Kaneland, Geneva make most of weather-shortened meet

The weather won again at the Gib Seegers Invitational boys' track meet in Sycamore Friday night.

For the second straight year, stormy weather put a halt to the 13-team meet shortly after the running events started. Some field events had been moved indoors because of the strong winds, well before the first half-hour lightning delay came at about 7 p.m.

Kaneland and Geneva athletes fared well before Mother Nature took top billing, leaving both Western Sun teams feeling good about the final weeks prior to state competition.

Kaneland standout Nick Sinon was engaged in an interesting confrontation with Emmanuel Ponchol of Jefferson High School in the high jump inside a steamy Sycamore Fieldhouse.

Both Sinon and Ponchol failed to clear the bar at 6-6 on three tries, but Sinon was awarded first place because he cleared 6-2 and 6-4 on his first attempts, while Ponchol had some misses.

"It was really hot in here," said Sinon, whose goal is to set the Kaneland high jump record at 6-10 1/2 before the end of the season.

"I felt pretty good coming into this meet tonight, and felt pretty good when I was done, but it was hard to come back inside."

Sinon also won the long jump with a 21-5 effort, to top Cody Cassidy of Rochelle at 21-3.

Kaneland's 3200-meter relay team of Logan Markuson, Joe Levita, Derek Bus and Edgar Valle placed first at 8:19.1. The race marked the first time since last year that Markuson has been able to run as a key member of the team.

"We wanted to go for our school record tonight," Kaneland coach Eric Baron said. "But the wind was just too strong, and it wasn't a good night for it."

Kaneland was doing well in the pole vault competition with Markuson and Jamar Parrenas in the running to win or finish in the top three, but after Parrenas hurt his ankle landing in the pit, Baron decided not to risk any more injury and pulled both of his competitors from the event.

"I just had some issues with the landing area," Baron said. "We had to move this indoors because of the weather, and it probably wasn't the best circumstance."

Baron said it would be sheer speculation because the meet was not completed, but he felt pretty good about his team's chances to win the meet.

"I like what we are doing, but we have to stay healthy, and that's why I didn't want to take any chances tonight, with the weather being bad," Baron said.

As he does in nearly every local meet he enters, Geneva senior Frank Boenzi won both the shot put at 59-9 and the discus at 161-2 1/2, well ahead of second place finisher Brock Dyer of Kaneland at 141-9.

"I didn't think I was going to be improving each week like this, and you want to be peaking when the state competition comes," Boenzi said of his shot put effort. "I'm thinking 61 feet, and I don't think that's out of reach, I mean that's another foot and three inches."

Boenzi also knows his winning discus toss can be improved upon, especially when considering how he felt warming up Friday night.

"It's not where I would like it to be," Boenzi said of his discus distance. "I was hitting 170s in warmups, so I know it's there."

Geneva coach Gale Gross has been pleased with his team's progress leading up to the final weeks.

"We're doing well here tonight," Gross said before the weather cancellation. "I think everything is starting to come together at a time when you would hope it would.

"Things are looking very promising for us," Gross added. "Frank's shot put effort, I believe, will qualify him for Junior Nationals, and Eric Hanson cleared 13 feet today in the pole vault and just continues to improve."

Other teams competing in the few events that were held included Marmion, South Elgin, DeKalb, host Sycamore, Jefferson, Rochelle, Streator, Auburn, Johnsburg, Oswego East and Rockford East.