening.
The Red Raiders won early with Todd Farbiak taking the 800 (1:55.90) and the 3,200 realy team taking first. Huntley's Josh Sivila looked to pull a hamstring at the end of the 400, dropping him at third behind Jacobs' Tim Constant (50.10). Sivila was also pulled from the 1,600 relay team.
"Todd, Justin (Cassidy) and Casey (Popenfoose) -- those guys were out there running a ton," Rolando said. "Those guys knew we had a chance to win. They knew every point that they were going to get us might make a difference."
Jacobs also had its share of disappointments and celebration.
After the 400 relay team failed to qualify, anchor JM Salcedo used the chip on his shoulder to take the 100 (10.50) and anchor the 800 relay to first place (1:30.61).
"JM said he was mad and he went out there and ran like it," Jacobs' coach Jason Borhart said.
The 800 relay team edged out defending sectional champ Rockford Auburn, which had also defeated the Golden Eagles in the 400 relay (43.14) with a 1:30.61.
"Everyone was close," relay member Mike Wallace said. "We could have won the 400."
Crystal Lake South ended the night on a strong note winning the 1,600 relay (3:22.19). The Gators also got a qualifying run from the 1,600 relay team (8:06.42).
"They ran fantastic," South coach Dave Puma said. "Emmanuel Gamez opened with a 50. That put us out in front."
Prairie Ridge's Billy TenBusch won the 3,200 (9:42.87).