Rolling Meadows captures Nalley Invitational crown
Optimistic, Rolling Meadows boys track coach Frank Schweda was not.
He didn't really think the Mustangs could win the Carlin Nalley Track & Field Invitational, its 42nd annual running held Saturday at Benedictine University in Lisle.
Then coach John Lemke approached him with a possible scoring breakdown. And then, Schweda's own athletes convinced him, as Rolling Meadows won its first Nalley title. The Mustangs' 80.25 points topped two-time defending champ Bolingbrook (67) and Romeoville (62.).
"I've been telling the guys we're a good team, we just need to have the right day and we need to perform all on the same day," Schweda said. "It wasn't the greatest day, but obviously it was good enough to win. We're pretty happy."
That mirrored the feelings of senior Mick Viken. The pole vaulter won at a height of 16 feet, 3 inches, then took out a new 180-pound-test pole for three unsuccessful attempts at 16-9. Viken's personal best is 16-71/2 from this past indoor season, and he owns the state's top outdoor mark at 16-5.
But three days of lifting weights to two days of vaulting didn't lend itself to a new standard.
"I've won pretty much every meet I've competed in, but I'm stuck right at the transition from jumping 16-3, 16-6, to breaking that 17-foot mark. This pole should be able to bring me past it," said Viken, who held the Nalley crowd rapt from the stands on the other side of the infield.
"If I get a week of fresh legs going into a big meet like the state meet, hopefully I'll be able to rip off something big," he said.
2008 state qualifier Collin Walker came up with something pretty big, a winning triple jump of 45-11/2.
"It's like getting hit by a car and then doing it the next day," the thoughtful senior said of his event. "But at the same time it's fun, because the rewards that come from it are almost immediate."
Rolling Meadows didn't win any track event under 1,600 meters, but the Mustangs added field event victories in shot put with Erick Louis-Charles at 53 feet; and in discus, as Jared Diaz and Louis-Charles going one-two.
They also had a Karkalis sweep of the open distance events.
Photis Karkalis came from second to win the 3,200 in 9:37.59, and after he'd helped the 3,200 relay take second, twin brother Angelos Karkalis won the 1,600 in 4:31.05.
"We like working together," Angelos said of twin power. "We support each other in races. I'm always cheering for him, he's cheering for me."
Palatine was depleted by prom but not before the 3,200 relay team of Alex Bollman, Ryan McGough, Lukasz Kierys and Justin Olson came up with a season-best time of 8:12.04. Bollman paced it with a 1:56 split out of the leadoff leg. The 400 relay of Willie Filian, Alfonso Butera, Steve Schalla and Dan Schweikert took eighth.
"We came for those two events and then we had to go to prom," said Pirates coach John Nalley, son of the meet's namesake.