Boys track and field: Batavia runners shine at Hodge invite
Batavia runners dominated the track events at the Les Hodge Invitational Friday.
The host Bulldogs won the opening and closing events, the 800 and 400 meter relays, and five individual races in between.
St. Charles North athletes took home top honors in two races and won the pole vault competition.
Kaneland competitors won three of the six field events.
Since the competition was an open invitational, no team scores were tallied.
The annual meet is the start of the outdoor track season for most of the competing teams.
Earlier in the week, Batavia coach Dennis Piron had his doubts about holding the annual event.
“I’m just grateful we were able to pull it off. With the weather we had this week, we weren’t super optimistic that we would,” Piron said. “The weather was decent for at least the first couple of hours tonight. It was cold but it was still nice to get it in.”
Batavia junior Nathan Whitwell won the 100 meter race with a time of 11:05.
“My strategy was that I wanted to get a strong start because the start just builds up to the end of the race,” Whitwell said. “If you start the 100 meter strong, you will have a good time.”
It was also a personal record for the junior. “Last year, I ran it in 11:10,” he noted.
Other Bulldogs individual event winners were Felip Wickler (3,200, 9:52.24), Cole Howland (400, 53.17), Thomas Woodward (300 hurdles, 42.07) and Nathaniel Hunt (1,600, 4:24.83).
“Really nice individual performances for those boys,” Piron said. “The relays looked solid, a lot of depth there. I loved the 4x4 to end the meet. Even in the cold, the kids ran really well.”
North Star Jack Shannon finished first in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.17 while teammate Walker Hornstrom completed the 800 in 2:02.52 for the top honor in that race. Nathan McLoughlin cleared the bar at 14 feet to win the pole vault.
Shannon credits the spring break with reducing his time by more than a second.
“I got two weeks off and I came back well rested and better than ever,” he said.
The junior also finished second in the high jump.
“It’s hard to do both because they happen around the same time,” Shannon said. “But it’s just about doing what you like to do.”.
Hornstrom’s time was also a PR.
“I went out a little bit faster than usual,” he said. “The second lap was a little bit slower, but I just tried to go all out.”
The senior was glad to be outside.
“It’s a lot easier to get around the curves,” he said.
With a leap of 6 feet 2 inches, Kaneland’s Evan Olp won the high jump. Knight Logan Ehlers took top honors in the long jump (21 feet 2 inches) and teammate Brady Detustak’s throw of 152 feet 10 inches won the discus event.
Kaneland runners David Valkanov and Evan Nosek turned in the best individual performances for the Knights. Valkanov (4:25.72) and Nosek (4:26.25) finished second and third, respectively, in the 1,600.
Geneva runner Bennet Konkey won the 200 with a time of 22.97. The Vikings also won the 100 relay.
Burlington Central took top honors in the 200 relay.