Fremd's Angelakos gives teammates plenty to cheer about
Spiros Angelakos could seem them - all of them - running back and forth from sideline to sideline, and he couldn't help but to get even more pumped up.
What the Fremd senior saw were what seemed like hundreds of his teammates running from sideline to sideline to cheer him on during the final leg of the final race at the Hersey Travis Classic A-B-C Meet at Roland Goins Stadium in Arlington Heights on Friday night.
"You could just feel the energy from all of them cheering and running and yelling," Angelakos said. "It definitely pushed me harder."
With his teammates cheering loudly and wildly down the home stretch of the 1,600-relay, Angelakos pulled away from Hersey and Loyola to win the race in a team-best 3:27.7. The victory lifted the Vikings into a second-place tie with the host Huskies with 224 points, far behind meet winner Loyola.
The Ramblers won 9 events in the "A" Division of the meet and cruised to the win with 320 points.
Joining Angelakos were Phil Cano, Ben Bodycott and Jarrell Lewis.
"We actually try and give out grades to the team for cheering and we always want an A-plus grade," Angelakos said. "That is just one way we can succeed as a team."
Earlier in the evening, Angelakos battled in the cool and soggy conditions to finish a strong second in the 800-meter run. His time was a season-best 1:58.0, just ahead of Matt Cwiok of Hersey and a step or two behind Loyola standout Nico Composto.
"(Spiros) isn't very vocal," said Fremd coach Jim Aikens. "He does his best talking on the track and he leads by example."
Another inspiring Vikings performance on the track came from senior Mike Varela. Seeing his first outdoor competition of the season, Varela looked strong in the hurdles as he ran to a second place in the 110 high hurdles in 14.6 and a first-place effort in the Class "B" hurdles in 41.1.
Fremd also earned a win in the pole vault. In the Class "B" competition, Eric Tchon matched his personal best by clearing 12-0 for the win.
The host Huskies started the night strong and stayed that way after Hersey put up an impressive effort in the 3,200 relay. The team of Garrett Vick, Sam Zielke, Nate Knautz and Chris Colletto ran to a season-best 8:10.2 in the relay to capture top honors.
Later, Zielke, Colletto, Matt Cwiok and Sam O'Neal ran to another season best and took third in the 1,600-relay (3:29.4).
"We had a lot of personal bests tonight and the kids really stepped up and performed well," said Hersey coach Ken Blazek.
Other Huskies winners included Mark Balmes in the discus (135-6) and Alex Min in the long jump (21-3).
A banged-up Buffalo Grove team still showed that it is a major threat in the Mid-Suburban League East Division this spring. The Bison finished fourth in the team standings and earned wins in the 100-meter dash from Ryan Darcy (11.1) and Or Gera in the pole vault (12-0).
The top finishes on the night for Maine West came in the 300 hurdles from Tony Fitzpatrick and in the mile where senior Kevin Schaefer finished second in 4:30.8.
Junior Jeremy Birck is in a different position this year at Libertyville. Now that he is a two-time state qualifier and a returning medalist in the high jump, the pressure is seemingly on Birck in each meet.
Instead of Birck succumbing to the pressure each time out, he seems more likely to revel in the fact that everyone is seemingly watching him.
"It's all about me and what I can do and I don't think about anything else," Birck said. "Last year was last year and two years ago was two years ago. This is a different year."
While it may seem to be a different year, the results are still the same for Birck. He was the only competitor to clear 6-2 in the high jump and he ultimately won the event at that height.
Joining Birck in first place for Libertyville was Chris Cacciatore. Cacciatore captured top honors in the triple jump leaping 41-3".