Batavia runs away with sectional title

The Batavia boys track and field team enjoyed one of those nights when absolutely everything went its way, and the Bulldogs celebrated their first sectional title as a result.

Batavia qualified eight individuals in six events at the Class 3A Bartlett sectional and advanced its relay teams in the 400, 800 and 1,600-meter races to next week’s state meet in Charleston. The Bulldogs finished with 100 points, well ahead of second-place Geneva (71), St. Charles East (63), St. Charles North (62) and Bartlett (41).

“Even though we didn’t want to talk about it, we told the guys they had a chance to win this thing,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “Normally, (the sectional meet) is just about qualifying guys for state, but they were pretty jacked up about that chance and — holy cow! — from the word go we didn’t have a bad event.

“We did what we were supposed to, we had good form, (set personal records) in everything, ran our best times in every relay, we had our best throws. I thought, ‘This can’t get any better.’ But it did. All night long.”

How smoothly did things go for Batavia? One runner literally stumbled into a state bid.

David Voland was one of six competitors to qualify in the 300 intermediate hurdles, but the way he did it was the talk of the meet. Voland was slightly behind teammate Rob Mohr and Geneva’s Ryan Ahern coming into the final hurdle when he tripped and fell forward into a dive roll.

Voland, who previously trained for four years as a competitive gymnast, exited his first diveroll just shy of the finsh line so he seamlessly made a second dive to cross the line. He finished third behind Mohr (37.58) and Ahern (38.24) with a time of 39.05.

“He’s like a superfreak gymnast or a super hero,” Piron said. “It pretty much came into play. I don’t think anybody could have done that except for him.”

“I saw that I was short (of the finish line), and I thought it would just be fastest to roll,” Voland said. “I was a great race but I was super tired and just caught that last hurdle. When they told me I qualified I was so excited. I couldn’t believe it.”

Mohr was a four-time state qualifier. He also won the 110-high hurdles (14.17), a race in which Geneva’s Ahern finished third in a qualifying time of (14.74). “That’s the best I’ve ever run. I felt great. I had some good form.”

Additionally, Mohr ran a 400-meter split of 49.4 to help winning 1,600-meter relay teammates Kabba, Voland and Jake Benner finish in 3:19.09. That was faster than the second-place Geneva team of Tyler Hickey, Justin Davis, Ahern and Russ Acton (3:20.93) and the third-place qualifying St. Charles East team of Carter Reading, Marcus Smith, Jake Mazanke and Dillon Mugge.

Batavia’s second-place 400 relay team of Voland, Kabba, Mohr and Jon Gray also qualified in 42.8, and the 800-meter relay team of Gray, Kabba, Troy Tousana and Benner qualified with a second-place finish in 1:30.75.

Batavia discus throwers Benner (162-0) and Sean Tews (161-5) swept the top two spots in discus. Also qualifying for state from Batavia were pole vaulter Bennett Hartmann (13-3) and Brian Wilson in the shot put (53-5½)

St. Charles East miler Steve Decker made it a clean sweep of the Kane County, Upstate Eight River and sectional meets. He finished in 4:24.51 to edge St. Charles North’s Billy Clink (4:24.62) of the third straight time. Clink was right on Decker’s hip for the final 250 meters but Decker held off the challenge in the most competitive race of the night.

“It killed,” Decker said of the energy needed to fend off Clink. “I was watching the silhouettes to see if they were coming. I raced Clink last week at conference and it was the exact same way. With 250 to go I just had to out-kick him again.”

St. Charles East’s Jake Manzake won the 800 meters (1:55.58), and Marcus Smith took his place in the 800 relay shortly thereafter alongside Reading, Mike Brown and Mugge Dillon. The Saints didn’t miss a beat, winning the event in 1:29.84.

Other sectional champions for the Saints included Rob Davidsen in the pole vault (14-3) and Mike Brown in the 200 dash (22.38)

St. Charles North’s Daniel Washington qualified for state in the long jump (21-10), Oshay Hodges finished second in the triple jump (44-5) and qualified in the high jump (6-5), Ryan Senci finished second in the 3,200-meter run in 9:38.07 and Brandon Baymon finished second in the 400 (49.34).

Baymon lost out in the 400 to rival Russ Acton of Geneva, who finished in 49.21.

“I love racing Brandon. He’s a heck of a competitor,” Acton said. “Last time at (the Kane County Meet) I edged him out. At conference at Geneva, he got me. It was a little rubb39.48er match tonight. I’m glad I got him. I was able to run a strong race, stayed strong in the back and finished with everything else I had.”

Geneva’s Thomas Frederick finished fourth in the 300 hurdles in a qualifying time of 39.48. Ahern qualified with a third-place finish in the 110 high hurdles (14.74).

Class 2A Glenbard South sectional: Host Glenbard South qualified in 16 of 18 events, easily winning Friday night’s sectional with 216 points.

Marmion was a distant second with 82 points, followed by Elmwood Park’s 53 and Aurora Central Catholic’s 44.5 points.

“To be second to Glenbard South, tremendous,” Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said. “Coming in we had five that we expected, and all five made it through. That’s what you want. Tonight’s just all about getting through and moving on and practicing another week.”

Marmion’s Eddy Grahovec was one of the few athletes to get in Glenbard South’s way, winning the unusual double of the 800 run and the 300 hurdles.

“I was just coming off that 800, and it was tough,” Grahovec said of the 300 hurdles. “At the finish line I was still kind of breathing hard, but really once you get over that first hurdle you coast from then on. It’s really, you get your flow going.”

The 800 was a concern for him because of Wold.

“Right from the get-go I knew who the competition was,” said Grahovec, a senior. “He’s good competition. I went a bit fast on that first lap. I was up there, and my coach was kind of worried about me then, but I was able to keep that last 400 then, which was good. I had to dig deep for that one. That was tough.

“I wasn’t going to let a freshman beat me.”

The freshman hopes to turn the tables at state.

“I really want to go for the 800 title,” Wold said. “I want to try to run it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to run so hard I’ll pass out at the end. I just want to gun it, give it all I’ve got on that.”

Marmion also got a win in the 3,200 from Bennett Marsh, who outlasted fellow state qualifiers, Joe Giamberdino of St. Francis and Glenbard South’s Collin White and the freshman Singleton.

— Orrin Schwarz