Blackhawks do a lot more than survive
West Aurora boys track coach Courtney Lamb said that under the conditions, "it was kind of survival today."
The Blackhawks did more than survive. They thrived.
In its own eighth annual John Bell Invitational on Saturday, West Aurora won the premier 16-team meet with 86 points, ahead of Neuqua Valley (77.5), Wheaton Warrenville South (66) and two-time defending Bell Invite titlist Thornton (54).
"Our field events once again carried us," Lamb said. "We had 50 points in the field events.
"Our relays did a really nice job on the track, Tony (Knight) did a nice job in the 400, and it happened to be enough today."
In those field events Juan Perez and Kevin Costin went 1-2 in shot put, Dan Newhouse and Costin went 1-2 in discus, Aviance King was second in high jump and Joel Vincent won triple jump and placed fifth in long jump.
"I guess the weather was a factor, but it's a lot of mentality," said Vincent, a 2007 state long-jump qualifier.
"I just try to push through it and bring the mental toughness."
Mind over matter is what fellow returning qualifier Perez is now facing.
Coming off a shoulder separation and subluxation from wrestling and three months of rehab, the heavyweight's 50-foot, 5-inch shot put -- 2 inches farther than Costin -- was enough for victory but not for pride.
"I've got really high expectations," he said. "I feel something going on wrong, like the slightest thing, and that can just mess me all up. One bad throw, it just brings me down."
Blackhawks weight man Newhouse isn't so weighty. At 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds he's more suited to javelin, which he'll throw at Iowa State next year.
Saturday he was pleased to go 137-9 in discus. That's well below the 189-4 he threw the javelin last summer for the Aurora Flyers AAU team.
"I'm not big enough to be really good at discus," Newhouse said. "But if I get good form I can be up there, like today, with them. It's really just form."
On the track Knight's 400 victory led Blackhawks individuals. West Aurora also won the 800 relay with Josh Zinzer, Leon Spears, Winston Colton and Vincent, and scored high in the 400 and 1,600 relays, Zinzer's presence a constant.
St. Charles East sprinters Keenen Sellers and Wes Allen made a huge splash. At this high-profile meet the Saints duo finished 1-2 in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. The Saints placed sixth.
"Honestly, with myself I didn't think I'd make it out of prelims, so I was very pleased with how I did. I think Keenen did great, too," said Allen, author of a post-100 fist pump.
Sellers went downstate as a relay alternate in 2006 and in 2007 qualified in the 200 dash and as part of the 800 relay.
He called it a "humbling experience." Amid a talented field on Saturday, Sellers did the humbling.
"Last year I just focused 100 percent on doing whatever I could to get better," he said.
"I actually hung up my numbers and the (state) bracket sheet for the 200 right above my bed so when I wake up it's there as a constant reminder of what the goal is."