Kaneland looking good this year...and beyond

Eric Bacon didn’t realize it until after his Kaneland boys track team had won its fourth straight sectional title.

The Knights had scored in 17 of 18 events at the Class 2A Rochelle sectional.

“To me, that was outstanding,” the coach said.

To anyone that’s outstanding. Though Kaneland isn’t expected to join this year’s 2A state title chase with some of the teams Bacon listed — such as Mt. Vernon, Glenbard South and the squad admiringly called “Cahokia University — even if they don’t affect the team standings the Knights are in great position to gain experience for future campaigns.

Of the six individuals Kaneland qualified to this weekend’s state meet in Charleston, only 200 meter runner Sean Carter is a senior.

Sprinter Brandon Cottier and pole vaulter Kory Harner are juniors, leaving thrower Nate Dyer, 400 qualifier Nathaniel Kucera and 300 hurdler Dylan Nauert with potential downstate appearances three straight years.

Carter and distance runner Clayton Brundige are the sole seniors on the three relays Kaneland qualified as well, which also include juniors Conor Johnson and Dylan Pennington and Carter’s sophomore brother, Kyle.

Bacon credited Sean Carter, Brundige, Miroljab Marin — boxed in at the rail in the 800, he was unable to clock the necessary 1:58 time he’d run at the Kane County meet — and Brandon Stahl for “excellent” leadership. In Charleston their influence can only go so far.

“We’re pretty young and not a lot of guys have big-meet experience,” Bacon said. “No one on my squad has ever run in the finals of the state meet. It’s a different thing down there. You could be talking to me on Saturday and we could be among the groups (seeking a top-three trophy) or we could be done by Friday.”

Bacon sees the 800 relay of Pennington, Bishop, Cottier and Sean Carter as a potential state finalist, and said Johnson, Kucera, Brundige and Kyle Carter can make an attempt at the 3,200 relay school record of 8:01.4.

“I think if it’s a nice day and they run well they could run that fast and make the finals,” said Bacon, who added that former state 300 hurdles and 1,600 relay state champion Logan Markuson spoke to the team at the Rochelle sectional. Markuson cautioned that at the state meet even championship caliber athletes can make mistakes, such as when he false started in the finals of the 110 hurdles before he won the longer race.

Bacon’s goal is to make as many finals as possible, enjoy the successes his team has earned thus far without pressure, and gain state meet experience for down the road.

“The next two years, I think, we’ll be one of the favorites,” he said.

Dropping time:

On their own track at the Class 3A St. Charles North sectional, Jack Feeney, Grant Loess, Connor Larson and Josh Phelan ran the 800 relay in 1 minute, 29.33 seconds. It was the third time the state qualifiers had set a new school record. The group of Feeney, Larson, Zach Kirby and Oshay Hodges broke a 1,600 program relay record that had stood since 2009.

Still, the North Stars find themselves near the middle of the pack of 3A qualifiers. St. Charles East’s 1,600 relay of Danny Newman, Carter Reading, Nick Devor and Jake Mazanke enters Friday’s preliminaries with the second-fastest sectional time in the state, at 3 minutes, 18.46 seconds.

Partners

At sectional meets every track coach’s emotions swing between elation for an athlete’s state qualification, and depression when another falls short.

Batavia coach Dennis Piron feels that way about Batavia pole vaulters Brandon Clabough and Bennett Hartmann, and high jumpers Jake Pollack and Brian Rudelich. Clabough and Pollack surpassed their qualifying marks at the 3A St. Charles North sectional, while seniors Hartmann and Rudelich did not.

“Track is brutal in its finality,” Piron said.

A team captain, Rudelich helped younger high jumpers, including Pollack, while also honing his own form. A jumper with a personal-record of 6 feet, 4 inches, Rudelich suffered late-season quadriceps and groin problems, Piron said, which didn’t help his cause at sectionals, bowing out at 6-1.

Maybe tougher still was Hartmann’s position, since he’d tasted state competition as a 2011 qualifier in pole vault. Also an 800 runner this season, Hartmann got sick over spring break and didn’t run the event again. He gradually made it back to the 13-9 state-qualifying pole vault height at the Kane County meet, but reached 12-9 at the sectional.

Meanwhile, Pollack’s height of 6-6 rates him as the fifth seed in 3A high jump, and Clabough’s personal-best 15-foot pole vault is sixth.

“I really saw all four of those boys down there together,” Piron said.

They will be. Hartmann and Rudelich will both join their partners, helping out in preparation and reminding them of technique in roles, Piron said, of “assistant coaches.”

“It’s important that they go as seniors. They deserve it, and they have been as important to those guys’ success as any of our coaches have.”

Bad break:

Geneva distance runner Michael Bianchina had a decent chance to qualify in the 3,200 run at St. Charles North. He’d run a time less than 10 seconds from the 9:29.04 qualifying standard, came off an Upstate Eight Conference River Division title, and would be competing with other quality runners.

In fact, Vikings boys distance coaches Peter Raak and Sophia Michalak told head coach Gale Gross that with about 800 meters left Bianchina was on pace to qualify. But he’d had a stress fracture, Gross said, and Bianchina not surprisingly slowed as the injury developed into a full break with only about 100 meters left.

Bianchina is now in a cast, and out for up to to six weeks. The good news? He is a junior.

Clean sweep:

Congratulations to coach Troy Kerber and the Aurora Central Catholic Chargers. At the Class 2A Ottawa sectional they qualified all four relays.

Junior sprinter Joe Fese will be a busy body. In addition to running to a slot in the open 100, Fese is running the anchor leg of each of the Chargers’ 400, 800 and 1,600-meter relays. He’s not the only one to shoulder a heavy load. Both Zack Flint and Connor Robinson are on three relays.

A-OK in 1A:

Coming off its first sectional victory in history, at 1A Seneca last week, Aurora Christian seeks its first top 10 finish at the state meet. The Eagles qualified eight individuals and three relays including the foursome of Billy Howorth, Jake Gehman, Nate Jensen and Johnathan Harrell who return intact from last year’s third-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay.

“Our goal is to win the four-by-400 and from there just see how well we can do,” Eagles coach Dr. Jeff Schutt wrote in an email.

The boys best get plenty of sleep, hydrate and find shade when they can to bear up under a hot sun that is projected to bring 97-degree heat to Charleston on Saturday.

Jensen, Harrell and Howorth are running on each of Aurora Christians’ three relays, and Howorth also qualified in pole vault. Harrell and Jensen both are in the open 400, Gehman in the 800.