Burlington Central has state in sight
Never count the Burlington Central boys track team out.
After a non-upper tier finish at the Kane County meet, the Rockets stormed back to claim the Big Northern Conference championship.
A week later, the Rockets now have their sights set on loading the bus to capacity for the trip to the Class 2A track and field state finals in Charleston next weekend. Central and Hampshire will both compete for state berths at today’s Rochelle sectional.
The top 2 finishers in each event and any individual or relay team meeting or exceeding the minimum state standard in each event will qualify for state.
Veteran Central coach Mike Schmidt thinks the team sectional title could come down to the Rockets and Kaneland with Sterling in the upper tier mix as well.
But Schmidt points to the role-reversal of sorts the sectional format presents in terms of strategy.
“In a conference meet where you’re trying to win the title you may pull kids out of relays and put them in individual events to score more points,” he said. “In a sectional you are doing the opposite. Our No. 1 goal is to get as many kids down there as possible. It’s a difficult balance to accomplish both (winning a sectional title and qualifying maximum athletes), but we’re going to try and do it.”
The Rockets have no shortage of individuals and relays that possess high seeds in the meet.
Standout jumper Tre Llanes is seeded first in the triple jump (his specialty) and the long jump and is seeded second in the 110 high hurdles. Llanes, who said he is seriously looking into the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee as a destination for next season, finished third in the state last year in the triple.
“I’m a lot better with my middle phase this year,” he said. “Last year my middle phase was pretty bad. Coach has helped me correct that.”
Llanes has extra motivation in the triple after “an off day” at the conference meet where he went 43-4.
“I usually jump in the high 45s, I don’t know what happened,” he said. “The goal is 47. That’s what I have been working on all week.”
Llanes enjoys the challenge of competing in multiple events. He’s also part of Central’s fourth-seeded 400 relay team with Mike Kellenberger, Parker DeMoss and Tyler Panariello.
“I like competing in four events. It keeps me busy,” he said. “I want to get as many points as I can for the team. We’ve been working on our 4-by-1 handoffs. We’re getting them down.”
Clint Kliem is the top sectional seed in both the 800 and 1,600 events. He broke the school record in the 3,200 run (9:35) earlier in the year, but will not run that event in Rochelle. Kliem also runs on Central’s 3,200 relay with Mike Gulik, Joe Gannon and Mason Creal and on the 1,600 relay with Kellenberger, Panarielllo and Gulik. Central is seeded first in the 3,200 relay and fourth in the 1,600 relay. Earlier in the week, Schmidt said Kliem’s relay duties for today had not been finalized.
“I would like to do the 2-mile run, but there is more separation (rest time) between the 800 and the mile. That’s more doable than the 800 and the 2-mile,” Kliem said. “The 1,600 is going to be a little tougher because it’s stacked with good runners. We’ll see how well I do in the 800. Hopefully that will transfer over to the 1,600.”
Kliem has set a goal — weather permitting — of getting in the 1:55 to 1:56 range in the 800.
“That would be a perfect race for me,” he said. “With the 1,600, the goal is mainly to get out fast. I tend to start out at a lower pace. If I can do a sub 2:10 (for 800), I could get anywhere from 4:24-4:26. That would be perfect for me. That would be a personal record.”
Gulik is the No. 2 seed in the 800, while Kellenberger is seeded first in the 300 hurdles and third in the 100 high hurdles.
“We’re trying to put ourselves in the best position for the state meet,” Schmidt said. “Certainly we would like to win the sectional along the way.”
Hampshire’s highest seeds heading into today are Kyle Moseley in the 300 hurdles, Jared Butler in the 1,600 and 3,200, Jarrett McArdle in the shot put and discus and Peter Sonnefeldt in the triple jump.