Payne leads Raiders to victory at Glenbard West

Anyone with a lead over Glenbard South senior Garret Payne best enjoy it. It won’t last long.

Payne, unbeaten in any race this outdoor season and undefeated at 400 meters since his sophomore year, won the 100- and 400-meter dashes and anchored victorious 400 and 1,600 relays on Saturday at Glenbard West’s 31st annual Jim Arnold Boys Track Invite

When Payne ignited the jets around the third turn of the 1,600 relay the meet was as good as won for the Raiders, who captured the Arnold title for the first time since 1994.

“I think it’s awesome for the kids. Makes it easy on the coach, too,” said Glenbard South coach Andy Preuss, whose Class 2A trophy-hungry Raiders scored 78 points to edge Oak Park (75) and defending Arnold Invite and Class 3A state champion Lake Park (73.33).

Payne picked off Glenbard West’s Josh Nibbe to win the 100 in 10.87 seconds and later clocked 48.97 in the 400, ahead of Glenbard West’s game Mark Hiben, St. Charles East’s Dillon Mugge and Wheaton North’s Anthony Rocco.

“I guess you can say I’ve been lucky in that way,” Payne said of his winning streak.

Luck had nothing to do with it for Payne and the Raiders, who witnessed the further development of freshman John Wold with a time of 1 minute, 57.06 seconds in the 800, and racked up field event points by brothers Joe and Nick Boesso.

Glenbard South also returned hurdler Affan Khan and Wesley Sanders to the invite fold from injury. Khan ran on the 1,600 relay and finished second in the 110 hurdles, while Sanders ran on the 400 relay and won the 200 dash, at 22.62.

“I think it was pretty good coming back from my hamstring injury,” Sanders said. “It’s nice to come back. It’s a good day, too.”

It was great for Payne’s future Wisconsin teammate, Lake Park senior Zach Ziemek. He set a meet record in triple jump at 49 feet, 2½ inches and broke the Lancers program record in pole vault at 16-1. The first mark ranks 14th in the country; the second mark joins several at 15th nationwide.

Ziemek’s had his eye on Josh Cuttone’s 1999 Lake Park vault record since clearing 15-10 indoors. Saturday the defending 3A champ solved “pieces of the puzzle” to eclipse it.

“I’m really excited,” Ziemek said. “I’ve been trying to go for 16-1 for the last four meets, and finally today I was able to get it.”

Lake Park’s Kline brothers, Jeremy and Jermaine, did as usual — Jeremy won shot put, Jermaine won discus — and teammate Greg Block had a return to form in shotput, blasting a 57-foot, 7-inch mark.

Glenbard West junior Mike Lederhouse dropped his personal-record in the 1,600 to 4:20.40, joining long-jump winner C.J. Watson in a solid fourth-place team finish for the Hilltoppers.

“I’m more happy about my (3,200 relay) split, probably,” said Lederhouse, who ran 1:56.4 in his relay leg, first time under two minutes. “I had a major PR.”

Wheaton North placed seventh but won the frosh-soph portion. The Falcons advanced sophomore Mikey Sammer to the varsity 100 finals and got top-three finishes by Jason Dowell and Aidan Askin in the open distance events plus Branden Miller in discus.

And there was Rocco, fourth in the 400 won by Payne, who left for his prom pondering the philosophy of start versus kick.

“It’s one of those things where I’ve just got to figure how much I’m going to give and when it’s going to be given,” he said.