Boys track and field: Migas soars, Grayslake Central scores in Charleston
CHARLESTON — Lakes pole vaulter Paul Migas shrugged off pressure of past performance to win a third straight state title on Saturday at the 129th boys track and field state finals.
Migas, the two-time defending Class 2A champ, won this one in Class 3A at 5.20 meters (17 feet, ¾ inch), with attempts at Zach Bradford’s state record of 17-6. The third try, Migas was right there.
“I knew I had to take a good opportunity at it. I came up short, but the height was there,” Migas said.
On March 29 at the Texas Relays Migas cleared 17-4.5.
“It put pressure on me, but it was a good feeling to make that high bar,” he said.
In Charleston the Tennessee recruit was pushed by Neuqua Valley’s Nick Pennington in second at 5.05 meters (16-6¾) but kept going higher.
“Senior year I’ve been jumping out of my mind,” Migas said. “This is the most confident I’ve been, this is the strongest I’ve been, so I knew I was in for a good day. But man, there’s been a lot of pressure, but I didn’t break.”
Talk about pressure. With 17 events completed, Oak Park and Edwardsville were tied for the lead in Class 3A with 49 points apiece.
Neither leader had an entry in the day’s final race at O’Brien Field, the 1600-meter relay. But Grayslake Central did.
Stadium announcer Matt Pieczynski noted that should the Rams win the event, those 10 points would give them the title.
A strong effort by Elliott Bond, Jack Lapidus, Evan Richardson and Trey Sato — second in both the 800 meter run (1 minute, 51.68 seconds) and the 1600 (4:13.71) — ended in fourth place, at 3:18.16.
“I was just racing with my heart at that point,” said Sato, headed to Illinois. “I’ve had a lot of races under my belt the last two days, and I was just, everything I’ve got, every race.”
“We came a long way, we’re kind of underdogs here, lots to prove,” said senior Evan Peterson.
Lapidus, who heard the announcer, gained a temporary lead running the second leg.
“There was definitely pressure,” he said, “but the pressure was pushed on to motivation, and it pushed me through all of this.”
Adding a third-place 800 relay, Sean Mullen’s fifth-place finishes in pole vault and the 110-meter hurdles plus his eighth-place 300 hurdles, Grayslake Central’s 46 points gave the Rams third place, their first state trophy in track and field.
“Thirteen hundred kids, 3A,” senior Elliott Bond repeated.
“It’s an incredible feeling to end on a high note with these young athletes,” said Rams coach Brent Pitt. “These young men, the seniors deserve everything. As coaches we try not to just mess them up a little bit, right?
“Third place is awesome. I know these kids had their hearts broken a little bit because we’re about 30 meters out from shocking everybody here. I owe it to them, super proud of them all,” Pitt said.
Barrington junior Joe Bregenzer won the 3A 3200 title, at 8:58.10, the way he often has this season: smooth and steady with little apparent effort. Palatine sophomore Alex Krieg placed fifth.
“I thought I executed perfectly. Just got out smooth, felt the pace slow down a little bit, and then I just took it,” said Bregenzer, who finished ninth in 2023.
He has yet to find his ceiling.
“Every time I race I keep surprising myself,” he said, “doing better than I thought I could, so I don’t know.”
Rolling Meadows senior Noah Heiber didn’t care that he was in Lane 8 of the 110-meter hurdles, due to not being a preliminary heat winner on Friday.
He won the race that counted.
Rectifying a 2023 disappointment when he was seeded first at sectional but did not reach Charleston, Heiber won the 110s in 14.10 seconds, winning by .01 over Lemont’s Quinton Peterson. Stevenson’s Thomas Simmons was sixth.
“I was injured sophomore year, I didn’t really know when I’d run again,” said Heiber, Rolling Meadows’ first 110 champ since Abe Jones in 2000. Heiber also placed ninth in the 300 hurdles
“And now that I’m out here winning state it means a lot. The work that I put in paid off.”
Hersey’s throwing combination of senior Will Nolan and junior Logan Farrell placed second and third, respectively, in shot put. Nolan topped 61 feet while Farrell moved from sixth to third during finals.
“The dream was to go one-and-two but we said two-and-three is not too shabby, either,” said Farrell, who also finished sixth in discus.
Nolan could have graduated early and gone to the University of Iowa to start his football career. He chose instead to finish with the Huskies.
“It’s kind of bittersweet, kind of sad to leave Logan and my other teammates, but it was a great time all season, we made the most of it. Honestly, it’s more sweet,” he said.
Barrington’s 400-meter duo of senior Micah Hall and sophomore Adam Lyon, ran the 400 together one last time on Eastern Illinois University’s blue oval.
It was a success, Hall finishing second in a sharp 47.95 and Lyon ran 49.81 for seventh.
Hall “keeps me calm and keeps my mind straight,” Lyons said.
Hall, seeking to break 48 seconds, put the hammer down from the start.
“I feel like I never left it all on the track before, but today I definitely did. It was super fun,” he said.