Bartlett's Karys double winner at UEC meet

Bartlett jumper Dan Karys finished the regular season by completing the double-double for the second straight year.

By winning the triple jump (43 feet, 8 inches) and long jump (22 feet, 1 inch) at the Upstate Eight boys track and field meet at Millennium Field in Streamwood Thursday, Karys duplicated the same feat he accomplished last Friday at the DuPage County meet at Wheaton North. Karys also won DuPage County and UEC titles in both events last year.

"It was awesome to go out like that," the headband-wearing senior said. "I'm happy. This was huge for me."

Competing into a headwind, which at times became a crosswind, Karys' jumps in each event were well short of his season bests. His long jump of 23-9 earlier this season at the Flying Hawk Invite has him ranked No. 1 in Class 3A. His triple jump of 46-1 rates him among the state's top five.

"It was more about competing today than it was marks," Karys said. "Nobody really did well. It was still nice to be able to win. Hopefully, we can get those marks where they need to be. This was a practice meet, I guess you could say. We'll go into the sectional with a lot of confidence, and we'll try to get a couple of relays downstate, too."

Karys and his teammates in the 800-meter and 1,600-meter relays helped the Hawks place fourth overall at the UEC meet with 51 points, tops among the five Elgin Area School District U-46 schools. Streamwood finished eighth (16 points), Elgin ninth (12) and South Elgin tenth (3). Larkin's freshman-sophomore team set many personal bests, but the Royals did not score a point at the varsity level.

Neuqua Valley was the runaway winner with 163 points, followed by Waubonsie Valley (114) and Lake Park (85).

Bartlett's 800-meter relay team of Karys, Josafat Gonzalez, Zach Konstanzer, and Josh Hasenberg placed second in 1:31.26. The 1,600-meter relay team of Karys, Josafat Gonzalez, Zach Konstanzer, and Josh Hasenberg placed third (1:31.26).

Coach Jeff Bral's Hawks also earned points from Mike Romack's fourth-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles (42.41). Sophomore Brian Polubinski took fourth in the shot put (49 feet), while Brendan Bauers was sixth (46 feet). Gianni Pietanza finished fourth in the discus throw (146-03) and Luke O'Connor sixth (124-07). Chris Baumann took sixth in the triple jump (41-06), and Ben Jalove finished sixth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.88).

Streamwood sprinter Derrick King accounted for all 16 of the Sabres' points. King took fifth in the 400 (50.80), third in the 200 (22.87) and finished second in the 100-meter dash in 11.01, just shy of Waubonsie Valley's Bobby Collins (11.01).

"I came out of the blocks with a decent start," King said. "I was leaning forward a little bit and thought I was going to have a false start, so I rocked back and (the starter) shot the gun off. I came out low, picked it up in the last 10 meters and leaned. I would have had (Collins), but he leaned before me. It's all good, though."

Elgin junior Adam Kuforiji placed third in the open 400 (50.07), which was won by Neuqua Valley's Aryan Avant in 49.23.

"I was just trying to get out of the gate fast, take a little break there then try to pull forward on the straightaway," Kuforiji said. "At the end I wanted to go faster, but for some reason I just couldn't push myself."

Kuforiji earned 2 more points for the Maroons with a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash (23.34).