Boys track and field: Naperville Central edges Neuqua Valley for DVC title

It was a team effort for Naperville Central, as the Redhawks earned 176.5 points and top honors during the DVC boys track and field championships, narrowly beating second-place Neuqua Valley on Thursday evening in Aurora.

“I think our depth really shines,” said Naperville Central coach Steven Stack. “The DVC is unique because it's six teams and we all have three entries in each event [and] there might be just one event on the day that we didn't score more than one person.”

While it was an all-around effort, the Redhawks were led by standout performances from sophomores Ben Blank and Chad Earl, alongside several strong events from freshman Eron Kennedy.

Blank was the overall points leader with 30, taking home top marks in shot put (16.4m) and discus (51.4m), while placing third in triple jump (13.22m) and ranking fifth in high jump (1.83m).

“It feels great,” said Blank. “At the end of the meet, when I'm getting pretty tired, it's been a few hours, it was really great to think of my team and know I'm doing this for all the seniors for this week.”

Earl helped the Redhawks take third place in the 4x400 meters, while also setting a personal best 10.79 in the 100 meters. Kennedy competed in four events, placing second in the 300 meter hurdles with a 39.02.

“We have a lot of good guys in our conference, so we just come into the meet, want to compete, and just prove ourselves,” said Kennedy.

Neuqua Valley scored 172.5 team points and were led by a trio of team leaders in junior Daniel Robinson, senior David Taiwo, and senior Cooper McGinnis.

All three hit personal bests during the meet, as Robinson ran a 10.5 second pace in the 100 meters, while Taiwo won the triple jump with a 14.13 meter leap, and McGinnis set the fourth fastest Illinois outdoor time of the spring with a 13.99 in the 110 meters hurdles, as well as outpacing Kennedy in the 300 meter hurdles with a 39.01.

“Those are our three, our big three,” said Neuqua Valley coach Kendric Cornelius. “They're performing phenomenally right now…and everyone else’s energy picks up. We had a lot of big PRs today because of those three.”

Speaking of state leading times, DeKalb junior Braylen Anderson set a scorching pace in the 100 meters as he took home first place with a 10.45 mark, which currently gives him the top time in the state of Illinois for the year.

“I know how good my top end speed is, but usually my starts are bad,” said Anderson. “Going into the race, my mindset is to stay low. Don't stand straight up out of the blocks, and just keep the feet moving.”

He did exactly that, as he set a DeKalb school record with his personal best mark.

“He's a great kid, does anything you ask,” said DeKalb coach Jeff Saurbaugh. “He's more of a 400, 200 kid…we still went with the 100 with him to work on his acceleration and you know, he proved that he can still do the 100, too.”

“The practice for this was hard,” said Anderson. “A lot of discipline, a lot of work. Coming into the meet, I was a little nervous, but my teammates, coaches, and my family are such a tight knit group…this is mostly just because of my teammates being here.”

The meet was delayed for roughly two hours due to lightning in the area and came down to the wire at the end. Neuqua topped Naperville Central in the 4x400 meter relay, the final event of the night. However, the Redhawks were able to hang on for the overall victory.

“I feel like we're using this as momentum, gearing up for sectionals next week,” said Taiwo. “So, we're getting prepared, we got another week of practice. We're going to rest up and then get right back to it.”

While they took home second in conference, Neuqua has their eyes on bigger goals down the line.

“Obviously we want to be competitive, but at the end of the day, we all are prepping for the big show,” added Cornelius.