Fox Valley athletes have good shot at medals

CHARLESTON -- The prelims of a very long day at the Class AA state boys track and field meet had ended, but the worrying for the 1,600-meter relay team for Crystal Lake South had just begun.

The team of Emmanuel Gamez, Steven Rogers, Dan Pulvino and Matt Zaluckyj had just finished third in the final heat of the race, but the real question was, would it be good enough?

"I just hope this one holds up," Rogers said. "No matter what happens, we ran a great race so I don't think any of us could be disappointed."

The worry and nerves turned to absolute joy as the Gators relay team turned out to be the fourth fastest group out of the prelims. South will run in the finals today thanks in large part to a 3:22.11 clocking, which was faster than three other heat winners.

"The 3,200 relay didn't pan out so good so I know a lot of the guys wanted this one pretty bad," Zaluckyj said. "To get to the finals would be amazing."

The Gators closed out a wild first day of competition at Eastern Illinois University and O'Brien Field on Friday. Six different times athletes had to be pulled from the track due to adverse weather conditions. This forced a 3-hour delay in the Class AA session in the afternoon. To go with the weather delays were high winds and continuous rain.

"It was hard because we were inside all day and didn't get to watch the meet at all," Rogers said. "It made for a long day."

Huntley started the long day the right way by earning qualifiers in the first two events of the day. The Red Raiders' 3,200-relay team of Justin Cassidy, Todd Farbiak, Alex Beruscha and Casey Popenfoose ran third in their heat and finished with the seventh fastest time overall at 7:58.06.

"This was the first Huntley relay to make it to state so to get into the finals is such a bonus," Farbiak said. "It was tough with the wind and rain, but all the guys really fought and ran hard."

Huntley didn't stop the qualifiers there as sophomore Marcus Popenfoose earned his first trip into the finals by qualifying in both the shot and discus. His throw of 54-3 in the shot has him setup for a medal today. He is currently holding the sixth best throw. The discus will also require Popenfooses' efforts, as his toss of 155-8 in very trying conditions is also sixth best overall.

Popenfoose will see many familiar faces in the finals in Brett Ramirez of Prairie Ridge (150-9) and Brad Foote of Jacobs. Foote had maybe the most treacherous day of any of the discus throwers.

After scratching on his first two throws, Foote started to take his third attempt, but lost his balance. As he started to fall out of the ring, he regained his balance and stopped. He then regrouped and tossed the disc 157-8 to earn the fifth seed in the finals.

Ryan Psenka of Cary Grove finished fifth in his flight but missed the finals by 5 feet. The Trojans also had solid efforts in the 300 hurdles from Dan McCall and Dan Bartz. Both finished fifth in their heats.

David Carbajal of Prairie Ridge also struggled in the finals, but made up for it earlier by earning a spot in the shot put finals. His best effort of 53-9.75 is eighth best from the prelims and gives the Wolves the most finalists ever with three performers competing today.

While Foote and Carbajal held the suspense for sometime, Burlington Central senior Dan Hagberg left little doubt in his heat of the 110-meter high hurdles. Hagberg looked sharp in winning the heat with in 14.39. His time is third best heading into the finals.

"I was fired up all day to run -- I was thinking about this race a lot," said the Cornell-bound Hagberg. "With all the stopping and starting it was hard, but I am in the finals and I get to race (today)."

Hagberg also earned a spot in the 300 intermediate finals. His effort of 39.16 was good enough for ninth and another shot at a medal. Teammate Ryan Phebus finished third in his heat, but his time of 1:57.83 was tenth best leaving Phebus just out of medal contention and with work to do on Saturday.

One runner that made quick work of the competition on Friday was Hampshire senior Quinn Walker. Not only did Walker win his heats in the 110 high hurdles and the 300 intermediates, but also he finished with the fastest time entering today's finals.

"Today was about taking one step at a time," Walker said. "I just wanted to race my best and get into a position to win a state championship in both races. That was and still is my goal."

The Whip-Purs' 400 relay team of Walker, Junior Makinde, Ryan Smialek and Trace Teboda ran third in their heat finishing in 44.74.

St. Edward's ran second in its heat in the 400-meter relay, but the time put up by Matt Ardiente, Eric Guerrero, Nick Kerger and Ryan Gilbert was good enough for eighth overall and a spot in the finals.

"Our handoffs were good and that is really key," Gilbert said. "You know coming in that every team here is fast, so it all comes down to hand-offs."

Dundee-Crown represented itself well despite not earning finals qualifiers. Dan and Jon Magnant, Anthony Manfrin and Nathan Prom finished seventh in their heat (8:12.46). Manfrin also ran a solid fifth in his first 1,600-meter run at state. Matt Cutinello competed in the long and triple jumps.