St. Charles East's Weber vaults to school record
It was certainly a day to remember for St. Charles East senior Colton Weber.
Pole vaulting 15-feet-1 inch, Weber set a school and Huntley field house record at Saturday's Huntley Last Chance Indoor Meet.
Weber qualified for next weekend's Class 3A Illinois Top Times State Indoor Track Meet held at Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center in Bloomington.
The list of participants at next weekend's state meet will be official Wednesday.
"It was really an amazing day and everything really came together," said Weber. "My take off on the run way was good and I got good lift on my vaults."
Other top finishers for the Saints hoping to qualify for the state meet were JB Sandlund (second, 1,600) and Tommy Olenek (third, 3,200).
Huntley recorded 2 first place finishes with Dubem Anikamadu claiming top honors in the 60 with a personal best clocking of 7.00 and Melvin Aninagyei garnered top accolades in the triple jump with a leap of 41-9 3/4.
"I was hoping for a time in the 6's," said Anikamadu. "I hope next week I can run under 7 seconds. I had a shaky start but finished strong."
Aninagyei placed second in the long jump with a leap of 20-11 and was third in the 200 in a time of 23.63.
The Red Raiders raced to a first place finish in the 1,600 relay in a time of 3:31.34 and were runner-up in the 800 relay (1:32.25).
Second place finishers for the Red Raiders were Jadon Conroy (3,200, 9:58.58) and Brian Bala (400, 55.53).
Burlington Central, the lone Class 2A team in the field, got a third place effort from Mike Kalusa (6-0) in the high jump followed by a fourth-place finish from teammate Patrick Mayfield who also jumped 6-feet.
Kalusa, Josh Teets, Aakansh Sharma and Adam Kries were members of the 1,600 relay team which finished third in 3:32.11.
Kalusa placed third in the long jump with a leap of 20-08 1/2 while Teets was fourth in the 800 in a time of 2:02.69.
"We enjoy competing against bigger Class 3A teams," said Central coach Mike Schmidt. "It makes us better. Our time in the 1,600 relay will be in the top 3 in the state in 2A. We hope to qualify a lot kids for next weekend's state meet."
Jacobs with Conrad Beech, Aidan Ludlum, John Jameson and Jermaine Ferguson-Maegdllin was fourth in the 1,600 relay in a time of 3:36.19.
Lake Zurich's duo of Brian Griffith and Kyle Griffith went 1-2 in the 800. Brian Griffith placed first in a time of 1:55.38 while brother Kyle was second in a time of 1:57,43.
"We really push each other," said Brian Griffith. "I really felt I was running at a fast pace."
The Bears also received first place efforts from Pat Burns (3,200, 9:45.24), Tyler Naughtrip (400, 55.30) and Matt Pereira (1,600, 4:27.92).
The Bears' 3,200 relay team crossed the finish line first in a time of 8:37.42.
Lake Zurich pole vaulter Jake Stevens finished second with a vault of 14-0 while Shawn Bandel was a runner-up in the 200 in a time of 23.54.