Hawks' Karys doubles up

The Class 3A St. Charles North boys track and field sectional yielded thrilling results on one hand and agonizing news on the other for the Bartlett Hawks Friday.

On the positive side of the ledger, senior Dan Karys qualified for next week's state meet in Charleston in the long jump and triple jump.

The senior opted not to compete in the long jump finals after surpassing the state qualifying standard in the event with a preliminary jump of 23 feet, 4 inches. He wanted to save his energy since he was also entered in two relays.

"I'm definitely happy with the long jump," Karys said. "I should be top five easy going into state, so you can't be disappointed at all with that."

Karys was securely in second place in the triple jump with a preliminary leap of 44-11, an inch below the state qualifying standard, but he chose to compete in the finals immediately after he ran the anchor leg of Bartlett's 1,600-meter relay in 48.7 seconds.

Drained from a long afternoon, he didn't fare well in two attempts in the finals and declined his third. He accepted second place and a state bid and conceded the sectional title to Colin Walker of Rolling Meadows (45-6).

"I took two of them and I scratched on one," Karys said of his jumps in the finals. "On the second one I wasn't really close to the distance, so I just figured I'd settle for second place and, hopefully, next week I'll be able to perform a lot better."

This the third straight season Karys has qualified for the state meet in the long jump and the second year in a row he has qualified in the triple jump.

Karys and 1,600-meter relay teammates Josh Hasenberg, Josaphat Gonzalez and Zach Konstanzer were the victims of circumstance in their bid for a state berth.

As Gonzalez was handing off the baton to Hasenberg, a Hoffman Estates runner in the far outside lane cut across several lanes, interfering with multiple teams, including Bartlett. Though the Hawks still broke the school record with a sub-3:25 performance, they didn't match the state qualifying standard of 3:24.

"I was looking back, waving at Josaphat in lane six," Hasenberg said. "He was coming and all of a sudden the guy in lane eight (crossed) all the way to lane two. On his way back he literally ran into us during our exchange, so we had to slow down our exchange. I don't know how much that would have taken off our time, but by the time we were all re-established we were in the back and had to work our way back to the front, which is hard to do.

"It's heartbreaking that we worked all season and we go out like this."

The games committee and referees met to discuss whether a second race should be undertaken, but ruled in the end to let the results stand.

"We were very close to the (qualifying) time but with the stumble not the time, so the argument was do we re-run the race or do we not," said Bartlett coach Jeff Bral, who was a member of the sectional games committee. "The fact of the matter is we would have to re-run the time, and in another hour we're not going to do that. First of all, you're putting the kids in jeopardy by making them run the race again. Secondly, you're not going to hit the time after the emotion you just wasted. It's just not realistic.

"It's very disappointing, but the games committee and the referees came to that and that's the way it's going to have to be."

Elgin junior Adam Kuforiji punched his ticket to Charleston in the 400 by finishing second in 50.21. He had hoped to double in the 200 but finished fifth in that event (22.97).

"It feels pretty good," Kuforiji said. "I've been working for this for awhile, so I'm just happy I have the opportunity to make state."