Coaches know way to state championship

Looking ahead to the weekend's Class AA boys state track meet, York coach Stan Reddel dusted off his annual "proposal" to the Illinois High School Association.

"They should have a line at the Mason-Dixon line and have two champions, one north and one south," he said.

Were that the case, York would be the three-time defending Class AA North state champ -- while East St. Louis, Springfield Lanphier and two-time defending state champion Cahokia would head the South.

Each of the four return strong and in contention for a state title. York's vast cheering section has 15 state qualifiers to root for. Lanphier and Cahokia each have six top-six seeds.

East St. Louis, which trails only Oak Park in hoisting the most state trophies in the 114 years of the tournament, has nine top-six seeds.

Reddel also liked Palatine, Lincoln-Way East, Waubonsie Valley with weight men Brett Einbecker and Dwight Harris, and Wheaton North.

Like York and Waubonsie Valley, the Wheaton North Falcons qualified all four relays.

Coach Don Helberg, who has two third places and a fifth on his Hall of Fame resume, believes he's got Saturday finalists in the 800 with Graham Farnsworth, the 110 hurdles with Mike Trumpy, the 1,600 with Chase Kadlec, and the 1,600-meter relay.

Given the season he's had it's hard to believe sprinter Ken Collier is "on the bubble" in the 100, but Helberg sees the 0.40 second gap between Collier's sectional time and the 10.4 seconds registered by No. 1 seed Javaughn Tabbs of East St. Louis.

"We will have to have a good day on Friday to realistically get more through," Helberg said of his 11 state qualifiers.

"There are some real tough times to beat, but our guys have done great things so far this season. Hopefully, we can get the other relays in as well."

With good days in pole vault by No. 4 seed Greg Haugh and No. 9 Davd Zillner, Lake Park could be a player. By himself Dan Block -- No. 1 seed in both shot put and discus, where he's the reigning champion -- is capable of 20 points.

But crazy things happen. Just ask Montini coach Chris Andriano, who saw the 2005 Class A title slip away when, with 80 meters left in the 1,600 relay, the day's final event, two stumbling runners allowed Eureka to move from sixth to fourth and earn the title by 1 point.

There's never a sure thing.

"It makes it a lot of fun, a lot of anticipation. Some might call it anxiety, but if you have no anxiety you're not very good," Reddel said.

"You always want to say, boy, I'm pretty nervous. There's nothing worse than sleeping well the night before the state meet."

The difference a year makes: This spring no local athletes qualified in the 400-meter dash. In 2007 there were six who made it downstate, including fourth-place finisher Ben Matthies of Glenbard South.

Also in 2007:

Wheaton North qualified none of its relays; this year the Falcons qualified all four.

Wheaton Warrenville South qualified all four relays; this year, just the 1,600 relay -- same for Glenbard South.

One string ends, another begins: At the Streamwood sectional West Chicago coach Paul McLeland saw an 11-year span of qualifying at least one event come to a close.

On the positive side, Addison Trail ended a 10-year drought when sophomore Frank Cervantes qualified in the 200-meter dash.

The first qualifier in the nine-year tenure of Blazers coach Bruce Kelsay, Cervantes is the first since Brian Taylor in 1997, also in the 200.

Taylor didn't even attend the state meet, opting to go to prom instead. Kelsay said Addison Trail's actual downstate absence dates back to the 1980s.

Cervantes' ticket downstate wasn't smooth.

First, Kelsay rarely ran him this year in the open 200 because Cervantes anchors the 400, 800 and 1,600 relays.

His relay teammates -- sophomore Matt Halberthal, freshman Jake Augustyn and senior Rudy Esparza -- decided not to run the 400 relay to give Cervantes more recovery time after the 200 preliminary heats.

Then, in the 200 final, Kelsay said there were "a few anxious moments at the finish line."

He said it appeared Schaumburg's Dionte Hackler nipped Cervantes for second place, and the finish line judges entered lengthy deliberations on who should get the qualifying berth.

With both runners clocked at an identical 22.6-seconds, they called it a tie and sent both runners downstate.

"That's the spirit of the sport," Kelsay said.

He hopes Cervantes' qualification -- whatever happens in Charleston --injects more spirit into the program.

"I'm hoping this is going to be kind of a jumping-off point in terms of relays and individuals," Kelsay said. "To see one of their own, a sophomore, qualify to go downstate, it has gotten them excited."

Happy medium: At the end of April at the Jim Arnold Invite at Glenbard West, Naperville North weight man Tommy Quevillon was asked about his throwing relationship with fellow senior teammate Sean Denard.

"I guess we feed off of each other," Quevillon said. "His defects are my strengths and his strengths are my defects. He's the angry one and I'm really laid back. I can control myself, but he needs to control himself in the ring.

"It helps because he's way too mad most of the time. It helps that I'm more laid back to give him some relaxation or something, I guess. Then he makes me angrier, I guess.

"It keeps him calm, so it makes him throw a little bit better."

These two are inseparable at a track meet, and nearly so again in Charleston. Both qualified in shot put. Denard will also compete in discus.

In fourth place at 152 feet, 5½ inches at sectional, Quevillon was about 2½ feet from qualifying in that event as well.

Odds and ends: Lake Park's Dan Block, Waubonsie Valley's Brett Einbecker and Glenbard East's Bobby Kaputska occupy the top three seeds in Class AA shot put entering today's preliminaries. Quevillon is No. 5 and Waubonsie's Dwight Harris is seeded seventh.

A similar DuPage logjam occurs in the Class AA 800, where Willowbrook's Jeff Stapleton's 1 minute, 52.64 second time is just ahead of Wheaton North's Graham Farnsworth and Waubonsie's Sean Wiggan. The 800's top 10 also includes Wheaton Warrenville South's Randall Babb (No. 7) and St. Francis' Garrett McKnight (No. 10).

Neuqua Valley's Chris Derrick is the No. 1 seed in both open distance races, the 1,600 and 3,200.

"If Chris is feeling good, we could see some amazing times from him," said Neuqua Valley coach Mike Kennedy, who said Derrick was under the weather at the West Aurora sectional.

The initial plan was to have Derrick run both races, but that's not set in stone.

"We are not certain of his plan in these races, as this will depend on how Chris feels after running the 1,600 prelim on Friday."

In 2007 Derrick placed second in the 3,200 to last year's distance phenom, Evan Jager of Jacobs and now Wisconsin.

Fast-twitch muscles: Timothy Christian's Rob Stein is competing in the Class A meet in two totally different events.

The sophomore qualified in the discus as a freshman and repeated that feat at the Lisle sectional. In addition Stein qualified in the 100-meter dash.

That pairing of strength and speed is a rare combination. One remembers York's Nate Wallick going downstate in discus and long jump in 2002, but such combinations are few and far between.

Earlier this month at Lisle's Carlin Nalley Invite, Stein said, "I don't always think shot put's about muscle, per se."