Neuqua Valley finishes twice as nice
What a finish. Or make that finishes.
For much of Friday night's Class 3A boys track sectional at Plainfield Central, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley battled atop the team standings, usually just a couple points separating the rivals.
But the Wildcats closed the meet in spectacular fashion. First the eventual sectional champs used a blazing 1,600-meter relay triumph to pick up valuable points, then hurdler Kevin Long, who had fallen in the 300-meter finals earlier, was allowed to rerun the race solo, and he not only picked up 4 more points for a fourth-place finish, but his time of 39.83 also qualifies him for the state meet.
Neuqua finished with 821/2 points, with Waubonsie second at 67 and West Aurora third at 64.
"That was very, very nice," Neuqua coach Mike Kennedy said. "What a nice way to cap a meet off. I said to Kevin (Long), if you pull this off, we'll be talking about it forever."
Wildcats fans also will talk for some time about the quartet of Cale Brown, Tanner Maunder, Jamere Morrison and Aryan Avanti, which ran a 3:20.28 to edge Lockport and West Aurora, two schools that also qualified for state in the 1,600 relay.
Morrison, a relative newcomer to the event, came from behind on the third leg of the relay to surpass Lockport and hand the baton off to Avant with the lead. Avant, who won the open 400 on Friday in 49.24, finished off the victory as the Wildcats took a big step toward their first sectional crown since 2006.
"We needed to pick it up a little," said Morrison, who also qualified for state in the 400 relay. "It's sectionals so who would not give it your all? We all did it. It wasn't just me."
It was just Long, in what turned out to be the night's final event. The Wildcats hurdler, who is off to state in both hurdle events, suffered a fall in the finals of the 300 race and finished well off the pace. But the officials ruled that another runner's hurdle that was knocked down bounced up, struck Long and unfairly interfered with his race.
"That was wild. It was awesome and real fun," Long said of capping off the meet with his solo run. "That (1,600 relay) got me fired up even more."
Emmett Lorenz paced the Warriors by taking first in the 800 - Neuqua's Brian Griffith also advanced after taking second - and Lorenz also was part of Waubonsie's 3,200 relay which won with a time of 7:51.89.
Alex Kampf was first in the discus and Andrew Szott second as Waubonsie sends two throwers to state along with Michael Schmelzel in the pole vault, Bobby Collins in the 100, James Davenport in the high jump and Ricky Walls in the triple jump.
West Aurora's Josh Zinzer had a great night, PR-ing while winning the 200 with a time of 21.56, and also helping the Blackhawks win the 800 relay in 1:27.87 and the 400 relay in 42.16. Leon Spears and Darron Guyton also ran on both winning relays for West.
"I've never won all the events I've done at a sectional," said Zinzer, who is hoping to improve on last year's 6th-place finish at state in the 200. "This is probably the most confident me and my team has been going to state."
Zinzer's time in the 200 along with the Blackhawks' times in the relays may all be among the state's top five fastest times this season. "My goal at the becoming of the season was to get to state and get a couple medals," he said. "But it would be even nicer to get three."