Lagomarcino's pain, Neuqua's gain

Jordan Lagomarcino's pain was worth the gain.

A coach under each arm was about all keeping him upright after Lagomarcino spent all he had to qualify downstate in the 1,600-meter run at the Class 3A West Aurora boys track sectional.

The Neuqua Valley senior started running in seventh grade but didn't get serious until his sophomore year, seeing former Wildcats stars Chris Derrick and Jimmy Riddle do their thing.

"Watching those guys working hard every day and having so much success made me want to join the tradition," Lagomarcino said.

"It's definitely worth the pain."

Neuqua Valley, whose 94 points won Saturday's sectional over Waubonsie Valley (77) and West Aurora (71), seeks a heightened tradition even over last year's second-place finish.

The Wildcats should have the horses, qualifying all four relays, Aaron Beattie in both the 1,600 and 3,200, David Wing in the 3,200, both Aryan Avant and Steve Carron in the 400, high jumper Kyle Pembrook and pole vaulter Chad Prescher.

Carron, convinced to join the tradition by teammates like Thaddeus Johnson, ran his first race in January.

"After I ran that 400 the coaches told me I had a big future in it," Carron said.

Naperville North, always a force in distance, qualified its 3,200 relay as well as seniors Bob Guthrie and Tyler Jermann, who followed Beattie in the open 3,200. The Huskies will also have Haiti native Chandler Polyte pole vaulting next week in Charleston.

Jermann, ninth in state last year, is nearly all the way back from an off-season foot injury. He and Guthrie live only a block apart, and their plan Saturday was simply to make the "fast" heat of the 3,200 downstate.

"Next week is what matters," Jermann said.

Next year will matter more for Naperville Central. Despite good efforts by senior Mitch Gilbert in the 1,600 and sophomore Brad Kouchoukos in the 800, Redhawks coach Steve Wiesbrook said it was the first time in seven years Naperville Central didn't have a qualifier.

Better news was underclassmen Adam Spaccapanicca, Sanat Divekar, Kouchoukos and David Storino re-established, for the second time this week, a frosh-soph 1,600 relay record held since 1989.

"A 21-year-old record is a substantial record," Weisbrook said.

Waubonsie Valley's Owen Saldana set another personal record in discus, 169 feet, to join downstate returnees Alex Kampf and Andrew Szott, whose shot put of 59 feet, 7 inches ranks fourth among 3A qualifiers.

The Warriors' 400 relay felt slighted when bumped out of contention, but individually Danny Tucker qualified in the 100 and 200 dashes, and the Warriors qualified their 3,200 relay - including Eric Pembrook, brother of Neuqua's Kyle.

Waubonsie jumps stayed dominant. Ricky Walls went 23-2 in long jump and 46-10 in triple to win both. Junior Amare Green improved nearly 4 feet in triple jump to qualify at 45-71/2.

Huge news came in high jump. Waubonsie senior James Davenport won at 6-9 and went directly to 7 feet. On his third and last attempt he cleared the bar, the best mark at any of the state's 36 sectionals, 21st at 7 feet nationally according to DyeStat, and second in Illinois this season.

"It was like a dream," said Davenport, who thrilled both his mother, Donna, and little brother, Devon, by breaking Waubonsie's oldest record (1992) on the books.

"It was like I pictured in my head all year," he said. "Then when it actually happened it was overwhelming. I almost cried."