That was one Reilly fast sectional at Fremd
The bragging rights in the Reilly household will likely switch to current Libertyville senior Shane Reilly.
Going back the 1980’s, Reilly’s father Mike was a distance runner at Libertyville and had put up a best effort of 4:24 in the 1,600-meter run.
Friday night at the Class 3A Fremd sectional, Reilly bested his dad with a sensational effort in the 1,600-meter run. Reilly ran fifth in a loaded mile field, but his 4:19.66 time was good enough for a trip to the state finals next weekend at Eastern Illinois University.
Reilly now is the best of the Reillys.
“I finally beat my dad’s time,” Reilly said. “I felt really good coming into the final lap and knew I had a good time in me tonight.”
Reilly’s six-second PR was just one of many great efforts at the Fremd sectional. The host Vikings won the meet with 71 points to 68 for runner-up Stevenson.
Fremd earned a pair of qualifiers in the pole vault where Illinois State-bound senior Nick Bednarek took top honors with a vault of 14-9. Senior Davy Mellado, who also qualified by finishing second in the 110 high hurdles (15.03), was second in the vault with a personal best 14-6. Senior Connor Pfister earned a spot in the long jump as well
The night started in bittersweet fashion for Stevenson. The sweet portion came from junior Michael Dolan, who discus toss of 157-1 was a personal best and a state qualifying mark.
“I’m still recovering from the bear-hug from my coach,” Dolan said. “This is great.”
Sweet became a bit bitter for the Patriots in the 400 relay, but the sweetness returned thanks to TCU-bound senior James Vestuto. He earned a spot down state in the 100 after placing second to Keontay Williams of Zion-Benton.
Vestuto then teamed with Carl Miller, Parker Deloye, and Kiwhan Kim to lead the Patriots to a win in the 800 relay in a season-best 1:29.40.
“Every week, every day we have worked so hard to get to this point,” Vestuto said. “To think from the beginning of the season to where we are now is just incredible.”
The night was not quite complete for Vestuto, who earned the second qualifying spot in the 200 meters — again behind Williams with a personal best 22.42.
Stevenson also earned qualifiers in the high jump where Deloye cleared 6-5 to win the event; in the 800 where junior Danny Gardiner ran second in 1:58.73; and in the 110 high hurdles where Tommy Barnes won in 14.93.
Competing with the big boys in a larger class sectional mattered very little to Grayslake North. The Knights, who only have earned a handful of qualifiers for the state meet in their short history, will be well-represented in Charleston next week.
The sprint relays at North have been among the best in the state so far this spring and they were even faster Friday. The team of Alex Rotter, Andrew Soulis Brandon Uribe and Jake Geary broke the school record in the 400 and 800 relays for the fourth week in a row. This time it meant a trip to state.
The 400 relay edged out Zion winning in 43.18. The 800 relay settled for second but was still impressive in 1:29.80.
“We were nervous but I think we all calmed down some when the race got going,” Geary said. “We have worked so hard for this all year and you saw it out there tonight.”
Geary and the Knights got a nice little boost from senior Ben Guhl. Long before the Knights took to the track, Guhl took another page out of the Knights record books with a 163-9 qualifying effort in the discus. His 20-foot PR earned Guhl a spot at state.
Nerves were not much of a problem for Hersey senior Mark Balmes. A veteran of two state meets prior to this season, the Carthage-bound Balmes wasted little time in qualifying for the shot and discus. His first throw in discus qualified Balmes, but his last throw, a new PR of 171-0 secured one of the top seeds next week.
In the shot, Balmes qualified comfortably with a modest effort of 59-1.5. Balmes will be joined downstate by sophomore Andrew Phillipose in the 3,200 meters and junior Robert Somary. Somary broke through in the 1,600 in a field that saw eight qualifiers make it to state.
Libertyville earned multiple qualifiers to go with Reilly’s performance. Easton Huch earned a spot in the mile with a PR of 4:16.18; AJ Wilson earned a 300 hurdle spot winning in a personal best 39.64, Matt Dziedzic completed his junior season with a sensational night in the shot throwing 56-3 finishing second.
Other qualifiers included Kevin Newman of Buffalo Grove in the high jump, Kendrick Cornelius of Palatine, Antonio Farley of Round Lake and Mike Rantis of Lake Zurich in the 400, James Pajich of Barrington in the 300 hurdles, AJ Scarbrough from Barrington in the triple jump, Dan Roe of Buffalo Grove, Nolan Wojtowicz of Barrington, Pat Juras of Lake Zurich, and Tim Johnson of Palatine in the mile.
The 3,200 relay saw qualifying teams from Lake Zurich, Fremd, Palatine, and Warren. The 1,600 relay champion came from Lake Zurich with Warren earning a spot. Cam Kuksa of Palatine earned a spot in the triple jump, Marcus Garcia of Palatine, Jereme Atchison and Taras Didenko of Buffalo Grove, Martin Martinez of Warren, Erik Peterson and Ryan Burgoon of Barrington and Peter Tomkiewicz of Palatine all earned spots in the 3,200.