Marmion’s Grahovec perserveres

CHARLESTON — Eddy Grahovec was on a roll.

The senior from Marmion Academy finished second in his heat of the Class 2A 800-meter run on Friday, good for a spot in the finals at the boys state track and field championships at Eastern Illinois University.

Later, Grahovec also advanced to Saturday in the 300 hurdles, in most innovative fashion.

Leading his heat, Grahovec hit the last hurdle and rolled. He had the presence to somehow get his chest across the finish line, still in first place.

“It was like a meter or two,” said the Dayton-bound athlete. “I just had to crawl a little bit.”

First, though, he had to fly to make the 800 finals and still have enough for the hurdles.

“The biggest worry with me this whole season was, am I going to have enough energy to be able to do the 300 coming off an 800,” he said, bearing two raw raspberries on his right hip. “But at the Kane County Meet and sectionals I was able to do it and it was fine.”

It was a day of literal hits and misses in the hurdles.

Kaneland’s Taylor Andrews set a new 2A record in the 110 hurdles, his time of 14.34 seconds paring a hundredth of a second off the existing mark.

In the 3A hurdles events Batavia’s Rob Mohr reached Saturday’s finals with a time of 14.62, but while he was leading his heat of the 300 hurdles he also hit the final barrier. Mohr was not as lucky as Grahovec, and the Princeton-bound senior, who had the fastest 300 sectional time coming into the meet, did not advance.

Batavia teammate David Voland did, however, with a time of 38.13 seconds. He then had the displeasure of seeing Mohr take his spill, though they later teamed with Emund Kabba and Jake Benner to qualify their 1,600-meter relay into Saturday’s finals.

“I know it means just as much to him as anyone else here,” Voland said of his hurdles partner. “Really, he was seeded to do very well, so it’s really a shame, there at the last second. Stuff like this happens, though, and that’s track for you.”

The blue track of O’Brien Stadium treated Andrews just fine.

“Out of my blocks I felt really good today. Last year I kind of slipped out of the blocks, but this year I’m not going to let that happen, be more confident,” said Andrews, who also joined Jesse Balluff, Brandon Cottier and Tommy Whittaker in a qualifying 400 relay.

“Lately I haven’t been attacking the first hurdle, kind of playing it safe. but no more of that,” Andrews said.

In Class 3A, Wheaton Warrenville South advanced 10 entries to the finals, followed by defending champion Lake Park with 9 and Belleville West and York each with 7 qualifiers. The Lake Park Lancers look good to repeat, leading in long jump, shot put, discus and triple jump after Friday’s preliminaries.

Additional area 3A qualifiers include St. Charles North’s Oshay Hodges in high jump, both Batavia’s Brian Wilson and West Aurora’s Elawrence Langston in shot put, and West Aurora’s Alex Chollet in discus.

Also, West Aurora’s foursome of Calvin Robinson, Ryan Bartell, Vontrell Hawkins and Matt Muth qualified in the 3,200-meter relay, while St. Charles East will see junior Jake Mazanke running the open 800 after recording a new personal-best time of 1 minute, 55.06 seconds.

“The 800 is a long race, a strategic race,” said Mazanke, who finished seventh in his heat yet reached the final group of 13. “I felt like, I guess, I’ve got to kick harder. Next time I’ll do better.”

In Class 2A, two-time defending champion Hillcrest and Glenbard South will have 11 entries in Saturday’s finals. Cahokia and Chatham-Glenwood each advanced 10.

Further back was Marmion and Kaneland with four apiece. The Cadets’ Peter Stefanski was among 12 high jumpers to make the 6-foot, 2-inch cutoff, while Kaneland advanced both Trevor Holm in the 1,600 and Tommy Whittaker in the 400.

Whittaker, a two-year, four-event state qualifier, ran the lap in 50.13 seconds, just off his best. He also ran in the 100 dash and anchored the Knights’ 400 and 1,600 relays.

“It’s been a really long day, having four events. What a tremendous accomplishment for me, but it was a hard day,” he said.

He’ll be back for more, looking to drop more time.

“I need to work on my star,” Whittaker said. “It’s kind of my weakness right now. Need to drive the knees up and get a little lower. I’m just happy I’m in an individual event final.”