Neuqua’s Derrick makes a name for himself

Mark Derrick is one of those kid brothers of a superstar athlete trying to, as he said, “pave my own path.” And he’s succeeding.

On Thursday at the Class 3A Plainfield North boys track sectional, the Neuqua Valley junior took it out in the 3,200-meter run, let Plainfield North’s Andrew Sandoval run with the lead a bit, then Derrick floored it to win the event and qualify for his first state track meet.

His brother, Chris, an All-America at Stanford and Neuqua Valley, would be proud. But Mark punched his own ticket.

“There’s always the overshadow of, ‘Your brother was amazing,’ but I feel like I’m right at that stage where I can start to make it to the next level and start making a name for myself. I take a lot of pride,” Mark Derrick said.

Despite a week of jitters knotting his stomach, Derrick didn’t crumble when Santoval took a brief lead. Derrick maintained, and his time of 9 minutes, 20.41 seconds should achieve his goal of reaching the “fast heat” of the 3,200 in Charleston.

“The thought in my head is if he wants to have me follow him, that’s fine,” Derrick said. “It’s better to be chasing someone than to be running in front. It didn’t really worry me too much because I knew what I had.”

Neuqua also has three state-bound relays — the 400, 1,600 and 3,200 — courtesy of guys like Kevin Scrip, Ryan Tomasi, Matt Wytiaz, Vincenzo Dal Pozzo and Jake Bender, who also qualified in the open 400.

Chad Prescher makes a return trip in pole vault and sophomore Carlos Varela became Neuqua’s first discus qualifier since O.J. Oshinowo in 2001 with a toss of 156 feet, 4 inches, nearly a 9-foot personal best.

“I just wanted to get to state,” said Varela, who under coach Dave Ricca made a 30-foot improvement since last year. “If I got blown out and I came in dead last but made it to state I would have been the happiest kid on the earth. And I am, I think. I think I have to be the happiest person here.”

Naperville North’s Antonio Owens might also claim that title. As a junior he was less than a second off the qualifying time in the 400 meter run. Thursday he was 0.7 seconds under, at 49.24.

“Going into that race everyone knew that I was supposed to qualify, make it downstate, but it was something I just didn’t do and I kind of folded under pressure. So that was my biggest motivation coming in today,” Owens said. “While I was running, though, I did not want to think about that because that was going to bring me down a little bit.”

Every sectional has its downers. Naperville Central was unable to qualify an event. With athletes like Adam Spaccapaniccia, Sachin Natesh and David Goodalis returning, though, Redhawks coach Steve Wiesbrook likes the team’s complexion.

“Without a doubt we’re a stronger team through all 18 of the events,” Wiesbrook said. “It’s just a matter of how the youth develops and what they do between now and the start of next season.”

And Waubonsie Valley’s Danny Tucker, never 100 percent since a Week 1 football injury, didn’t qualify in the 100 or 200. David Groeber couldn’t pull it out in the 1,600 or 3,200.

Waubonsie’s Owen Saldana won both the shot put and discus, however, throwing the latter implement 182-7. The Warriors senior surpassed qualifying standards in his first attempts in both, giving him time to tinker with technique.

“(Throws coach Roger) Einbecker told me, he just said, get into finals, nice and easy, then after that we can do whatever we want, basically.”

Waubonsie teammate Amare Greene earned a second trip downstate in triple jump. He didn’t reach the qualifying standard of 45 feet, but his first place gives him another week to get there.

“I plan on getting 45 at state. Don’t want to settle for less,” he said.

Plainfield South won the sectional with 102 points — yet botched a handoff in the 800 relay that could have trophy ramifications. West Aurora took second with 87 points. Minooka (74) and Neuqua Valley (62) rounded out the top four.

West Aurora’s Patrick Schultz just stood in Lane 3 upon completing his heat of the 300 hurdles, waiting for someone to give him some good news.

Schultz, fourth in his heat and two spots behind teammate Marcus Waller, knew he was on the bubble for a state-qualifying slot. Waller, who finished second, was in. Schultz needed to make the qualifying time of 39.84 seconds.

Blackhawks coach Cortney Lamb got the results from the course timers and tried to deliver his best poker face. Then he threw up his arms, like a ref signaling touchdown, smiled, and Schultz knew he was in.

“Coach had me in suspense right there, and I’m just waiting and waiting to see what he says,” said Schultz, who qualified by .05 seconds, at 39.79.

“The look on his face was scaring the heck out of me, but he turned around, throws his arms up, everybody’s yelling. Very happy. It’s going to be a good night.”

It was a good night for several Blackhawks. George Malina makes his first downstate appearance in pole vault, and the group of Calvin Robinson, Ryan Bartell, Vontrel Hawkins and Matt Muth earned a slot in the 3,200 relay.

Later, Muth got impatient during his running of the 1,600, and it probably earned him a ticket to Charleston.

Entering the third lap, Muth was boxed in on the rail. He went inside, two strides on the infield grass, passed a couple runners and bounded off to a first-place finish, in 4:23.92.

West Aurora’s throwers each qualified in one event, while scratching out on the other in their attempts.

Alex Chollet finished second in discus with a best effort of 163-2, while Elawrence Langston will go downstate after chucking the shot put 53-6½.

Neither Matt Souvannasing, Zach Woods nor Bartell made it in their open events, but Waller had a big night. He won the 110-meter high hurdles in a personal-best 14.69 seconds, then followed up by lowering his own school record in the 300 hurdles, at 38.84 seconds.

“The 300s, I’m expecting myself to get that,” said Waller, who ran 39.28 as a sophomore. “The 110s, when it came I was just extremely happy, I didn’t know what to do.”

He and Schultz will have some sort of idea when they reach O’Brien Stadium next week.

“I was very, very excited,” Waller said of Schultz’s 300 qualification. “Because now we both get to go downstate together in our best event, and see where we can go from there.”