Boys track and field: Prospect looks strong at Buffalo Grove invite

Some pretty warm weather conditions for mid-April set the stage for the Buffalo Grove Invitational Saturday as athletes competed in the early-season beginning to the 2023 outdoor boys track season.

Also called the B.A.T.E. Invite which stands for "Big Awesome Team Event," Glenbrook South got off to a great start with teammates Ryan Schaefer (6.50 meters) and Ben Freidinger (6.38 meters) taking the top two places in the long jump to stake the Titans to an early lead in the seven-team meet.

But defending Mid-Suburban League champion Prospect was still the team to beat Saturday. The Knights were the top-ranked team in the field with a 53-40 lead over both Glenbrook South and Belvidere North as there were technical difficulties with the official scoring of the meet.

Senior Chance Rolfe was one of many key pieces for perennial power Prospect's strong performance. Rolfe took first place in the shot put with a throw of 15.08 meters. Prospect's Ben Schenkenfelder took second with a throw of 38.92 meters in the discus to get the Knights off to a great start in the field events.

"I thought it was a solid day, I told our guys to take advantage of the weather today because it's supposed to snow on Monday," said Prospect coach Jay Renaud, whose team will compete in the MSL East meet Tuesday at Hersey. "I think we competed well, we had some PRs and got some marks and times that we can use later at the end of conference and sectionals so I thought it was quality. We got a lot of guys experience today, and we didn't overload anybody. We were trying to limit guys to one or two events so we were trying to get some other guys experience in a meet like this."

Prospect's 4x400 relay team of Anthony Lobue, Dominik Balenda, Andrew Katsogianos, and Charlie Connolly was able to hold off runner-up Conant's team of Josh Ahrens, Connor Ariunbat, Justin Zepiel, and Gaven Corpin down the final stretch of the track for first place. The Cougars were able to turn in their fastest time of the young season with three juniors and one freshman running for them in that event. Katsogianos also won the 800-meter run for the Knights.

Conant's distance running squad was led by senior Vijay Krishnamoothi, who brought home first place in the 1,600-meter run.

"He (Krishnamoothi) looked really good, he had a nice split in the 4x800, and then he came back and did a nice job in the 1,600," said Conant coach John Powers. "Our 4x400 relay team finished up really well today placing second to Prospect."

One of Buffalo Grove's top finishers on the day was senior Mario Torres, who placed second to Krishnamoothi in the 1,600. The Bison also got a third-place finish from Xavier Dandridge in the high jump.

"He (Torres) ended up tearing his ACL in soccer two years ago and he qualified for state last year in the 4x800," said Buffalo Grove coach Tim Podulka. "This year he (Torres) has already run a state qualifying time in the 3,200 so we're hoping he can get a medal at the state meet."