Boys track: Neuqua Valley out to extend DVC streak
Since Neuqua Valley joined the DuPage Valley Conference the Wildcats have gone 3 for 3 winning boys track and field championships, two indoors and one outdoors.
Thursday starting with field events at 4 p.m. Neuqua goes for the two-year, four-meet sweep at the site of its closest challenger this season, Wheaton Warrenville South.
In 2016 the Wildcats became the first team aside from either WW South or Wheaton North to win the outdoor DVC title in 25 years, since Naperville Central concluded a three-peat in 1990.
"We are trying to put the best team together that we can for the DVC meet while keeping in mind our plans for the sectional meet next week," said Neuqua coach Mike Kennedy, whose team topped four-time defending champion Wheaton North by 13 points in last year's outdoor championship.
"Our goal is certainly to win the DVC title, but that is always tough with the great competition in the DVC," Kennedy said.
Individually, several varsity conference champions return on the track: Metea Valley senior Alonzo Taylor-Jones in the 100-meter dash, Neuqua's Isaiah Robinson in the 800, Glenbard North's Jace James in the 110 hurdles, WW South's Joe Zubak in the 300 hurdles.
Returning varsity field event winners are James in high jump, WW South pole vaulter Tom Ansiel and Lake Park discus thrower Chago Basso.
Basso is among a couple competitors who may target DVC records. His personal-best shot put is 61 feet, 1 inch. If the Alabama recruit were to match that he'd break one of the oldest records on the books, 60-11½ set in 1983. Having surpassed 185 feet in discus, Basso isn't far from the 2015 record of 190-8.
Ansiel, the Tigers indoor and outdoor vault record holder, went 16-7 this indoor season, and has gone 15-7 outdoors. Both exceed the 1988 DVC varsity record of 15-5¾.
On May 5 at the DuPage County Meet, Glenbard North's James ran the 110-meter hurdles in 14.19 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 38.99 seconds; those times would have placed fourth and sixth, respectively, at the 2016 Class 3A finals. The conference frosh-soph record holder from 2015, James would have to top 13.94 in the 110s and 37.64 in the 300s.
Last year saw one record set, Glenbard North's since-graduated Devion Hodges in long jump at 23-6.
"If there's one thing I figured out last Friday is our conference has top-end athletes in almost every single event," said WW South coach Chris Arthurs, who is 4 for 4 in invite wins this season, including the county meet.
That doesn't include the Waubonsie Valley Red Ribbon, which was shortened by rain April 29 with Neuqua Valley on top. The Wildcats bring both numbers and impact individuals, including JaQuere Williams, the versatile sprinter Kennedy said will run the 400 at WW South after resting his legs for a month.
"I think as a coaching staff we all know it's going to be super-competitive on Thursday, and you try to put athletes in the best position you can to succeed and hope that things work out in your favor," Arthurs said.
Oddly consistent:
At the DuPage County meet, West Chicago junior C.J. Griffin ran the 110-meter hurdles in 15.88 seconds, matching exactly his season best to that point. A couple hours later, West Chicago senior Shane O'Connor ran the 300-meter hurdles in 41.52 seconds. Again, it was an exact match to O'Connor's season best.
In his first big outdoor invite of his senior year at Sandburg's Pete Struck Invitational on April 28, Hinsdale Central's Aleks Konstantinovic went 39-4½ in triple jump. To the half-inch, that matched Konstantinovic's best effort in the last big event of his junior year, the 2016 Class 3A Downers Grove North sectional.
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