Boys track and field: Stevenson impresses while taking NSC title; Benet 3rd, Carmel 4th at ESCC
With two weeks until the boys state track and field meet begins, the North Suburban Conference meet at Zion-Benton was the start of some big challenges for Lake County area squads.
Stevenson was the class of the eight-team field Thursday night by winning the championship with 112 points to easily topple the host Zee-Bees with 89 points. Lake Forest edged Lake Zurich 77-76 for third place followed by Warren (73 points) in fifth, Libertyville (68 points) in sixth, and Mundelein (55 points) in seventh.
The Patriots' road to the team title featured first-place finishes by Thomas Simmons (14.78 seconds) in the 110-meter hurdles, Ethan Aghakhan (50.05 meters) in the discus, and Randy Clay (1.85 meters) in the high jump. Stevenson's 4x800 relay team of Gurshaan Sohi, Andrew Brandt, Alex Kaufman, and Tanay Doshi also won in 8:19.57. Randy Clay (1.85 meters) and Armand Burris (1.80 meters) went 1-2 in the high jump for the Pats while teammate Alex Moser took second in the triple jump.
"The key tonight was field events and 57 of our 112 points were scored in the field events," said Stevenson coach Andy Farrissey, whose team also won the NSC indoor crown. "Thomas Simmons ran a personal record in the 110 hurdles, but our sectional is loaded with hurdlers. It's a very competitive sectional so we'll have to go there and compete well."
Lake Zurich teammates Luke Marshall (9:56.22) and Gordy Libby went 1-2 in the 3,200-meter run while teammate Connor Strauss won the triple jump (13.07 meters).
"Connor Strauss is coming off an injury and his goal is to qualify for state in the triple jump," said Lake Zurich coach Todd Anderson. "In the last lap and a half he (Marshall) just took control of it and just pulled out in front of everybody. Gordy followed suit and grabbed second place. We did not think he was going to grab a second place for us and that was a bonus that really sparked the team to inch up."
Warren's duo of Ryan Moats (2:03.66) and Jesse Kowalski went 1-2 in the 800 while teammate Eddie Lim won the 300 hurdles in 40.76 seconds. The Blue Devils' 4x200 team of Alex Asare, Nathan Foster, Jayden Johnson, and Anthony Fisher won in 1:30.25.
Libertyville's Cole Mitchell (22.47 seconds) stormed to first in the 200 while freshman teammate Thomas Chudy won the 1,600 in 4:34.93. Mundelein's Julian Eagar won the 100-meter dash (11.13 seconds) by just .01 second.
ESCC meet
In the East Suburban Catholic Conference meet at Notre Dame, the host Dons captured the championship of the nine-team meet by a score of 124-113 over Marist. Benet Academy outdistanced Carmel Catholic 96-66 for third place.
Carmel's Torey French got out of the blocks quickly to win the 100-meter dash in 11.05 seconds. The Corsairs also got a first-place from Dev'ion Reynolds (6.85 meters) in the long jump while freshman teammate Evan Hursthouse took second in the 800-meter run in 2:00.00. French, Reynolds, Bobby Bi, and Christian Stevens set the 4x200 school record with a time of 1:34.81 in the indoor season.
"He (French) broke the state qualifying time for the 100 already, and he's going to Indiana State next year to play football," said Carmel coach Ryan Hornung. "Reynolds took ninth in the state last year in the long jump, he's going to play football at NIU, and he's a great sprinter as well."
Bi took third in the 200-meter dash while teammate Ryan Harris took fourth in the discus (38.28 meters) and fifth in the shot put (12.34 meters). Carmel's Luke Gera (5' 6") tied for third in the high jump while teammates Wyatt Petkus (400-run), and Tyshaun Campbell (triple jump) both placed fourth. The Corsairs placed third in the 4x400 relay while St. Viator placed fifth in that event.