A lot to look back at…and like

CHARLESTON -- Dore DeBartolo was erased from the top spot of the Class AA state-history book in the discus.

The former Rosary standout who recently completed medical school and is about to begin her residency program at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn had her 11-year-old-record of 155 feet, 5 inches broken by Grant senior Bailey Wagner.

DeBartolo, who competed at both Notre Dame and Florida, still owns the longest throw in state history -- her Suburban Catholic Conference heave of 164-5 -- but official state marks are only recognized at the two-day state finals.

"I'm sad to hear my record was broken," DeBartolo said. "But it sounds like it's going to a deserving individual."

Wagner also eclipsed the state record in the shot put, but Mahomet junior Daniella Bunch established a new state benchmark as well by turning back the two-time defending champion Wagner with a throw in excess of 49 feet.

DeBartolo set the discus record as a junior, but a skiing accident over Christmas during her senior year derailed her hopes of furthering her state mark.

"That was a huge disappointment," DeBartolo said. "I had been improving 20 feet per year in the discus."

No stopping Natalie:ΠConventional wisdom suggested Batavia junior Natalie Tarter had a better chance of winning the 100 hurdles versus the longer variety at 300 meters.

But Tarter had to settle for a second consecutive runner-up finish at 100 meters, only to reverse three straight losses at the hands of Shakeia Pinnick to capture her first state championship at 300 meters.

"I just wanted a first place in something for Batavia," Tarter said. "It didn't matter in what event."

It was the third straight time Pinnick was second, once again victimized by one of the fastest times in state history.

"It seems like every time I have had a chance, something happens," the Waubonsie Valley junior said.

Bright futures:ŒGeneva and West Aurora had breakthrough campaigns this season; each team threatened mainstays Batavia and Naperville North, respectively, for league supremacy in the Western Sun and DuPage Valley while setting new program highs for state qualifiers.

West Aurora sophomore Shanice Andrews became the first all-state performer for the Blackhawks in nine years with her fifth-place medal in the long jump, and the Vikings' stable of outstanding underclass distance runners bodes well for the future.

"I was real loose," Andrews said. "(My jumps) were OK -- they could have been better -- but I still placed, so I can't complain."

New format in '09: The driving forces of class expansion have caught up with girls track and field.

Eastern Illinois' O'Brien Stadium will have a new format next year with the inception of a three-class state tournament. Class 1A will have its preliminaries on Thursday, with the two largest classifications then taking the main stage on Friday.

All three classes will then conduct their finals on Saturday.

In ensuing years, the classes will alternate preliminaries on the first day.

"I'm going to miss running against the big schools," said Kaneland standout Lindsay Gierke, a three-time state finalist in the 100 and 200 dashes as well as the 300 hurdles.

Powers in charge:ŒWest Aurora High School teacher and coach Mike Powers had his 24-year career as a top-level track and field official reach its zenith at the girls state finals.

Powers, who came over with mentor Buck Drach from St. Charles East to help rejuvenate the Blackhawks' football program, was the head referee.

"This is my second time as a referee (at the state finals)," Powers said.

Overcoming injury:ŒAurora Christian senior Ann Schutte had one final time to shine.

The Sugar Grove resident has had to overcome five stress fractures in her right foot, but she led the Class A 3,200-meter run for nearly six laps before settling for seventh in the event.

"I've always felt comfortable running in front," Schutte said. "It's a little different (strategically) in track (than cross country). I still haven't figured that out yet."

Super soph:ŒSt. Charles East jumper Maya Rittmanic was riding high after qualifying for finals in both the high and long jump.

"It makes me want to do it again next year," said Rittmanic.

The Saints' sophomore credited former state qualifier Rachel Banner as a motivating force in the high jump.

"She has absolutely been my high school inspiration," Rittmanic said.

Boys track

SCN history makers:ŒFor St. Charles North junior Steve Miller, the entire journey toward the title of the 3,200-meter relay at the boys 2008 State Track and ŒField Meet in Charleston was a personal best.

In the finals on Saturday, Miller was told right off by North Stars coach Kevin Harrington: Don't let anyone pass him.

"It just set me on fire, and it fueled me to run real well today," Miller said.

After Miller received the baton from leadoff man Scott Speare, St. Charles North led the Class AA 3,200-meter relay all the way to the award stand.

For the young school, it was St. Charles North's highest finish since Michael McDonnell placed third in the 3,200 in 2006. It was the North Stars' first championship.

For Miller himself, the journey was a milestone.

"Personally, I didn't know how far I could go. These guys" -- he handed off to Max Clink, then Chris DeSilva anchored the winning team -- "we got it done," Miller said.

"It was a lot of discovering how far I could push myself, how far I could go, how fast I can go," he said.

"Self-discovery -- do I have what it takes? I pushed myself, we got here, and this is really a team thing, too."

All-state in absentia: After attempts of 19 feet, 8½ inches, and 19-1, Mooseheart senior Mike Tovar went 21-2 in his last preliminary of the Class A long jump.

That last mark was sufficient to give Tovar a seventh seed in the state finals on Saturday. He opted instead to attend Mooseheart's graduation.

How true it was when on Friday he said, "It's probably going to be my last jump of the year (and) high school."

On Saturday only one other Class A jumper surpassed Tovar's preliminary distance, leaving the Mooseheart graduate and two-time state track qualifier with a top-nine, all-state honor.

Finishing in eighth, he became Mooseheart's first all-stater since 2004 when Pierre Nealon did it in triple jump.

