Boys track and field: Prospect runs away with Wanner Knight crown
It was a stellar performance by host Prospect Friday night as the Knights' boys track and field team rolled to the championship of the 51st Annual Wanner Knight Invitational.
Prospect cruised to the title of the powerful 21-team meet with 157.5 points to topple Naperville Central, which was second with 106.5 points.
Lane Tech placed third in the huge field followed by Minooka in fourth, Lyons Township in fifth, and Downers Grove South in sixth.
The Knights won the 4x100 meter relay as the team of Will Horvath, Tim Zalinski, Michael Shafis, and John Moellenkamp set a school record of 42.38. Prospect also took home first place in the 4x200 meter relay as the same group posted a winning time of 1:28.77.
"It was a school record by .40 seconds, which is huge in that event, and it is currently the third best time in the state so far," said Prospect coach Jay Renaud. "This exact same team was in the 4x200 in the state meet last year, and three of the four from the 4x100 team were at state last year so we're very experienced."
The Knights also got first-place finishes from junior Erik Snell (4:20.23) in the 1,600-meter run, and teammate Andrew Diversey in the pole vault (13 feet, 2 inches). Prospect's Moellenkamp was also very impressive with a winning time of 22.29 in the 200-meter dash as he held off runner-up Cade McDonald (22.92) of Naperville Central.
"I couldn't ask for a better program day in and day out, and it's truly a blessing," said Snell. "We're looking to go downstate in the 4x800 as a team, and hopefully I can make state in the 1,600 meters too."
Naperville Central's squad of Aaron Benson, Seth Collins-Klein, Thomas Codo, and Patrick Julian took first place in the 4x800 meter relay in 7:57.91. The Redhawks also placed second in the 4x400 meter relay to close out the meet.
"They ran a nice race. We figured that we could go under eight minutes, and we haven't put those four on the track together all season," said Naperville Central coach Steve Wiesbrook. "Three of them are right at their PRs, and one of them ran the race a little differently than before as a part of the race strategy."
Downers Grove South got a first place from Kendall Burrow in the discus throw while teammate Shawn Lee took first in the shot put competition.
"They both came in seeded first, and they've been solid all season," said Downers Grove South coach Brian Caldwell. "Our sprint relays had season-bests tonight, they looked really good, and it's the best we've run at this point of the season."
Maine West's Damon Street (6-6) was the high jump champion, nipping Shafis (6-3) while Lakes junior Talon Knauf (1:59.44) edged Hersey's Ryan Buch for first place at 800 meters. Hersey's Josh Methner, the state cross country champion, took second at 3,200 meters to Whitney Young's Samuel Rivera by a mere tenth of a second.
"This was a lifetime best time for me today by .30 seconds, and I broke two minutes in my last meet at Palatine," said Knauf, who was a part of Lakes' state cross country qualifying team last fall. "We're going to try to go to state in the 4x800 this year, and if I can make it in the 800 that would be amazing."
Libertyville's Matt Micheloti placed third in the 400-meter dash while Prospect's Nathan Kowalski placed third in the 110-meter hurdles. Moellenkamp placed third in the long jump to help bolster Prospect's team scoring while the Knights' team also took second place in the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay. Libertyville's Ethan Richter placed second in the discus throw while Prospect's Sebastian Swistak was the runner-up in the shot put.