Boys track and field: Grayslake Central tops 21-team field at Lake County invite
The 21-team Lake County Invitational was going to be a tough test, and a tuneup for conference meets for area boys track and field teams Thursday night at Round Lake.
Grayslake Central rose to the championship of the massive field with 100 points to topple runner-up Lake Zurich with 88.5 points. Barrington (64.5 points) placed third.
Grayslake Central sophomore Ken-Ye Pendleton won the 100-meter dash in a school record time of 10.82 seconds to nip Grayslake North's Cameron Bates by .02 seconds. The Rams also got a first from Christian Jaimes (6-05.50) in the high jump. Bates won the 200 in 21.89 seconds.
"He (Pendleton) had a clean start all the way through, and he ran a school record under cold conditions (around 47 degrees)," said Grayslake Central coach Brent Pitt, whose team took second in the 4x100, 4x200, and 4x400. "He (Jaimes) is coming on really nicely (in high jump), and he took second in the triple jump too."
Lake Zurich freshman Karanveer Patil (9:23.58) took first place in the 3,200-meter run while teammate Cameron Libby (1:58.43) edged Lakes' Jackson Summy by .27 seconds for the 800-meter crown. The Bears also got a first-place mark of 46-05.50 from Connor Strauss in the triple jump.
"He (Strauss) PR'd so he's inching closer to the school record, and he's trying to make the state meet for the second year in a row," said Lake Zurich coach Todd Anderson. "We're looking forward to the next step at conference next week and then sectionals."
Barrington's 4x100 team of Hayden Dahlin, Lucas Marin, David Marian, and Lamar Osterhues took first place in 42.04 seconds. Junior Adam Lyon won the 400 for the Broncos in 50.09 seconds.
"We set the county record in the 4x100 and that group has been on fire all year long," said Barrington coach Todd Kuklinski, who held defending state champ Joe Bregenzer out of the 3,200. "He (Bregenzer) only has so many 3,200's in him, and we're using this meet to do some different things to get ready for conference."
Libertyville captured first place in the 4x800 relay behind Filip Vojvodic, Taylor Rihm, Trace Whildin, and Thomas Chudy's time of 8:02.66.
Stevenson's Thomas Simmons won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.33 seconds while teammate Alex Moser won the long jump (6.89 meters). Lakes' William Mercure (4.40 meters) won the pole vault.
"He (Moser) has jumped a little bit farther a couple of weeks ago, he's been super consistent, and he was 20th last year at state," said Stevenson coach Scott Sommers. "Thomas (Simmons) looked fantastic, he's starting to reach end of season form, and tonight he broke his own school record."
Antioch's Brandon Marks won the 300-hurdles in 38.84 seconds and he was only .21 seconds behind Simmons in the 110-hurdles. The Sequoits' 4x400 team of Jacob Yeager, Carson Lanners, Ademide Adegboyega, and Marks easily won in 3:24.04.
Second-place finishers in the field events were Barrington's Owen Fors (shot put), and Carmel Catholic freshman Jameer Miles (high jump). Grayslake Central teammates Zane Smith (pole vault), and Aidan Barnett (triple jump) also placed second. Lake Zurich's Chris Chang took second in the 300 while Mundelein took second in the 4x800.