Saints pleased with McCornack results
The idea behind the St. Charles East McCornack Invitational is to run a boys track meet in which every event is a relay, and one which encourages involvement from more kids than your normal invite, many of whom that are getting a chance to compete in events different from their usual routines.
Based on those standards, Saturday's meet in St. Charles was another big success. And while no team scores are kept in the meet, coaches still can get a good handle on how their top kids perform and how deep they are in certain events.
The host Fighting Saints fared well in the meet, winning the 4x1,600 relay in 19:14.58, and recording a number of other top three varsity finishes, many of which involved underclassmen who helped fill out the four-athlete-per-event requirement.
"It was a good day all around," St. Charles East coach Ben Provencher said. "With this meet, every event is a relay with four kids. It's just about getting kids in a meet and getting them some ribbons."
In the 4-mile relay, Tim Johnson, Jake Zahn, Jared Eads and Nick Cramer teamed up to give the Saints the win, with Glenbard North in second more than 30 seconds off the pace and West Aurora in third at 19:49.81.
"It wasn't a super great time but our guys are normally 800 runners," Provencher said. "We just wanted to get them a mile here early in the season and they went out and competed."
West Aurora had a strong meet as the Blackhawks dominated the shot put relay (190-11 compared to runner-up Fenton's total of 156-3.) and also took first place in the long jump, high jump, triple jump, discus, 4x100, 4x200, 4x800 and the weightman 4x100 relays. Glenbard North took first in five varsity events, including both hurdle relays.
"West Aurora is loaded, absolutely loaded," Provencher said of the Blackhawks. "And Glenbard North is always a good team with a lot of athletes."
St. Charles East's Rob Davidsen, John Luangnikone, Ben Shurts and Mike Blanco combined for a total of 37 feet to place second in the pole vault relay to the Panthers, who totaled 48 feet. The Saints also placed second in the high jump relay where senior Josh League and freshmen Grant Stahulak, Danny Muzzalupo and James Jett combined to go 19 feet, 6 inches.
Saints hurdlers Joe Vitali, Anders Johnson, Nick Devor and Luke Dettlo placed third in the 110 shuttle relays and also combined to place third in the 300 hurdles relays, with the latter race featuring four heats with the times added together to determine the schools' places.
Other highlights for the hosts included thirds in both the triple jump and long jump relays, where James Sheehan and Benny Manibog each earned ribbons in each event; a third in the 4x100; a third in the 4x800, and a third in the varsity distance medley, where Zahn, Eads, Nik Willis and Mark Hayes ran an 11:53.98.
"We got almost every freshman in some event. In fact, there were very few guys who could run that we couldn't get in," Provencher said. "That's what it's about. This was a good meet for us."