WW South gets a jump on field

It may have seemed like just another decent jump, but in reality it was so much more.

Wheaton Warrenville South triple jumper Kevin Piraino may not have realized when he took off, but his leap Friday night turned out to be a Red Grange Invitational meet-record 46 feet, 7 inches. That win, along with Piraino's second to Evanston star sprinter Tremaine Gordon in the Class A 200 dash, helped the host Tigers win the A-B-C flighted meet with 257 points.

"When I jumped it I looked back and it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary," the WW South senior said. "When I heard them read it off I was surprised."

Piraino said he feeds off his teammates' success and there was plenty of that to go around. The Tigers picked up a win in the Class A 3,200 relay when Nick Casa, Kyle O'Malley, Colin Zimmerman and Aaron Peck ran an 8:11.81 to easily defeat runner-up Prospect. Long jumper Titus Davis added a meet-record 23-0 effort.

"We've got a lot of people stepping up," Piraino said. "I think seeing everyone else do so well gets me excited and it just gets me going."

With Gordon blazing to wins in the 200 and the 100, Evanston was second in the team standings at 210, with Prospect third (161.50) and Wheaton North (157) and Naperville North (113) rounding out the top five.

Wheaton North hurdler C.J. Jossell won the top flight of the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.09, with Tiger Digba Coker third at 15.46. In the 300 hurdles Batavia's Rob Mohr took first at 40.14, WW South's Joe Krob was second and Jossell added a fifth for the Falcons.

Waubonsie Valley was led by throwers Alex Kampf and Andrew Szott and placed ninth in the team standings. Kampf won the discus at 158-1 and was fourth in the Class B shot, while Szott took first in the A shot at 56-81/4 and was first in the B discus.

But the wins were offset somewhat when Warriors hurdler Kyle Schafer fell on the final hurdle in his 110 hurdles race and suffered what was believed to be a broken collarbone.

"It's a bad day for us," said Waubonsie coach Kevin Rafferty, who was already missing a couple key athletes due to injury and a college visit. "We're running great and jumping great, but that other stuff takes the wind out of our sails a little."

Naperville North's Blex Vixama, Marvin Harris, Jeff Schmidt and Willy Body-Vukasovic teamed to win the top flight 400 relay in 44.70, while Huskies senior Bob Guthrie added a second in the 3,200 behind Wheaton North champion James Waterman. In the 1,600 Palatine's Alec Bollman won with a time of 4:18.01 with Jake Waterman taking second for the Falcons.

Glenbard West, 10th in the team standings at 78 points, picked up a Class A win when the quartet of Nick Burrello, Chris Phillips, Justice Odom and Josh Nibbe ran a 1:32.06 that held off runner-up Naperville North.