New site but same Nalley invite

The 41st annual Carlin Nalley Invitational, Saturday starting at 9 a.m., offers something completely different.

Javelin exhibition? Nope. Paralympian Tony Volpentest? Nope. An appearance by Carl Lewis or Rafer Johnson?

No and no.

For the first time in this marquee event's long history, the meet -- once billed as the largest outdoor track meet outside the state finals -- will not be held in Lisle.

Benedictine University, Nalley host since the college's Sports Complex debuted in 2005, will be running the Northern Athletics Conference Outdoor Men's and Women's Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

Lisle Junior High's Wilde Field, an eight-lane track which Lisle coach Ken Jakalski said was the first polyurethane track for high school use in Illinois, hosted the Nalley meet for 37 years.

Jakalski said school district administrators, recalling past squabbling by neighboring residents regarding traffic and the possibility of lights for football games at Wilde, vowed not to bring the Nalley meet back.

Even though, Jakalski said, a 32-team junior high meet was held there last week. The Nalley will bring in 40 teams.

All that notwithstanding, Naperville North came to the rescue.

"There's something special about Wilde Field," said Jakalski, who puts in yeoman work to make the Carlin Nalley meet happen. "But Naperville North was gracious enough to offer their track facility."

The makeup remains the same: Class AA teams such as Benet, Waubonsie Valley and Wheaton Academy compete for their own title (the host Huskies are not competing). Class A teams such as Driscoll, Timothy Christian, Immaculate Conception and the host Lions, compete for another.

Oregon won Class A in 2007, Bolingbrook won AA.

Jakalski said he appreciated the relationship with Naperville North that brought the Carlin Nalley meet there.

The Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Famer may be muttering under his breath during the lengthy set-up of intricate timing equipment at an unfamiliar course, but the show will go on.

"The meet is the people who are there and the teams who are there. That's what it comes down to," Jakalski said. "We've got good fans, good athletes, good coaches. That's the tradition of the Nalley Invite more so than anything else."

Speed burners: York is the defending champion of the DuPage County Invite, which is in its 76th running tonight at York.

Senior Nick Perrino and juniors John Fox and Khara Williams lead a sprint group that seems ahead of the Dukes' celebrated distance squad. York, which beat Neuqua Valley at the Bob Cahoon Invite on April 18, looks like the team to beat.

Last year's runner-up, Wheaton North, joins Naperville North and Wheaton Warrenville South among the top challengers.

The Falcons looked sound in their second-place finish last week at Glenbard West's Jim Arnold Invitational.

Among Wheaton North's winners -- including 1,600 winner Graham Farnsworth, who has decided to walk on at Illinois -- was the always exciting Ken Collier.

Once again Collier ran down the competition to win the 200 dash.

It brought to mind this year's Red Grange Invite at WW South, when after he was stepped on in the final baton exchange, his 9.8 split rallied the Falcons to victory in the 400-meter relay.

"It's usually off the turn where I come back," Collier said. "I try to run a turn, but it's something I haven't mastered yet. Hopefully, in college (at College of DuPage) I can learn how to do that."

Wheaton North hurdler Mike Trumpy, the new Northwestern football commit who didn't run at Glenbard West but should at York, spoke with Collier before that race.

"He was saying, 'I almost hope we're behind when I get the baton,' " Trumpy said. "He has another gear from being behind. He hits that gear and he's just gone."

Snakebit: As a freshman, Timothy Christian's Brandon Buikema was right behind triple jump state qualifier Nathan DeJong.

Injuries have robbed Buikema, now a senior, of his potential.

He suffered serious knee injuries that wiped out his sophomore and junior seasons. A broken wrist suffered in gym class in 2007 didn't help.

He gritted it out for this, his senior season. Trojans coach John Vander Kamp told him good things could happen if he stayed healthy.

Buikema did … for awhile. Bringing in a triple jump of 41 feet and a long jump greater than 20 feet, 10 inches, in a home meet on April 23 his spikes caught on his sweatpants and he tripped and fell, breaking his left wrist.

Initially the wrist was so swollen Buikema couldn't be fitted with a proper cast. Vander Kamp said the senior went to the doctor's Thursday to see if he needed surgery or not.

If not, and he gets a special cast, Vander Kamp said there's a 30 percent chance he still could compete at sectionals.

South side story: The annual McCarthy Memorial Track Invitational is on at Hinsdale Central tonight.

Defending champion Oak Park aims to hold off Downers Grove South, Downers Grove North, Hinsdale South and the host Red Devils.

Along with Hinsdale South athletes like high jumper Norman Frazier and hurdler/triple jumper Dan Hopp, the Downers North distance crew that will vie with Lyons Twp. in the 3,200-meter relay, Hinsdale Central hurdler Eric Anders and distance runners Thomas Fielder and Pete Richard, the McCarthy will allow Downers South sprinter James Pinkston another chance to fly.

The senior surprised even his coach, Mark Wiggins, with his performance in the preliminaries of last week's canceled Mike Yavorski Invite at Hinsdale South.

In the 100-meter dash, Pinkston was manually timed at 10.39 seconds, and 21.95 in the 200.

A music buff who performs in school musicals and plays, Wiggins said, Pinkston had not competed outdoors until last Friday at Hinsdale South.

"That was a pleasant surprise," Wiggins said. "Hopefully, he can continue that little streak he's got going right now."

One week before the West Suburban Silver meet, and Hinsdale Central Jim Kupres hopes just to get the meet in.

Bad weather has allowed the Red Devils to compete in just two of four potential meets -- relay meets both, at Hinsdale South and Lyons Twp.

"We really haven't had many chances to run any open stuff," Kupres said. "If the weather's nice on Friday, we'll just try to have a nice day where it can be a decent indication of where the kids are at. It's been hard to be consistent."