Huntley finishes 3rd at McHenry meet
Huntley finished third at the McHenry County boys track and field Meet at Crystal Lake Central Friday, bolstered by Thursday's field events and some strong showings in the relays.
The Red Raider 400-meter relay team of sophomores Chase Hellinger and James Davis and seniors Jeremy Hansen and Tor Larkin edged Richmond-Burton by .09, thanks to a strong finish by Larkin running anchor. Huntley finished in 44.20.
The same four runners later took third in the 800-meter relay, finishing behind only Harvard and Crystal Lake Central in a time of 1:33.68.
McHenry edged the host Tigers for the team title, 102-101. Huntley's 67.5 points rated third, followed by Richmond-Burton (67) and Jacobs (48.5).
Senior hurdler Danny Trevor of Jacobs notched his third straight title in the 110-meter hurdles. His time of 14.86 topped McHenry's Jon Schmitt (15.72).
"It felt really good," Trevor said. "The start could have been a little faster. If I need to work on anything, it's the start. But other than that the middle of the race felt great."
Schmitt came back to nip Trevor in the 300 hurdles despite Trevor posting the best time of his career in the event (39.89).
"The 300 I knew was going to be pretty crazy," Trevor said. "I tried to push myself on the curve, but I unfortunately jumped off the wrong foot. It was a great race. I have all the respect for Johno. I broke the school record and I didn't even win the race."
Cary-Grove's Phil Fairleigh ran away with his second straight county meet title in the 3,200. He ran with the pack for the first five laps before pulling away for an easy victory.
"My coach wanted me to win, so I just went tactical, drafting a little bit," Fairleigh said. "That third lap fell back to 80 seconds and that's like 5:30 pace. With about 1,200 to go I took over and just felt really good. I didn't' have to go all out. I went out in 4:55 and closed in 4:41. It's a good confidence booster heading into the rest of the season."
Fairleigh led the mile for two laps before fading to fourth in 4:31.53.