Tovar's sectional long jump mark of 22-1¼ also ranks high on Mooseheart's leader board. The record is 22-3, he said.

"I'm on the (school) hall of fame," Tovar said. "I'm happy with that."

Boenzi gets better: A key to success at the state meet is simply to keep improving: move up from the sectional mark during Friday's preliminaries and, if that's enough to reach the finals, top that on Saturday.

Geneva's Frank Boenzi did that.

The sophomore football player, wrestler and discus/shot thrower was unimpressed with his state-qualifying effort in shot put of 52 feet, 11 inches. It didn't help his mood not to qualify in discus, where he was the No. 1 seed at the Streamwood sectional.

Downstate, however, two of Boenzi's Friday prelim shot put attempts surpassed his prior personal-best and school-record mark of 54-8, set at the Kane County Meet.

Boenzi's mark of 55-¼ ranked sixth at the start of Saturday's finals. Though he stayed pat in the standings he threw even farther in the finals with a put of 56-1½.

Boenzi credited his performance to more practice time with Vikings coach Gale Gross, whose usual 13-man work load in weights was pared down to just Boenzi.

"I had more one-on-one time to focus with my coach," Boenzi said.

"I just did my best. I changed up a few things, got a lot more teaching in practice this week. It's a lot of praying, too, I guess."

Sky's the limit: Another sophomore, West Aurora high jumper Aviance King, also left Charleston as an all-stater in seventh place, though he was unable to match the 6-foot-5 of his top preliminary attempt.

King, whose approach starts far away from the bar and just left of center, said in finals his left shoulder continued to "lean into" the bar and knock it down. He finished at 6-4.

Leaving Charleston with a new PR at 6-5, King was asked what he'll do for an encore.

"I don't even know," he said initially.

But he has an idea…

"By my senior year I want to jump like around 7 feet," King said. "Junior year, around 6-8. I want to jump that constantly.

"I was around there this year, so I'm going to try to be more consistent."

'That's huge': And that's St. Charles East senior Joe Mushrush's assessment of the Saints' eight-place finish in the 3,200, which also had Geneva's Storm Obuchowski, Chris Higgins, Drew Hickey and Andrew Nelson in second.

"Beginning of cross country season, we were talking that we'd have a really good 4-by-8 team. We had high expectations for ourselves," Mushrush said.

"The road here wasn't that smooth, we had some adversity -- health problems, injuries, everything like that, bad weather all year long."

That's probably the same story just about anywhere. What makes the Saints' story unique was that fellow senior runners Pat Matthews, Dave Arends and Tyler Dettro all started out playing different sports.

Matthews and Arends played baseball, and Dettro was a convert from tennis.

"Honestly, I never saw myself four years ago coming here," Matthews said. "It's just great. Coming here from cross country, I wasn't even going to do that."

It was the first time since 2004 St. Charles East earned a medal in a relay event.

Man in demand: Geneva senior Joe Augustine, who placed sixth in the 400-meter dash at 49.24 seconds, has been accepted at Iowa State, where the sprinter-jumper planned to continue his track career.

As of Saturday it didn't sound like a done deal.

Augustine, who helped make the case for Geneva's rising affluence in state track, said he'd talked to "a lot of" college coaches watching the action in Charleston.

"I might pull out of that (Iowa State) and go do something else," Augustine said. "But I'm looking to run."

On the team aspect, Augustine said Vikings coach Gale Gross emphasized that just being in Charleston wasn't enough.

"Our coach brought up that we're here to score points. We're not here to show that we made Saturday. I mean, that's just not good enough anymore," Augustine said.

"We need to start contending for a state title, and maybe the next couple years with the depth on our team we'll start doing that."

Veteran humor: Unless something crazy happens next spring -- or winter, given the wrestling schedule -- West Aurora junior Josh Zinzer will have competed downstate all four years of high school.

Zinzer placed sixth in the 200 dash Saturday, a big bump from last year when he made the state meet but failed to get out of preliminaries.

Also in 2007 Zinzer ran the lead leg of the Blackhawks' eighth-place 1,600 relay. As a freshman, he ran the second leg of a sixth-place 1,600 relay.

Zinzer -- less than 100 percent at the start of the outdoor track season after sustaining an ankle injury from wrestling -- said that in the 200 he "ran my hardest and hoped I passed up a couple people."

He was asked about his mechanics in the race, which he ran in lane 1, nearest the track.

"The start is pretty much the same every time running: I see myself passing some guys up and then get over to the straight(away) and I see the same guys come up on me," Zinzer said.

"I was expecting it, but I'm happy with what happened."

Good-bye, and good luck: To the following state-qualifying (or relay alternate) high school graduates:

Aurora Central Catholic: Steven Bohr.

Marmion: Josh Stein.

West Aurora: Joel Vincent, Tony Knight, Marlin Ness, Juan Perez, Phil Svendsen…and Colton Winston, who would have qualified in triple jump had he not strained a hamstring in sectionals.

Batavia: Pat Brooke.

Geneva: Augustine, Obuchowski, Drew Isbell.

Kaneland: All-state discus thrower Phil Christensen, Mitch Webster.

St. Charles East: Arends, Dettro, Patthews, Mushrush, Keenen Sellers.

St. Charles North: DeSilva, Speare, Pat Manser, Rhett Morici, Mike Strasser.

Mooseheart: Tovar, Pedro Gonzalez, Tarpoh Kollie, Floyd Mays, Veron Owens, Jake Stegeman.

Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com

Rosary's Amy Kus finished third in the state high jump.