Building the complete team
The boys track and field programs at Marmion and West Aurora have long been a tale of two cities.
Over the past five years, Marmion has had two distance runners participate at the state meet, but lacked the depth in the sprint and field events. On the other hand, West Aurora sent many sprinters, jumpers and throwers to the state meet, but lacked depth in the distance events to put them over the top as a team.
Unfortunately, for their competition, those days are over.
Both of the schools are well-represented in the sprint, distance and field events this year, and have a chance to send multiple athletes to the state meet at the end of May.
Marmion coach Dan Thorpe acknowledges the talent on his 2009 squad, but said his goals remain the same.
"We have the most balance we've had in some time," Thorpe said. "Our three main goals are to win our fourth straight conference (Suburban Catholic) championship, place in the top three at the Kane County meet, and to send more athletes to the state meet."
Senior Andrew Larson finished eighth in the 2008 cross country state meet and will compete in the distance events for the Cadets.
"He's been an addition to our program because of his work ethic," Thorpe said. "He's earned a scholarship to the University of Minnesota and currently has one of the top 3,200 times in the state."
Senior Oscar Aquinaga has already reached the state qualifying standard in the 800-meter run, clocking in at 1:57.70 in early March. Fellow senior T.J. Heffernan is also highly ranked in the state in the 1,600.
While the Cadets are strong in the distance events, their lineup in the sprint races might be equally as strong.
In 2008, senior Alex Rindone broke the 31-year old school record in the 100, and tied the 51-year old school record in the 200 on his way to qualifying for the state meet. Rindone appears to be in mid-season form, already turning in a better time three weeks ago at the start of the indoor season than his state-qualifying sectional time last year.
Senior Mike Duhig nearly qualified for the state meet a year ago in the 400, and is closing in the school record as well. Junior Sam Duffield will compete in the hurdles and the high jump for the Cadets, while Jared Meyer and Mike Shay will add depth in the hurdles and triple jump. Senior Joe Weber qualified for the state meet last year in the shot put and will return this year to toss the discus as well.
West Aurora will be a very similar team to the Cadets this year, and now have the distance runners to go with their solid group of sprinters and field event participants according to coach Cortney Lamb.
"Our distance guys are really stepping up, so that should give us more balance than we've had in the past," Lamb said.
The Blackhawks recently finished third as a team in the ultra-competitive DuPage Valley Conference indoor meet, which Lamb believes helps prepare them for a high level of competition throughout the year.
"I think it helps raise the level of our performance and we know we have to go into those meets ready to go and bring our best effort," Lamb said. "It's a very tough conference. We know it's going to be tough running against those schools, but that's a challenge we look forward to."
Senior Josh Zinzer has been running at the state meet since his freshman year and returns in the sprints with the 200 being his specialty. Zinzer finished sixth at Charleston in the 200 a year ago and will also lend a hand to the sprint relays.
Leon Spears recently finished third in both the 200 and 400 at the DuPage Valley indoor conference meet, and Steve McMullen will add depth to the sprints.
Senior Phil Lindgren also placed third in the DVC indoor meet in the 800, and top cross country runner, Steve Loran, was third in the 3,200.
In the field events, Aviance King cleared 6 feet, 4 inches at the DVC indoor meet, which equals his jump from a year ago at the state meet when he finished seventh.
Kevin Costin qualified for the 2008 state meet in the shot put, and was very close to qualifying in the discus.
Batavia won the Western Sun indoor meet two weeks ago, and will be very strong in the sprint races with the return of J.R. Kabba and his younger brother Emund. Both Kabbas were ranked in the 55-meter dash by the Illinois Prep Top Times during the indoor season.
J.R. Kabba could run the 100, 200, or the 400 during the outdoor season, while Emund will most likely run the shorter sprints and relays.
"I'm just working really hard in practice, so hopefully we can get back downstate," Kabba said. "My little brother is out for the team this year and he's really doing well for us, so hopefully we can get back there and place."
Adam Svoboda and Drew Dienslake will add depth in the sprints, Sam Stoner will compete in the 800, and Brandon Moffatt will anchor the long jump and triple jump.
Geneva and St. Charles North are loaded in the distance events and will be hoping that several of their key sprinters can rebound from early season nagging injuries.
