Batavia runs away with 1st River title
The joyous cheers ringing throughout Geneva’s Burgess Field on Thursday night had nothing to do with the home team winning a football game.
This time it was the Batavia boys’ track team whooping it up after securing the initial Upstate Eight River Division conference meet in Geneva with a convincing 160 points, well ahead of Geneva in second place with 127 points.
It was a balanced charge that vaulted Batavia to the top spot, a week after placing second in the Kane County Meet. But senior Rob Mohr helped the cause tremendously by finishing first in the 110-meter high hurdles at 14.58 and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at 38.32, edging out a Geneva foe each time. The Vikings’ Ryan Ahern was second in the 110 hurdles at 14.91 and the 300 hurdles at 38.51.
Mohr was called upon to compete in the hurdles events shortly after coming up a hair short as the anchor in the 400-meter relay race when Streamwood’s Blake Holder came on strong down the stretch to win the race for the Sabres with a 43.27 time to edge Mohr and the Bulldogs at 43.20.
“We’ve seen him a bit and he makes you a little nervous,” Mohr said of Holder. “He’s a fast guy and you have to hand it to him.”
As for the hurdles events, Mohr said, “I’m pretty much used to running the hurdles right after another race, but this felt good, though a little muggy, and that can make you lethargic.”
Batavia also got a boost from its 800-meter relay team of Jon Gray, Ben Fornek, Troy Tousana and Edmund Kabba with a first-place finish at 1:32.11 to top St. Charles North’s squad of Zach Kirby, Connor Larson, Josh Phelan and Jack Feeney at 1:32.40 in one of the night’s tightest races.
Kabba also won the 100-meter dash at 11.20, while Streamwood’s Terrell Campbell was second at 11:49.
Batavia coach Dennis Piron pointed to the good start his team got in the field events as a signal his team was ready to rule the River Division roost.
“I think Brandon Clabough taking third in the pole vault and giving us a second (Bennett Hartmann) and third in that event was a great start because Brandon was hurt and we weren’t even sure he could go,” Piron said. “That’s the kind of event where you just don’t know what can happen.”
Batavia got other strong showings in field events from Jake Benner winning the discus at 154-6 over Jackson Grimes of Geneva (146-0), while Brian Wilson also topped Grimes in the shot put with a 53-6 to Grimes’ 52-0.
“This is a good group of seniors and they are a hardworking group and they are nice to one another and a very fun team to coach,” Piron said of his squad.
In the long jump, St. Charles North’s Dan Washington took top honors at 20-11, with Gray of Batavia securing second at 20-05.
Larkin’s Lamonte Norwood secured the only top spot for the Royals in the triple jump at 44-11.50 to best Oshay Hodges of St. Charles North at 44-08.00.
St. Charles North finished one-two in the high jump with Hodges grabbing first at 6-5, and Erik Miller second at 6-3.
Aside from Batavia dominating the meet, the storyline was a saga of pulled hamstrings, specifically the ones nagging St. Charles North sprinter Brandon Baymon, Streamwood’s Holder, and Geneva’s Ben Rogers, whose injury kept him out of the field events.
Baymon claims that he and Holder suffered their hamstring pulls within seconds of each other at the county meet last week — and it must have been good karma, because both ran well in their only events.
“A good kick at the end is usually my trademark, but I really had to fight through the hamstring injury,” Holder said of his narrow victory in the last lap of the 400-meter relay. “It’s hard to watch somebody else win right in front of you, so I had to push hard to do it.”
Baymon overcame his injury to set a St. Charles North record in the 400-meter dash with his first-place win at 49.29 to edge Batavia’s Kabba at 49.61.
“I was kind of skeptical about running, but I told my coach I wanted all-conference, and he told me that if it hurt after 200 meters then just to bow out,” Baymon said.
St. Charles North placed third with 123 points, while St. Charles East was fourth with 76. Streamwood tallied 33 points, while Larkin had 29 and Elgin 5 to round out the meet.
St. Charles East earned a first-place finish with Steven Decker running a 4:28.45 in the 1,600-meter run to best Bill Clink of St. Charles North at 4:28.89.
“It was a slow start, and I am not sure why, but neither Clink nor I like to take the early lead,” said Decker, who won the county meet last week. ”But finally I just figured I would run from the lead the whole way.”
Mike Brown won the 200-meter dash for the Saints, clocking a 22.76 to edge Kabba at 23.14.
“Kabba’s got me in the 100, so it was nice to get on the inside of him on the curve and then kick it in to win,” Brown said.
The Saints’ other top finish came from Rob Davidsen in the pole vault at 13-9, topping Batavia’s Bennett Hartmann at 13-3 in second.
Geneva’s Billy Koskiewicz won the 3,200-meter run at 9:46.91 to edge St. Charles North’s Declan Duggan at 9:48.53, but Jake Mazanke of St. Charles East placed first in the 800-meter run at 2:00.13 to Geneva’s Nathan Wendt in second at 2:02.77.
St. Charles North’s 3,200-meter relay team of Clink, Max Rogowski, Graham Bultema and Ryan Senci finished first at 8:13.55, with Geneva’s Connor Bartel, Nathan Wendt, Pete Archibald and Tyler Johnson second at 8:14.09.