Unforgettable finale for Palatine's Bollman
It's a day that the seniors at Palatine will always remember - running in the Palatine Relays is as much an event as a competition.
Alec Bollman's final Palatine Relays was one he will never forget.
The Pirates' Bollman was scheduled to compete in just two events, but he added a relay to his schedule. It was all about the team for Bollman - and he was quick to put his tremendous success into perspective.
"Whatever the team needed, I was going to do today," said the recent Iowa State signee. "I battled and did what I had to do to help the team with points. Fremd and Barrington were close in the team standings and I knew we needed the points."
Palatine was able to muster up 97 points, good enough for second place. Downstate Belleville East was too powerful, as senior Darnell Stevenson led the Lancers to the team title with 128 points.
Stevenson earned the G.A. Mc Elroy award as the athlete of the meet as he captured four titles, including two individually.
As for Bollman, the Pirates star started by blazing to a win in the 800-meter run. His 1:53.5 clocking is the best in the area this year and good enough to hold off a charge from Barrington's Erik Schneider (1:56.8).
In the afternoon session, one of the state's best milers again did his thing as Bollman ran to first in the 1,600 in a comfortable 4:21.4. Barrington's Chris Cogswell (4:25.5) and Evan Prizy of Schaumburg (4:33.4) rounded out the top three.
"I was able to get a little rest after the 800 so I was pretty fresh in the mile," Bollman said.
The host Pirates earned one additional win and a runner-up finish in the throwing events. Led by seniors Chad Bobbitt and Tyler Jones, Palatine won the shot put with a combined effort of 144-3. Bobbitt and Jones also teamed up for a second-place effort in the discus behind Huntley.
Auburn-bound senior Marcus Popenfoose of Huntley shattered the individual meet record in the discus with a heave of 189-4. This came after Popenfoose eclipsed the 200-foot mark with a 202-8 effort Friday night at Crystal Lake Central.
"Today was a day where I can keep building," Popenfoose said. "Everything felt good today and we are going to keep working to get ready for state."
Popenfoose also had the best overall shot put toss with a 57-1.
Barrington bounced back from a rough Mid-Suburban League West Division meet earlier in the week with a third place (66 points) that included a couple relay championships.
The Broncos captured relay-event wins in the triple jump and the 440 shuttle relay. A.J. Scarbrough led the triple jump relay with the second best leap of the day - 42-10.25. James Pajich and Alex Kuznicki teamed with Scarbrough for the win.
Garrett Seeger, Pajich, Robbie Wagner and Nick Pisani combined for a school record in the shuttle relay, winning in 1:03.4.
Fremd captured a relay-event win in the distance medley led by seniors Aaron Ferst and Spiros Angelakos. The Vikings' combined effort was 10:36.6, just ahead of runner-up Schaumburg. Andy Mack and Jarrel Lewis rounded out the Fremd relay which finished fourth.
Wheeling also changed the record books in the 800 relay for the second time this week. Kevin Koranda, Weston Ross, Cameron DeCourcy and Matt Splon ran an impressive 1:30.5, just ahead of runner-up Jacobs (1:32.8).
Danny Trevor of Jacobs started the day by winning the 300 intermediate hurdles in 40.0. Conant's Ben Bowers ran an impressive second, holding off Fremd's Mike Varela.
The Cougars' David Goings, Kevin Reddington, Bobby Iatomasi and Joe Mazurkewicz ran one of their best 1,600-relays of the season, taking second in 3:28.7.