Boys track and field: Batavia runs away from Hoffman field

The Batavia boys track and field team's list of accomplishments grew longer on a cold Friday night in Hoffman Estates.

Heading into the Class 3A sectional the Bulldogs had already won the indoor Upstate Eight title, shattered the team scoring record at the Kane County meet and won the outdoor UEC meet by over 100 points.

In fact, Batavia hadn't lost an invitational all season. The unbeaten streak continued Friday when the Bulldogs scored 152 team points to distance themselves from host Hoffman Estates (79) and Geneva (54). They won 6 of the 18 events, finished second in three others and qualified an individual or team for the next week's state meet in Charleston in yet four more events.

"A lot of kids just love being a part of the team and a lot of seniors are finishing the year strong after being dedicated and putting in a ton of time to this program over the last four years," said Batavia coach Dennis Piron, whose teams also won sectional titles in 2011 and 2015.

The Bulldogs qualified all four relay teams for the state meet, highlighted by sectional titles in the 4x100 (42.47 seconds) and the 4x400 (3:23.03), both of which featured Iowa-bound senior Jay Hunt.

Batavia senior Michael Stanley won the 400 by maintaining a meter lead throughout the final 100 meters over second-place finisher Charlie Wade of Schaumburg. Stanley prevailed in 49.9.

Batavia senior Will Akers won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles by a hair. He and second-place finisher James Cooper of St. Charles East were both given the time of 39.79 seconds.

Batavia's Sam Conger took second in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 14.78, just behind sectional champion Victor Olaitan of Schaumburg (14.71).

Batavia senior Nick Krella was the sectional pole vault champion. He cleared 14 feet, 7 inches, as did three fellow state qualifiers: senior Cam Wright of St. Charles North (14-7), St. Charles East senior Colton Weber (14-7) and Batavia senior Blake Bakkum (14-1).

Batavia junior Elijah Green won the discus competition with a throw of 165 feet, nearly four feet further than his previous personal best. Cary-Grove junior Karl Rosch finished second (158-3) to earn a spot at the state meet.

"Our school record is sitting at 172 so that's been my goal for this season," said Green, a first-time state qualifier. "That's what I'm going to work on this week before going to state."

Hoffman Estates junior Declan Rustay and Metea Valley senior Alonzo Taylor-Jones both qualified for state in the 100-meter dash as Rustay (10.82) edged Taylor-Jones (10.87) at the finish line.

Rustay later won the 200 dash in a personal best time of 21.67 seconds.

"In the 100 I got off to a bad start and I had to catch up to Alonzo Taylor-Jones," Rustay said. "Other than that it felt good. In the 200 I came out real smooth and kind of eased into that home stretch and used it as a buildup for the PR I took. I couldn't be happier."

Geneva stood out in the distance races. Geneva 3,200-meter champion Josh Rodgers grabbed the lead after a mile and never relinquished. It was an impressive run for a repeat state qualifier who suffered a partially torn Achilles in January and was diagnosed with an iron deficiency this spring..

"They went out a little fast, earlier than I expected and I went with them," Rodgers said of the pack. "I felt good, though. I kept looking behind me more than usual during this race just to see where they were, but I felt pretty (safe)."

Geneva senior Tyler Dau (4:25.53) won the 1,600 by a tenth of a second over St. Charles East junior Campbell Koch (4:25.63), and Geneva senior Brian Kuehl raced to the 800-meter title in 1:56.04, just ahead of second-place automatic qualifier Jack Adams (1:58.53), a Cary-Grove senior.

West Aurora scored big wins in the high jump, triple jump and long jump. Defending state champion Camron Donatlan won the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 7 inches, matching his winning height at last week's Upstate Eight Conference meet but 2 inches shy of his 2016 state championship effort.

Donatlan was one of seven high jumpers to qualify for state, joined by fellow automatic qualifier Peter Willis of St. Charles North (6-5), Batavia's Hunt (6-5), Schaumburg senior Dakari Ferguson (6-3), Batavia senior Peter Rudelich (6-3), Hoffman Estates senior Fynn Alade (6-3) and West Aurora senior DaQuan Cross (6-3).

West Aurora senior DaVion Cross, the 2016 Class 3A long jump state runner-up, prevailed in that event with a distance of 23 feet, 8 inches. Batavia's Akers took second with a jump of 23-2, a new school record. DaVion Cross wasn't done. He later won the triple jump (48-11).

West Aurora won a fourth field event when junior Reece Mavros triumphed in the shot put with a heave of 52-1. Cary-Grove's Rosch punched his second state ticket by finishing second (51-1).

Hoffman Estates and St. Charles North finished first and second, respectively, in the 4x800 relay. The North Stars also qualified their second-place 4x400 team of Colton Tisdall, Eric Lins, Luke Zanis and Luke Sutherland.

Bartlett's lone state qualifier was junior long jumper Sulaimon Ahmed, the fourth of five qualifiers in the event. He set a new personal best by three inches with a jump of 22-1.

"Today was the like the worst day to jump and I got it done so I'm pretty happy," Ahmed said.