Neuqua Valley vaults past Lake Park for title
Lake Park, with its seemingly unlimited arsenal in field events, had a comfortable lead on Neuqua Valley in the team race of the Upstate Eight Conference indoor boys track and field meet Friday evening in Batavia.
But the two-time defending Class 3A champion Lancers were unprepared for what came next — especially the fast heat of the 400-meter dash.
Jake Bender, the Wildcats’ reigning state runner-up in the event, set a league record with his 50.26-second time.
But, even more importantly, teammate Nick Rafacz came in second at 51.12.
The resulting 18 team points unleashed an avalanche that carried Neuqua Valley to the championship of the 14-team meet with 110 points.
Lake Park only mustered 10 more points over the final three events to finish second with 76.
Metea Valley edged three-event champion Waubonsie Valley out for third, with St. Charles East doing likewise to its sister school, St. Charles North, for fifth.
Bartlett was the trendsetter for the five Elgin U-46 schools with its seventh-place result, followed by archrivals Geneva and Batavia.
Streamwood, Larkin, South
Elgin and East Aurora rounded out the team scores as Elgin failed to place any competitors in the top six.
“No question that (Neuqua Valley) sweeping the quarter was the turning point for them,” Lake Park coach Jay Ivory said. “Hats off to Neuqua Valley — they ran a great meet.”
“I didn’t expect Nick to get second place for us,” said Bender, who came back moments later to deny Larkin junior Jalen Griffin by three one-hundredths to win the 200 dash in 22.97. “Those were big points for us. I’m going to help my team in whatever way I can to get a state championship.”
Bender was a sprint-relay state champion two years ago as a sophomore.
Mark Derrick and Drew Smith followed the 400 sweep with 12 more points at 1,600 meters for Neuqua Valley, and the Wildcats’ plurality only surged over the Lancers with a 16-0 run at 200 meters.
“We just kept racking up the points,” Neuqua Valley acting coach Jaime Janota said. “That was something (Lake Park) couldn’t deal with.”
Seasoned cross country team state champions Derrick and Taylor Soltys powered the Wildcats’ 3,200 relay to an easy win to start the meet.
The Wildcats’ unrelenting closing drive overshadowed a brilliant night by Lake Park jumper and hurdler Scott Fillip.
The Lancers’ junior followed his win in the long jump at 22 feet, 9.25 inches with an another championship effort of 44-9 in the triple jump.
Filip ended with 36 individual points after placing third in the high jump and nipping three runners at the wire to win the 55 hurdles in 7.9.
“There is no way a set of human eyes could have picked a winner,” Filip said after edging Bartlett sophomore Alex Bailey and St. Chares East senior Nick Devor by three one-hundredths. “I had the best start out of the blocks. I eventually fought them all off until the end.”
Lake Park junior Tim Ehrhardt captured the Lancers’ third field event with a 14-6 night in pole vault.
Metea Valley twin brothers Joe and Matt Stewart gave new meaning to the term sibling rivalry.
The former led nearly wire-to-wire at 3,200 meters with his brother placing runner-up.
“We were seeded the top (two), so we kind of expected it,” Joe Stewart said. “We pushed off each other very well. I’m happy with the time.”
Waubonsie Valley weightman Jamaal Bearden was the class of the shot-put ring with his personal-record throw of 54.5.
The Warriors also won the 800- and 1,600-meter relays behind Kyle Schaffer, Kyle Neese, Daniel Waldron, D Gray, Kyle Cluver, Johnno Burke and Austin Ameri.