Boys track and field: Rowzee, WW South get an A-plus win
Wheaton Warrenville South's boys track team was upwardly mobile on Friday at the Tigers' Red Grange Invitational.
After a so-so start to his 100-meter dash, Tigers junior sprinter Cedric Rowzee poured it on to nip Glenbard West's Tyquan Cox. Rowzee returned in the 200, eliminating the stagger after 40 meters to win ahead of St. Charles East's Dartmouth-bound Charlie Wade.
"I didn't really get a good start, but I was climbing through the race, so once I noticed I was climbing I was like, this is my race," said Rowzee, who ran 11.06 seconds to Cox's 11.24. Rowzee won the 200 in 22.47.
"It definitely motivated me," Rowzee said of facing Cox, also a junior. "Me and him go back since freshman year. He's my good rival. We have good races with each other. He's pretty good. We just said congratulations, good job to each other, as usual."
WW South's Maison family had reason to smile.
Scott Maison battled Oswego's Brandon Nelson and Prospect's Nate Cozine in the A-level 3,200 until with 190 meters left Maison took the lead for good, winning in 9 minutes, 27.96 seconds. Naperville North's Jake Allen and Waubonsie Valley's Wes Beitler placed fourth and fifth.
A couple hours later Sean Maison, a junior like his twin brother, won the 1,600 at 4:26.81. Initially Maison hung back from a "pushy" pack but rallied to dual Metea Valley's Rokas Gudinavicius at the front then outlasted a challenge from St. Charles East's Campbell Koch.
"Tomorrow I've got the Palatine (Distance Night), so I just wanted to win as easy as possible," said Sean Maison.
He got a kick out of both he and Scott sweeping the A-level distance events.
"It's nice to see us both compete on one day together, it's awesome, to perform that well," he said.
WW South won a tight A-level, 84 points to Evanston's 82. Glenbard West finished third with 60 points, and newcomer Dixon took fourth with 42.
In shot put Glenbard West's Adam Dau was the sole thrower to surpass 50 feet, winning at 50 feet, 4¾ inches. Waubonsie Valley's Zac Lyons won discus at 148-5.
"Yesterday I threw a 156 and today I threw 148, so it just depends on the day. It just takes one good day at sectionals to qualify for state," said Lyons, whose teammate, Mantaj Singh, won the C-level discus at 133-3.
Metea's Gudinavicius anchored the Mustangs' 3,200 relay to victory after easing past Glenbard West's Cam Benes in the last 30 meters.
"At first I'm like, oh boy, I'm going to have to pull off a kick again," said Gudinavicius, who followed Michael Varzino, Derek Roberts and Charles Schafer. "It seems like every race I have to do that. That's track, you have to have something left."
Naperville North's Will deBolt had enough for four personal records, in triple jump, the 200, the 300 hurdles and the 400 relay, the junior among freshmen Henry Young, Andrew Li and Justin Gnade.
"Running the four-by-one is new to us this year," deBolt said. "We didn't run one last year, so now that we have such a young team we decided to put one together for our home meet, Gus Scott, and it went super-well."
Glenbard West has lofty goals for the state meet, which can't be won on April 20. The Hilltoppers won the 400-meter relay in 42.45 seconds, below the qualifying standard with Joe Zydlo, Alec Pierce, Cox and Brady Heller, but didn't load up all events.
Hilltoppers junior Will O'Brien, part of the team's distance depth, won the C-level 1,600 at 4:29.44, a big PR.
"My best in the mile before this was 4:39," he said, "so a 10-second PR is pretty great for me. This whole season hasn't been going too well for me, I've had a lot of health issues, so seeing me performing well here, the future looks bright for the track season."