Lake Park answers the bell at state
CHARLESTON — Lake Park is who we think the Lancers are.
In Friday’s preliminaries of the Class 3A boys track and field championships at Eastern Illinois University the defending state champs made bold strides to repeat.
Although Wheaton Warrenville South tops all 3A teams with 10 entries into Saturday’s finals, Lake Park’s Zach Ziemek heads all long jump and triple jump contestants and is among 11 pole vaulters who cleared the preliminary cutoff of 14 feet, 3 inches. Teammate Scott Filip is seeded fifth in long jump.
The Lancers’ bounty continues with Kevin Spejcher in high jump and Jeremy Kline leading all discus finalists at 185-10.
As for shot put, Jermaine Kline owned that emphatically. On his final preliminary throw the 6-foot-4, 330-pound senior sent the shot 66-5¾ to break one of the state’s oldest records, the 66-1¾ of Elgin’s Kevin Coleman in 1988.
“I feel great right now,” Jermaine Kline said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to accomplish and I think doing it in my senior year at my last state meet was a good way to end it.”
It ain’t over, as they say. But with field event marks carrying over to Saturday’s finals, it’s a whale of a start.
WW South’s Charlie Pinedo had a grand day, reaching finals in the 200 dash and long jump — with Wheaton North sophomore Zach Gordon — and leading off the Tigers’ 400 and 800 relays.
“He had a great day,” said Tigers coach Ken Helberg, who could have said the same thing about Alec Brazeau. The junior advanced in both pole vault and high jump.
“Honestly, I came here hoping I could PR and was not expecting finals in both,” said Brazeau, who’ll also jump with Wheaton North’s Tyler Ester and Downers Grove South’s Zack Baleski. “It’s really fun so far. Good for next year, too.”
Another double-qualifier was Waubonsie Valley’s Owen Saldana, in discus and shot put.
Saturday’s 1,600 run promises to be a great event. After York’s Jack Driggs won the first preliminary heat in 4:17.10, WW South’s Collin Fedor joined four runners under 4:15 in the second heat. Glenbard West’s Mike Lederhouse, at 4;15.17, and Hinsdale Central’s Zach Withall, at 4:16.98, also advanced.
Neuqua Valley’s Jake Bender, the Wildcats’ first sophomore all-stater after running on a first-place 1,600 relay in 2010, reached the open 400 final — as did Naperville North’s Antonio Owens — and ended the meet anchoring a qualifying 1,600 relay, with Matt Wytiaz, Ryan Tomasi and Vincenzo Dal Pozzo.
“I’m pretty happy, I won my heat,” Bender said. “That’s really what I wanted to come out here and do.”
In Class 2A, Glenbard South and two-time defending champion Hillcrest each sent 11 entries into Saturday, one more than Cahokia and Chatham Glenwood.
“We’ll score some points. We just need some big ones now,” said Raiders coach Andy Preuss, who noted “surprises” like Robert Cary making the long jump finals and Nick Boesso qualifying in both discus and shot put. Brother Joe Boesso advanced in high jump.
“Big points” means Garret Payne. The Wisconsin-bound senior, who advanced in the 100 dash and anchored a qualifying 400 relay, lowered his 2A 400-meter state record to 48.06 seconds.
“My focus is obviously to try to run a PR, get as many points as I can and try to get our team as high up in the rankings as I can,” he said.
Raiders freshman John Wold advanced in the 1,600 despite losing his right shoe just 200 meters into the race. He finished in 4:23.01, his second toe a blistered mess.
“I was thinking about my shoe and how I wasn’t going to let it stop me,” Wold said. “I wanted to get into those finals whether I had shoes on my feet or not. As long as I can run, I’m fine.”