Upon review, Prospect edges York
The 18-team Knights Wanner Invite turned into a two-team dual meet at Gattas Memorial Stadium at Prospect Friday night.
York, the perennial champions of the meet and the host Knights battled through the night in what turned out to be the best team race in the 43 years of the invitational.
Into the final event, the 1,600-meter relay, Prospect held a 2-point lead over the Dukes. Thanks to a third-place finish by the Dukes in the event, York edged Prospect for the team title by a mere 1.5 points (115-113.5.).
Or so everyone thought.
A late review of the final results revealed that Prospect's Anthony Babicz had mistakenly been awarded eighth-place points in the shot put. He actually won the event, so Prospect instead topped York, totalling 123 to the Dukes' 115.
Either way, two elite teams passed a preparatory test for the postseason.
“This meet is always a great test and gives you a realistic view of what to expect the end of May (at the state meet),” York coach Stan Reddel said. “This is the best competition you get to see until the state meet.”
York relied heavily on its deep and talented sprint and relay groups. The Dukes won the 400 and 800 relays with the team of Kevin Adamik, Ken Boesenberg, Kris Romanczyk and David Byerly leading the way in the 400 relay and Byerly, Boesnsenberg, Romanczyk and Mo Watkins winning the 800 relay in 1:29.56.
The 3,200 was billed as the marquee race of the night and it lived up to the billing with North Carolina-bound York senior Jack Driggs taking top honors in 9:07.32 over second place Billy Fayette of Hinsdale Central. Driggs had wanted to go faster.
“When I came through and started hearing my quarters in 69 and 70 I knew I was off pace,” Driggs said. “I just tried to battle it out.”
Driggs battled through much of the race with a tender hamstring which ultimately forced him out of the 1,600.
Another signature event at this meet is the 3,200 relay and the hosts love to put their stamp on this race whenever possible. The team of Matt Ashton, Mike Thill, Josh Campos and Kellen Strobel battled with Nate Knautz, Ted Latona, Steve Tubergen and Robert Somary of Hersey in a great four-lap battle.
Into the final 100 meters Strobel held off Knautz for a season- and state-best effort of 7:54.46. Hersey holds the second-fastest time in the state this spring at 7:55.31.
“That was the first time that I have had someone to push me and run with me like that in that race,” Strobel said. “This just goes to show that all the work that we have put in year in and year out paid off.”
Knights senior Nick Batcha performed admirably under the lights in his final home meet. The Ohio State-bound standout captured the 100 and 200 in impressive fashion. His long jump effort of 22-2.5 was his best so far this season, but just a half-inch shy of York senior basketball star Will Sullivan.
Having not jumped all season, Sullivan busted out a 22-3 to take the event.
Another Knights senior was also a star under the bright lights. Ryan Ward, who had run the 110 high hurdles just four times this season and in his career, battled Schaumburg senior Shepard Little to the very end in the race before finishing second. Little ran a personal-best time of 14.73 just ahead of the personal-best 14.77 by Ward.
“You don't always get to see great competition like York and Lyons so this was an awesome night because of things like that,” Prospect coach Mike Kamedula said. “The kids keep coming out each week and getting a little better and that's all we can ask for.”
Barrington, which finished sixth in the team race, got great performances both on the track and in the field events and another school record. Junior Erik Peterson finished fourth in the 3,200, but his time of 9:20.27 lowered his own school mark by nearly 4 seconds.
Senior Eric Schneider ran second in the 800 in a season-best 1:57.73 and junior AJ Scarbrough took the triple jump with a personal-best of 45-8.
Carmel earned a win in the pole vault from senior John Thumel. His best mark of 13-6 earned the victory. The Corsairs 1,600 relay ran a season best in edging York for second place in 3:25.08.
Libertyville senior and Dartmouth-bound Jeremy Birck earned the high jump win with a leap of 6-6.