Team effort lifts Palatine; Prospect cruises in East
Sometimes it takes seniors to come through in a big meet situation. Other times, the young stars come through and contribute unexpected points.
On Monday night at the Mid Suburban West boys track meet at Conant, Palatine got a little bit of both.
The contributions from seniors Alec Bollman and Mykyta Cheshko and the major contributions from juniors Ryan McGough and Shawn Anderson lifted the Pirates to an impressive 126.5 points and the division crown.
"We had some seniors that won events tonight and sophomores and juniors that scored points for us," said Palatine coach John Nalley. "We wanted to double score in a lot of events and we were able to do that."
One senior that stepped up was Bollman. The recent Iowa State-signee showed off his considerable talents in capturing wins in the 800 and 1,600-meter dashes. His effort in the 1,600 (4:19.9) was his second sub-4:20 mile in three days.
"Today was about scoring points for the team," Bollman said. "The mile was about getting the pace I wanted and I was able to run the race the way I wanted."
In the 800, Bollman and McGough racked up valuable points with a first- and third-place finish for the Pirates.
The Pirates did it in the field events, too, and it was another pair of seniors in Tyler Jones and Chad Bobbit that came through with valuable points. Jones achieved a season best and closed in on the school record in the discus (167-6).
"I was able to get the disc down the middle and get my PR," Jones said. "Coach (Kevin) Bobbit has helped me out a lot and I definitely think I can get the school record."
Jones and Chad Bobbit did damage in the shot, with Bobbitt winning at 50-11.
Cheshko was just as valuable and maybe even more so with wins in the long, triple and high jumps to score 30 points.
"Today coach gave us a paper that talked about becoming a champion," Cheshko said. "I just knew I had to go out and get points - it didn't matter what my marks were I just had to get points."
Runner-up Schaumburg scored 106 points and it was senior Dionte Hackler who did most of the damage. Hackler ran a personal-best 49.2 to win the 400 and aided the Saxons 400 and 1,600 relays to victories.
Jake Fritzler, Shepard Little and Ryan King made up the 400 relay while Wyatt Kondras teamed with King, Fritzler and Hackler in the 1,600.
Fremd senior Mike Varela appears to be all the way back from an early season hamstring injury as he looked impressive in winning the 300 hurdles and finishing second in the 110 hurdles.
Varela outdueled Ben Bowers of Conant to win the 300 hurdles in 40.0. The sophomore edged Varela in the 110 hurdles to take the win in 14.3.
"I feel like I can definitely improve," Varela said after winning the 300 hurdles. "I'm just trying to get myself prepared to run better times later in the year."
Bowers wasn't the only winner for the Cougars. Senior David Goings blew away a very talented field in the 200 to win in a personal best 22.0. Sean Chaudhari, James Weaver, Troy Cunningham and Kevin Reddington ran a season best 8:13.9 to edge Schaumburg in the 3,200 relay.
Barrington, which tied with Schaumburg for second place, earned a pair of wins. Led by junior Taylor Calacci, the Broncos earned a win in the 800 relay with Nico Martinez, JL Etienne and Nick Graziano (1:32.1).
Calacci took home individual honors in the 100 in a season best 10.8. Hoffman Estates senior Kyle Gonzales captured the 3,200 in a season best effort of 9:38.2.
Knights win East: After a year that saw Buffalo Grove take top honors in the MSL East, Prospect regained the top spot with authority. The Knights captured the title with 187 points to 100 for runner-up Hersey. BG was third with 86.
Prospect captured wins in nine events and were led by junior Nick Batcha. Batcha captured individual wins in the 200 (22.1) and long jump (22-1) with personal best efforts in both events.
The Knights also captured wins in the 3,200 relay, triple jump, 3,200 run, 800 run, and 400 meter dash.
The runner-up Huskies captured the shot put and discus thanks to sophomore Mark Balmes. Balmes tossed the shot 47-4.75 and 147-9 in the discus.
Buffalo Grove earned wins in the 100 from Ryan Darcy and the 110 high hurdles from Mike Garrity. Meadows twins Photis and Angelos Karkalis finished 1-2 respectively in the 1,600 in 4:20.4 and 4:20.9.
Wheeling blazed to a win in the 800 relay and Weston Ross took the high jump (6-6). Elk Grove captured wins in the 300 hurdles from Skay Nusemu and the 1,600 relay.