Waubonsie’s Saldana shows character in rain
It’s days like Friday that separate the men from the boys.
So to speak, for the girls also dealt with rain and wind at the annual Gus Scott Classic coed track invite. According to Waubonsie Valley boys coach Kevin Rafferty, that’s not a bad thing.
“It shows character moreso than ability. And that’s part of what track is,” Rafferty said.
The Warriors’ Owen Saldana showed both. In a meet that offers A, B and C levels, Saldana won the highest classes of discus, at 146 feet, 1 inch; and shot put, at 57-1¼.
“The thing that kids lose is, it’s not about what your best day is, it’s about what your average day is, what your hard-condition day is,” Rafferty said. “That’s something that a college coach — and a guy like me that respects hard work — thinks is much bigger than you hit on a perfect condition.”
Saldana was far off his personal-best discus mark of 179 feet, but close to his top shot put distance of better than 58 feet.
“In colder weather for me it’s usually a little harder to keep my grip (on discus),” Saldana said. “I still have to work on my release on my disc. It was a little bit of a challenge today.”
Saldana said the wind knocked down the discus when thrown too high.
“If you get the nose up just a little bit the wind’s going to destroy it,” he said. “I’ve got to work on keeping my discus at a low level so it’ll fly better.”
Waubonsie Valley, getting a top-level win by Caleb Chambliss in the 110-meter hurdles and another victory by 1,600 relay runners Austin Ameri, Eric Pembrook, Kyle Schafer and John Burke, placed fourth on the boys side behind Oak Park, New Trier and Naperville North.
The host Huskies didn’t win any A-level events, but Antonio Owens did yeoman’s work in the sprints and Eric Frey trailed only Saldana in shot put and discus. Charlie McKeown’s first-place 800 run on the B-level headed that class.
Naperville North trailed only Cary-Grove on the girls side, the Huskies in second ahead of St. Charles East and Benet Academy in that seven-team bracket. Waubonsie Valley’s girls brought up the rear but held their entire sprint-jump corps out of the poor conditions.
Benet jumper Anne Yahiro didn’t rest. Eighth place in Class 3A triple jump last year as a sophomore, Yahiro won that event at 34 feet, 5 inches, and finished fifth in long jump, two spots behind Naperville North’s Addy Muleya.
Yahiro no longer has her partner in crime, her older sister Elizabeth, the 2010 graduate who was ninth last year in 3A long jump.
“She was always there,” Anne said. “I always looked up to her and she always gave me moral support. We always helped each other out. So it’s a lot different this year without her.”
She and the others battled wind that made run-ups inconsistent and traction-reducing wetness.
“You just have to compete with whatever weather there is,” Yahiro said. “I would have liked it to be nicer, but...”
Benet also won the first girls relay, the 3,200. Kaileen Healy, Elaine Cleary, Nini Marchese and Maddy Gilleran won the race ahead of Naperville North, and Healy returned to victory in the 800.
“Going into the 800 I knew I was seeded with the top time,” Healy said. “I really wanted to go out and win it. Last year I got second here, so I wanted to get the gold. That race felt really good.”
Naperville North’s girls didn’t win a single A-level event but like the Huskies boys used overall depth from the likes of Grace Carballo, Lizzie Deely and Alex Moxon to rack up points.
Maria McDaniel, too. The freshman placed second in the A-level 3,200, just ahead of Benet’s Audrey Blazek and Waubonsie Valley’s Lauren Newmeyer.
As long as she was running with Carballo and Deely, the freshman had no problems with nerves or the conditions.
“I thought the rain was pretty cool,” McDaniel said.