Lake Park, York, Neuqua go 1-2-3 at state finals
CHARLESTON - Talk about a Big Three.
Lake Park's Zach Ziemek and twins Jeremy and Jermaine Kline were hobnobbing near the awards podium, where they were frequent visitors during Saturday's boys track and field state finals at Eastern Illinois University.
Ziemek had 18 points under his belt for his Class 3A pole vault title and second-place triple jump. Jermaine added the same - first in shot put, second in discus. Jeremy's 14 points came from third in both shot and disc.
"We'll just sit and watch," Jeremy Kline said.
They earned the right to relax.
Behind the three juniors' 50 points Lake Park won its first state track championship since 1997. Defending 3A champ York (40) took second and 2009 runner-up Neuqua Valley (36) third, the first time in the meet's 116-year history DuPage County schools swept the top three spots.
"I'm just so proud of the kids and their effort. Obviously here today, but all year long," said Lancers coach Jay Ivory, who credited assistants Bob Nihells, Doug Juraska, Tom Kaberna, Lance Murphy and Chris Benak.
"Good coaches working with great kids, and good things happen," Ivory said. "Oh, man, it feels good."
Jermaine Kline followed last year's double throws winner, Dan Block, in taking shot put at 61 feet, 101/2 inches.
"I had a lot of pressure build up on me," he said. "Then I thought, just do my best and follow in the proud steps of Lake Park."
Neuqua Valley's Wildcats, favored to win the 3A meet, did not totally click, placing seventh in the 3,200-meter relay and sixth in the 400 relay.
Aaron Beattie, however, placed fifth in the open 3,200 - York's Andrew Smith and Jack Driggs went 1-2 then Driggs and Smith went 3-8 in the 1,600 - and Neuqua's 800 relay of Thaddeus Johnson, Cale Brown, Jake Bender and Jamere Morrison took third.
Steve Carron placed third in the 400 dash, and the 1,600 relay of Carron, Bender, Brown and anchor Aryan Avant closed with a bang on an 88-degree day, winning the meet-closing event for a second straight year.
"We didn't expect it at all last year," Brown said, "but we definitely wanted to do it this year."
The relay win left a great taste in the mouth of Wildcats coach Mike Kennedy, who will turn the program over to assistant Jamie Janota as Kennedy heads to Washington, D.C., working in 2010-11 with the Department of Energy as an Einstein Fellow.
"What I like about our team is even though things may not have gone so well we're there for each other, we have each other's back," Kennedy said.
James Davenport's back - well, actually a leg once and a shoulder twice - was the only thing separating the Waubonsie Valley senior from clearing 7 feet, 1 inch in high jump. Winning the 3A title at 6-10, the senior aimed to pass his personal-best of 7 feet set last week.
"I know the bus ride home is going to be crazy," the 5-foot-9 Davenport said. "I can't wait to get home and celebrate with my teammates."
As high as Davenport got, Glenbard East's 3,200 relay kept going lower. When anchor Luke Chvatal kicked past Prospect's Kellan Strobel - with Wheaton Warrenville South's Kyle O'Malley giving the Tigers a solid third - it gave the quartet of Chvatal, Brad Magnetta, Jim Peters and Mike Fahey a championship time of 7:47.22, its third straight school record in the event.
It also ended two straight years of the Rams failing to escape state preliminaries.
"The third time's the charm," Magnetta said.
Shane "One jump wins it all" Molidor gave Downers Grove South its first state champ since 1990, carrying over Friday's top prelim long jump of 23 feet, 33/4 inches.
And in Class 2A - where Hillcrest won its second straight title while Herrin won its third 1A crown in four years - Glenbard South's Garret Payne sliced his 2A 400-meter record set Friday to 48.25 seconds.
"All my hard work over the summer paid off," said Payne, a junior. "I'll try to break the school record (47.92) next year. That's my goal to work on over this summer."