Highlanders get one last chance at glory

Joey Calabrese was Driscoll's first state qualifier in the Highlanders' last boys track season.

The senior was so anxious for positive news that, with one triple jump left Saturday at the Class 1A Plano sectional he scampered to the jump pit even as workers were covering it with a tarp, signifying the end of the event. No need for that last attempt.

"It feels awesome," said Calabrese, who will head to state competition in Charleston bearing a mark of 41 feet, 71/2 inches, tops at Plano.

"It means that Driscoll athletics gets to be extended for a week more. I get to carry it on," he said.

Calabrese won't be alone. Driscoll coach Deirdre Archer's 10-man contingent finished fifth overall and produced six 1A qualifiers and nearly a seventh, as Mike Labadessa came less than 6 inches away from landing a spot in shot put.

"It'll be great for us to go downstate," Archer said.

Pierre Washington-Steel returns in the 100 dash with his winning time of 11.25 seconds, but Washington-Steel perhaps surprised himself by qualifying at 22.95 in the 200, the tougher of his two sprints.

"I feel like (in) the last year of Driscoll track and field, we're going out with a bang," said the junior, who will compete for Glenbard West his senior year.

Washington-Steel anchored a qualifying 400 relay, joining Calabrese, Jeremy Wilk and John Schiller.

Wilk, sixth place in the 2008 Class A 800, makes his return in that event though he couldn't hold off a kick by Aurora Christian's Dylan Melody with about 180 meters left.

Wilk had reason for letting that go. He, like Andrew Strickland - out for a stroll in the open 400 - and Schiller, scratched from the same event, were hoping to be fresh in order to qualify in the 1,600 relay.

They needed to cut some nine seconds off their top time of 3:40 - or at least beat Aurora Christian's time of 3:33.35 from the prior heat.

Calabrese, Schiller and Strickland kept their end of the bargain, then Wilk compiled a 50.8-second split in the anchor slot to qualify the Highlanders with a time of 3:31.99.

"I'm not going to lie, I was saving some energy for this, definitely," said Wilk, who attributed the relay success to a dented pink baton they wouldn't let the coaches throw away.

"We ran with it every meet this year," Wilk said, "and I guess it just has some magic at sectionals."

For Driscoll's last team standing, there's one more week of magic left.