Marmion’s Stefanski soars at Streamwood
The frustration that Marmion junior Peter Stefanski was feeling ended in one simple jump in the air.
The leap over the high jump bar for Stefanski had been stuck at 6 feet, 7 inches, but on Saturday at the Streamwood Sabre Invitational, Stefanski was stuck no longer.
On his second attempt at 6-8, Stefanski sailed over the bar and into the Cadet record book, breaking his own mark he set a week earlier.
Stefanski wasn’t done there. Two attempts into 6-10, he cleared that and established another record.
Seven feet seemed like a long way away, but he nearly cleared that, too.
“The season is starting to come together for me,” Stefanski said. “I was just kind of sick of not being able to clear 6-8, and my coaches and I have been working a lot and today it paid off.”
Marmion had three other event winners including a 1-2 finish from Nolan Dickson and Matt Choice in the 800 and wins in the jumps from Ben Cole in the triple jump (41-5) and Jake Ruddy in the long jump (21-1.5).
Overall, the times and marks on a cool and crisp day at Millennium field were solid and Schaumburg proved to have the best run of all. The Saxons, one of the most improved teams in the early going this outdoor season, won the team title with 82 points to 77 for second-place Oswego. Grayslake Central (62), Marmion (58) and Antioch (56) rounded out the top five teams.
“We just want to see from week to week and from meet to meet that we are getting better,” said Schaumburg coach Ryan Senica. “This is a nice confidence-booster for the team and for the program and we just want to see as the season goes along that we are getting better.”
One area in which the Saxons are improving weekly is the sprints. Junior Juwaan Richard had one of his best meets of the season by taking the 200-meter dash in a personal best 22.43. Richard also ran second in the 400 dash earlier in the meet.
The Saxons other two event winners — in the shot put, where Lee Duhs took the title (47-11), and in the pole vault where Andy Selep continued his strong season with a vault of 14-0.
Grayslake Central relied on its impressive depth to take the 3,200 and 1,600 runs. Seniors Will Brewster and Luke Zygmunt battled each other in the 1,600 before the Brewster bettered the Butler-bound Zygmunt, 4:27.87 to 4:33.8.
Zygmunt won the 3,200 meter run in 9:28.1.
“I am not one that wants to cut through the wind, so it was nice to have help,” Zygmunt said of the help he got in the 3,200 from Oswego’s Caleb Beck. “The race felt good to me.”
The host Sabres were down a key contributor in the sprinting events, but that didn’t slow Streamwood down. The Sabres captured the 400 and 800 relay and this without the services of one of the state’s best in Blake Holder.
The team of Austin Mugnai, Justin King, Sean Patterson and Art Beese took the 400 relay in 44.42 and the 800 relay in 1:32.01.
Leyden ended up a bit out of the team race, finishing tied with Elk Grove for sixth with 52 points, but the Eagles showed their strengths in the 3,200 and 1,600 relays.
The Eagles started the meet with a dominant performance in the 3,200 relay as Nico Avila, Paul Bosnyak, George Johnson and Fabian Cabrera ran to the win in 8:16.19. To end the meet, Danny DiMaso, Mike Lurigio, and Anthony Martinez joined Cabrera to pull out a hard fought 1,600 relay win over Antioch in 3:31.06.
The Sequoits showed why their middle-distance runners are some of the best in the area. Led by senior Leroy Chapman, Antioch ran a strong second to Leyden in the 1,600 in 3:31.15.
Earlier, Chapman held off Richard and Elk Grove freshman Paul Ifianayi to win the 400 in 50.45.
“Coach has always told me to go out and get the win, and the times will come,” Chapman said. “I knew this was a tough field and I could feel the other runners by me. I knew I had to push it to the end and get the win.”
Antioch also earned a personal best effort from senior Travis Gantz in the 300 hurdles (40.62).
Elk Grove captured a pair of event wins. Senior Dejan Besara won the discus in a personal best 141-2 and Fernando Lozano took top honors in the 110 high hurdles, also in a personal best effort of 15.72.