Fremd’s depth produces MSL title
Fremd’s Harry Winter is a talented distance runner and just one of a number of reasons why the Vikings were favored to win their first Mid-Suburban League boys track and field title since 2005.
On Friday night at the MSL conference meet at Hersey, Winter prepared to compete in the 1,600 meters in what was turning out to be a close meet between the Vikings, defending champion Prospect and Conant.
Just before Winter took to the track, Fremd coach Jim Aikens walked up and gave him one final pep talk. “Before the race he just told me to run like I have been running the last few weeks,” Winter said. “He just said to not think about all the other things and just run my race.”
The sophomore stepped up and ran the best race of his young career at Fremd with a third-place finish and a personal-best 4:22.97 clocking. His points proved to be just what Aikens and the Vikings needed to lock up their first conference title in seven years.
Fremd won the title with 106 points to 99 for defending champion Prospect. Conant ran third with 91 followed by Palatine (76) and Barrington (68).
“It was the mile,” said Aikens when asked when he felt like the meet was wrapped up. “We nickel and dimed our way but we had so many guys step up in so many places tonight — that’s how you win the conference meet.”
The Vikings weren’t without individual conference champions. Senior Nick Bednarek leaped a personal best 15-4 to win the pole vault, senior Connor Pfister jumped a personal best 20-10 to take the long jump and junior Andy Fiszer captured the 100 in 11.19.
“It’s the second- and third- and even sixth-place finishes,” Aikens added. “We had a guy like Connor step up and win the long jump and (Griffin) Fujii placing sixth in the long jump really made a difference.”
The defending champion Knights nearly stole the show from Fremd and did so with tremendous performances from their sprint relays. The team of Nick Meersman, Chris Meersman, Sam Frasco and Vito Anzalone took the 400 and 800 relays in season-best times.
The 400 relay blazed to a 42.89 win over Fremd (43.41) and the 800 relay also edged the Vikings with a quick 1:29.37.
Senior Josh Campos provided the Knights with another conference title as he sprinted away from the field in the final 100 meters of the 800 to win in a personal-best 1:56.57.
One of the best races of the night came early in the 3,200 relay. Buffalo Grove and its team of Joe Bernardo, Nick Bernardo, Ryan Degelmann and Dan Roe ran a season- and area-best 7:56.47 to win the event. Conant (7:57.20), Hersey (7:57.24) and Palatine (7:57.60) all ran their fastest times of the season in a very quick race.
The MSL is known for its distance events and seniors Erik Peterson of Barrington and Tyler Schneider of Conant did their best to live up to the impressive legacy the conference has.
In the 3,200, Peterson and Schneider battled for 7 laps before Peterson pulled away with a blazing 64-second final lap to win in a school-record and area-best 9:11.36. The Missouri-bound Schneider was a solid second in 9:14.31.
Peterson and Schneider hooked up one more time in the 1,600. Schneider pulled away with a lap to go and had as much as a 50-meter lead before Peterson finally broke free. Into the final 100 meters, Peterson caught and passed Schneider to win in 4:21.64.
“I saw (Tyler) turn his shoulder and look like I do and I knew then I had him,” said the Butler-bound Peterson, who finished his career in the MSL winning three straight 3,200 titles and a pair of mile titles.
Peterson wasn’t alone in the multiple-event winner category. Conant senior Ben Bowers dominated the hurdle events again and added the high jump to his resume as the only three-event winner at this year’s meet. Bowers ran a personal best 38.50 to win the 300 hurdles, a 14.54 to win the 110 high hurdles and 6-3 to win the high jump.
“I knew in the 300 hurdles with as good a group there was racing with me that I had to attack and run as hard as I can,” the Penn-bound Bowers said. “I just wanted to come out and score as many points for my team as I could.”
The host Huskies had the only other multiple event winner of the night. Carthage-bound senior Mark Balmes broke the stadium record in winning the shot put (58-8.5) and came back to win the discus with a toss of 161-1.5.
Other conference champions included AJ Scarbrough of Barrington in the triple jump (46-2.5), Juwaan Richard of Schaumburg in the 200 (22.85), Kendrick Cornelius of Palatine in the 400 (49.82) and the 1,600 relay team from Rolling Meadows that included Ryan Gundersen, Ted Bivolarov, Brendan Thielsen, and Derek Heer (3:24.76).