Mile runners lead North Stars at Red Ribbon invite

Neuqua Valley runner Jamere Morrison got his first taste of the mile relay and now he's hungry for some more.

The Wildcats cross country runner has focused mostly on the 200 this spring, but at Saturday's Waubonsie Valley Red Ribbon boys track invite, Morrison was inserted into the team's 1,600 relay squad and helped the Wildcats close out the meet with a record-time of 3:21.10.

Morrison joined Cale Brown, Brian Griffith and Aryan Avant as Neuqua beat runner-up Belleville West by 3 1/2 seconds, with third-place St. Charles North finishing in 3:28.80.

"I'm actually excited. I'm part of the team now and we got the (meet) record," said Morrison, who closed the gap some on front-running Belleville West in the third leg and set the stage for Avant's blazing anchor leg that gave the Wildcats the title. "I ran cross country earlier and the coaches had asked me about the 400. I've always loved the 200 but I like being on this (relay)."

The mile relay triumph powered Neuqua past host Waubonsie Valley for second place in the team standings. Belleville West ran away with the team trophy with 111 points followed by Neuqua (77.5), Waubonsie (74) and Wheaton Warrenville South (69.5). St. Charles North, paced by a 1-2 finish in the mile, took seventh out of 12 teams in the competitive field.

In the open mile, St. Charles North Stars teammates Max Clink and Todd Vankerkhoff pushed each other throughout and in the end Clink surged to first in 4:27.50 with his teammate a close second in 4:27.90. The Stars also picked up second-place points from Steven Miller in the 800.

"Before the race we were like let's work together," said Clink, who helped his team to third in the mile relay shortly after his winning mile. "I'm ecstatic with us going 1-2."

Vankerkhoff, who PR-ed in the race, said the pair of runners were excited to learn that seven runners entered in the event had posted sub-4:30 times this spring.

"It was real exciting. That's the kind of race you're waiting for. It was a blast."

West Chicago's Matt Kubik and Neuqua's Sam Wildeman tied for the pole vault crown at 13-09. Wheaton Warrenville South was second in the 3200 relay and also picked up seconds from Dan Hohenstein in high jump, Chris Cortopassi in the discus and Charlie Pinedo in the 100.