Palatine's Bollman claims 1,600 crown
CHARLESTON - For four years, Alec Bollman of Palatine had a plan in place for this very day.
The idea was to develop the perfect race in the 1,600-meter run, and with the help of distance coach Chris Quick it would lead to a state championship.
"We had this plan for four years for this day," the Pirates senior said. "The goal was to win a state championship, and nothing was going to stop that from happening."
Bollman executed the plan in his race for the title in at the state track and field championships at Eastern Illinois and O'Brien Stadium on Saturday. The Iowa State-bound standout ran in the middle of the pack for 2-plus laps, then slipped to the front along with Loyola senior Nico Composto.
Into the final lap, Bollman took off and made it known that if someone else was going to win the event, they would have to take it from him. No one did.
Bollman raised his arms to the sky as he crossed the finish line first to win in 4:13.79 and earn the Pirates' first mile champion since Erik Dieckman captured top honors in 1994.
"I have had this in my head for four years, about this moment, and now I finally got it," said a very emotional Bollman after winning the championship. "No matter what the race was, I had my plan and coach Quick said that no matter what, go do what you got to do to get it done."
Joining Bollman on the medal stand was senior teammate Tyler Jones. He moved up one spot in the finals of the discus to finish seventh overall with a best effort of 164-5.
In the team race, Lake Park captured its first team title since 1997 in winning the Class 3A title. Defending Class 2A champion Hillcrest defended its crown, and downstate Herrin earned its second Class 1A title in three years.
Prospect had the highest finish of any team in the area as the Knights finished 16th in the team standings. Leading the way was junior Nick Batcha, who became the second Knight in school history to win three medals at one state meet.
He finished fifth in the long jump with his jump of 22-7 from the prelims holding up. Batcha ran to an eighth-place finish in the 100 dash, then helped Vito Anzalone, Joe Mack and Nick Meersman to an eighth-place finish in the 800 relay.
"Winning three medals at state is a great thing," Batcha said. "I love being mentioned with some of the greats in the conference and at Prospect. I have seen the records by guys like Jon Astreides since I was a freshman, and to be mentioned with a guy like that is just awesome."
One of the most decorated Knights in school history is senior Albert Ciolek. By virtue of the Knights' 3,200-relay finishing second in the state this season, Ciolek became the first Prospect track and field athlete to earn medals in four consecutive state meets. But this one was his highest finish of all.
"We finally got something better than fourth," Ciolek said with a smile. "We didn't get the school record or anything like that, but second place is awesome."
The team of Ciolek, Pat Ford, Matt Ashton and Kellen Strobel ran 7:47.50 and finished second to Glenbard East in a wild finish on Saturday.
"I have been running with these guys since I was in sixth grade," said the Minnesota-bound Ciolek. "To come here and finish as high as we did - there is nothing better."
Fremd junior Brian Bobek earned his spot among the best of the best in the great throwers history at the Palatine school. With his fifth-place finish in the shot put (57-8), Bobek became the 13th Viking in history to earn a shot put medal.
"A month ago I was worried about even making it to state," said Bobek. "A week and a half ago I started to turn it on and it carried over into this weekend."
Rolling Meadows earned a pair of medals this weekend form seniors Jared Diaz and Angelos Karkalis.
Karkalis battled through the brutal heat and an even tougher group to finish ninth in the 1,600 in an outdoor personal best time of 4:17.52. Diaz held his spot in the discus to finish fourth overall with a best toss of 170-8.
Justin Johnson of St. Viator earned the Lions first state meet medal since 1984 by finishing sixth in the Class 2A 110 high hurdles (14.96). Conant sophomore Ben Bowers also earned his first medal with a seventh-place effort in the 300 hurdles (39.16).
Dionte Hackler of Schaumburg earned his first state medal in his final race, finishing seventh in the 400 un.
Erik Peterson and Kyle Dockery of Barrington, Aaron Ferst of Fremd, Greg Netols of Prospect, Kyle Gonzales of Hoffman Estates, Photis Karkalis of Rolling Meadows and the 3,200 relay team of Garrett Vick, Matt Cwiok, Sam Zielke and Nate Knautz from Hersey all competed in Saturday's finals.