Stellar night for Stevenson's Stryganek
It's pretty hard to blame Stevenson junior Brandon Stryganek for being tired.
Sure, Stryganek is likely to be exhausted after all the races he ran at the Lake County Invitational at Deerfield Friday night. But the Patriots superstar is simply exhausted for a whole other reason.
It seems that Stryganek has become a fan of reading the newspaper, surfing the internet track and field sites and even watching a little television. All the news and shows are about other sprinters who have done great things so far this spring. After Friday night, some of the "other sprinters" can now read about him.
Following wins in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and a victory as the anchor on a school record-setting 800 relay, Stryganek has given his future competition a lot to read about.
"He reads a lot about some of the other sprinters doing stuff this season and he wants someone to notice him," said Stevenson coach Andy Farrissey. "I think we all knew he had the talent, it just became more and more about figuring things out for him."
Stryganek helped lead the Patriots to a fifth-place overall finish behind eventual meet champion and host Deerfield. His first individual race of the day had the crowd at Adams Field buzzing.
As he blazed by the stands in the 100-meter dash finals, Stryganek found a second gear that no one else in the field had. His 10.61 time is among the best in the state this spring and among the 20 fastest 100-meter time sin the country this spring.
"I felt real good after the 100," Stryganek said. "I wanted to come out and make a little statement that I am as good as all the other guys out there."
Stryganek anchored the Patriots' school record-setting 800-meter relay to a mark of 1:30.02. Jon Fajardo, Brett Kraiman and Zach Rose teamed with Stryganek for the record-setting effort.
Just for good measure, Stryganek finished his day with a win in the 200-meter dash in 22.26.
Battling with the Patriots in the sprints all night was Lake Zurich. The Bears, who finished second in the team race with 68 points, captured wins in a pair of relays - including an impressive finish in the 1,600-meter relay.
With junior Jacob Brinlee anchoring, LZ held off a hard charge from Lake Forest and senior Sam Howard to win in a season-best 3:26.54. Braxton Klavins, Chris Rantis and Jack Rathe teamed for the win.
The Bears edged out Stevenson in the 400-meter relay with Brinlee, Klavins, Christian Williams and Colin Wanat leading the way in 43.29.
"We had a lot of questions tonight that I think we found some answers to," said Lake Zurich coach Chad Beaver. "Tonight our kids came out and were mentally tough in cold and windy conditions."
Despite finishing down the path in the team race, Robbie Munnings and the Mundelein Mustangs didn't take a back seat to anyone in the distance events.
Munnings joined David DuVall, Martin Mena and Gian Carlo Vassallo to run a season-best 8:06.5 in a second-place finish in the 3,200-meter relay. Munnings then went to the individual races and pulled a stunner in the mile.
After getting out to the early lead, Munnings settled back into the pack and let Barrington senior Chris Cogswell run up front. Just as it looked like Cogswell, one of the top milers in the state, would run away with the race, out of nowhere came Munnings.
He passed Cogswell with less than 200 meters to go and went on to win the mile in 4:28.16.
"I just tried to stick with the pack and not lose contact with (Cogswell)," Munnings said. "When it came down to the end, it was my goal to race better than my seed and my time and I knew I didn't want to lose to (Cogswell)."
In the field events, Grayslake Central junior Bryant Jennings was the best of the best in the triple jump.
His best leap of 43-10 was more than two feet better than his previous best and was good enough for the event win.
Libertyville junior Jeremy Birck was also up to the task in the high jump. After clearing 6-7 at the Prospect meet last week, Birck cleared a modest 6-5 to win the high jump Friday.
Barrington sophomore Erik Peterson just went out and ran his race in the 3,200. After letting Lake Forest senior Henry Mynatt do most of the work early,
Peterson pulled away with 800-meters to go and ran to an impressive 9:33.3 - a new personal best.
"I felt good at 800 meters to go," said Peterson. "I knew if I stayed close, I could make my move and go from there."
Grant sophomore Sean Wells was the best of the field in the 110 high hurdles winning in 15.21.