Boys track and field: St. Charles North races away with Rolling Meadows crown
The Rolling Meadows Mustang Classic was going to be a good test for area boys track and field teams to see where they stand with about a month to go in the 2025 season.
When all was said and done, St. Charles North that captured the championship of the eight-team meet with 140.5 points. Huntley and Warren (103 points) tied for second followed by Fremd (96 points) in fourth, and the host Mustangs (93 points) in fifth.
St. Charles North's 4x800 squad of Logan Sundquist, Evan Reck, Brian Santos, and Carson Urry won in 8:24.77. The North Stars also got a first's from Jack Shannon (1.85 meters) in the high jump, Nathan McLoughlin (4.88 meters) in the pole vault, and Cooper Kowalczyk (15.88 meters) in the shot put.
St. Charles North's 4x200 unit of Josh Wilkerson, Jaden Tran, Jakub Dzioban, and Brandon Pregler (1:34.79) also placed first. The North Stars' Christian Enger (2:01.49) and Matt Russell went 1-2 in the 800-meter run.
"We love this meet, and as we get closer to the championship season we start to put some stuff together," said St. Charles North coach Kevin Harrington as the final third of the meet was under some steady rain. "The fact that we're winning a lot is interesting to me, and we've got over 20 kids who are meeting our exceeding our standards."
Huntley's Tommy Nitz continued to shine with a first-place time of 9:05.33 in the 3,200-meter run. The Red Raiders' 4x100 relay team of UW-Milwaukee-bound Vinny Costa (second in 100), Dominic Giuseffi (second in 200), Jordan Oruche, and Noah Van De Voorde placed first in 42.59 seconds. Huntley's Grant Tucker (46.81 meters) edged Rolling Meadows' Luis Carrillo (46.44 meters) for the discus title.
"Grant Tucker had a new PR in the discus and he was excited because that moved him up to No. 8 on our all-time list at Huntley and we've had a pretty good run of discus throwers," said Huntley coach Chris Maxedon. "All in all we had some good performances, and we definitely had some kids who stepped up and performed today so I'm really pleased with where we're at."
Warren won the 4x200 in 1:30.57 behind the team of John DeLaPaz, Jayden Johnson, Nathaniel Welch, and Weston Locke. The Blue Devils' Jackson Wiklund (15.39 seconds) won the 110-meter hurdles.
"The effort of the team overall has been pretty spectacular, and I'm really happy with how they've come together," said Warren coach Dave Wilson. "Our 4x200 is within a second or two of meeting the state qualifying time, and we're kind of peaking at the right time."
Buffalo Grove sophomore Taras Kilchitskyi (7.09 meters) soared to first place in the long jump while Fremd state qualifier Oluwadamilare Hassan (14.18 meters) won the triple jump.
Rolling Meadows' Jeff McMillen (52.07 seconds) was the 400-meter champion while teammate Gunnar Woetzel (40.66 seconds) won the 300 hurdles. Woetzel, McMillen, Auren Whiting, and Christian Bradley won the 4x400 in 3:29.88.
"He (Hassan) went to state last year (in triple jump), and he had a big PR tonight by about a foot," said Fremd coach Jeff Williams. "As of tonight he is ranked third in the state, and he has experience (downstate) which helps a lot."