Northern Iowa-bound Andrew Nelson qualified for the state meet last year in the 1,600 and placed 11th in the cross country state meet this past fall. Although Nelson hasn't run a 1,600 during the indoor season as of yet, he said he's using the other races to train for competing at the end of the outdoor season.
"I'm really looking on my speed and my endurance this year," Nelson said. "I love the mile (1,600), but we might see if we can put together a 3,200-relay team too, so we'll see. Last year I didn't do so well in the 1,600, so I have a few things to work on for this year."
Drew Hickey, Kevin Sparks, Chris Higgins, Jake Tauscher and John Yelle joined Nelson to help the Vikings cross country team place third in the state during the fall and will add depth to the 3,200-relay team, which also placed third in the state last year.
Junior Frank Boenzi was sixth in the state meet last year in the shot put and is already tossing the iron ball during the indoor season as far as he did at the close of outdoor last year.
The North Stars finished fourth in the Upstate Eight indoor conference meet two weeks ago despite not being able to field a team of their top sprinters due to several nagging injuries.
Like Geneva, St. Charles North will have a lot of depth in the distance events. Senior Steven Miller helped the North Stars to an eighth-place finish at the cross country state meet in the fall and defeated Neuqua Valley's Brian Griffith at the UEC indoor meet in the 800.
Max Clink placed second at the UEC indoor meet in the 1,600. Both Clink and Miller made up half of the North Stars, 2008 state champion 3,200-relay team, and Miller believes the experience can only benefit them for the 2009 season.
"With me and Max having done it, I think that experience should really help us," Miller said. "I think we can do it, and I know the coaches believe we can do it too."
In the field events, senior Andrew Carlson already has cleared 6-4 in the high jump and also won the event at the UEC indoor meet.
Kaneland and St. Charles East might have two of the younger teams in the area this year.
The Knights cross country team finished second in their sectional with only one senior in their top seven. Matt Ruesche, Paul Davies, Edgar Valle and Trevor Holm will run the distance events for the Knights. Lucas Ross, Colin Zagel, Derek Bus and Matt Weaver will handle the sprints, and junior Logan Markuson will compete in the pole vault and hurdles.
"I'm definitely shooting for that (13-9) again this year," Markuson said. "I'd like to finish off somewhere close to where I was at last year. It's a big difference, but hopefully if I stay healthy and keep working hard it's something that will be doable."
St. Charles East has enjoyed a rich history of strong track programs, but this might be the first rebuilding year the team has seen in many years.
Senior Luke Ploszek recently finished fourth in the 400 at the UEC indoor meet, and is currently ranked by the Illinois Prep Top Times in that event.
Coach Ben Provencher's team has had to work through some early season injuries, but he's hoping to see the hard work pay dividends for several of his athletes.
"These kids work very hard," Provencher said. "Our goals are definitely several weeks down the road. We've had a few injuries and some illnesses that we've had to work around, but right now we're competing very hard."
Aurora Central Catholic was moved up from Class A to AA a year ago, but with the change to three classes this year, the Chargers and coach Troy Kerber find themselves in the newly created Class 2A. That move should help the Chargers send more athletes to the state meet this year.
Senior Anthony Kelley was a state-qualifier two years ago at the Class A meet in the high jump and returns in the hurdles this year as well. Sophomore Jimmy Spencer was the Chargers' top cross country runner during the fall and has turned in a 1,600 time of 4:40 already during the outdoor season. Garrett McCarthy, John Jochum and Dan Kottkamp will provide depth in the distance events. Ben Garcia, Dhruv Patel and Fistal Kormona will compete in the sprint events, and Phil Karafiat (pole vault), Mike Reuland, Joe Reuland and Mario Laniz (throws) will handle the field events.
"Our goals are to be a top three team in the SCC (Suburban Catholic Conference) and we think we can be a top three team in our sectional," Kerber said.
Competing in the Suburban Catholic Conference with outstanding teams like Marmion and St. Francis could be a blow to an athlete's confidence, but Kerber believes that it's more of a positive than a negative.
"If kids approach this the right way and in a positive manner, it can drive them to achieve a higher level," Kerber said.
Aurora Christian placed eighth in their sectional a year ago and returns two seniors from that team. Brandon Oest qualified for the state meet a year ago in the high jump and is currently ranked in the top five by the Illinois Prep Top Times. Dylan Melody also qualified for the Class A state meet a year ago in the 400 and could see action on the Eagles' 3,200-relay team.