Kane meet promises to be exciting
Dundee-Crown boys track coach Tom Smith loves taking his team to the annual Kane County boys track meet.
"It's always a great meet that is really competitive," said Smith. "It's kind of the next phase of the season. We just got done with one phase and now it's that phase that starts with county, conference and sectionals."
Smith feels this year's meet, to be contested today at West Aurora High School (field events at 4 p.m.; running prelims at 5 p.m.; finals at approximately 6 p.m.), will feature plenty of teams in close proximity to each other. Smith labels West Aurora, Batavia, Geneva and Marmion as teams that could contend for the upper tier. Smith also mentioned his team, Burlington Central, St. Charles North and Kaneland as additional teams that are bunched together in terms of seeding points - meaning athletes, coaches and spectators will again be treated to a dandy of a meet.
"There are a lot of very similar teams," said Smith. "It's a very balanced and competitive meet. It's one of my favorites."
D-C's 3,200 relay team has run as low as 7:59.03 (FAT) this year with Dan and Jon Magnant, Anthony Manfrin and Nathan Prom running that race. State-qualifying in that relay for Class 3A is 8:03.24 (FAT).
Smith is also high on Aaron Reams' prospects in the triple jump (45-7 this season; state-qualifying is 45-0). He'll also run in the 110 high hurdles. Manfrin will be a contender in the 1,600, while Keldrin Franz is a placing possibility in the triple jump. Pat Livengood could also be a factor in the high jump for the Chargers, along with the 1,600 relay team of Prom, Franz, Justin Walden and either Manfrin or the Magnant brothers.
Burlington Central features pole vault top-seed Paco Wleklinski (14-3 at last Friday's Crystal Lake Central invitational). Joe Manzie (14-0) is seeded third in the event. The state qualifying mark in Class 2A is 13-3.
"Paco has been vaulting well," said Central coach Mike Schmidt. "Hopefully he can continue that at county."
Freshman Clint Kliem is seeded fourth in the 3,200 for the Rockets, while Nick Smith is seeded third in both the 100 and the 200. Central's 400 and 800 relay teams are seeded in the top 4, but relay members Tom Gast (ill) and Kyle Kita (ankle) are both out of the meet.
Elgin is led by Adam Kuforiji (49.68 in the 400 and 22.6 in the 200) and Dennis Moore (20-3 in the long jump), while Larkin features Francisco Gonzales (9:59 in the 3,200) and Cyrus French (51.8 in the 400).
Streamwood is led by Derrik King (100, 200 and 400), Roger Klein (3,200 and 1,600), Matt Nykaza (800) and Steve Sandoval (300 hurdles). Josh Batchelor (400 and 200) is out with a pulled hamstring. Jens Tuin (pole vault), Brad Birchfield (100), Kelvin Ware (100) and Greg Griffin (high jump and 400) are top individual performers for coach Dale Schabert's South Elgin Storm. South Elgin's 400 and 800 relay teams have also shown improvements of late.
DuPage County meet: Bartlett will head to Wheaton North today for the DuPage County meet where Dan Karys will be a favorite in the long jump (23-9 personal best) and will have a high seed in the triple jump. Bartlett's 800 (Jason Massey, Josh Hasenberg, Zach Konstanzer and Karys) and 1,600 (Josafat Gonzalez, Hasenberg, Konstanzer and Karys) relays are both looking to set new school records. Karys has run a 49.0 split in the 1,600, while the 800 team is in the hunt to reset their current school bench mark. Senior Gianni Pietanza will be in the hunt to break 155-0 (state qualifying mark) in the discus. His current personal record is 149-6.