Wrap: BC claims its 4th straight title

Senior standouts rose to the occasion for the Burlington Central and Hampshire boys track teams Thursday night.

Dan Hagberg and Ryan Phebus, running in their fourth Big Northern Conference meet, accounted for nearly half of Burlington Central's points as the Rockets, seeded second coming in, amassed 130 team points to secure their fourth straight BNC championship. Winnebago was second with 114 and Oregon third with 90.

Hampshire also had a successful night behind the legs of senior Quinn Walker, scoring 35 points to finish sixth.

In probably the most surprising individual event, Walker unseated defending champion Hagberg in the 300-meter hurdles, winning in a school record time of 38.34. Hagberg ran a 38.40, clipping the next to last hurdle. Walker's time set a new conference record as well.

"Hagberg's like my best pal. He brings my times down," said Walker, who ran the anchor leg of Hampshire's second-place 1,600-meter relay team. "This feels nice but it's not sectionals. I gotta get ready for that now. This is a nice meet to get times down."

"Quinn ran a great race," Hagberg said. "We both had great times so you can't complain."

Burlington Central coach Mike Schmidt was beaming over his team's performance, especially in the field events, as well as his schools ability to finally host a conference meet on its new 8-lane track.

"Some of the things that make this sweet is knowing this meet was in doubt and for the kids to work so hard to pull it out … it just means a lot," Schmidt said. "It also means a lot to have this meet on our new track and to win it here. I've been working for this track for about eight years and it says a lot about the support of our administration to have this and to show it off tonight."

Prior to Hagberg, Phebus and the rest of the running Rockets sealing the deal for BC, it was an unexpected 43 points in the field events that put BC in position to win the meet.

"We were only seeded for 23 points in the field events and we scored 43," Schmidt said. "That's what really did it for us."

That field event performance was spearheaded by a conference championship in the pole vault from junior Joe Manzie, who went 13 feet, 3 inches, and a third-place finish in the event from Paco Wleklinski (12-9). Senior Dan Conran won the high jump at 5-11 for the Rockets, who won their seventh BNC title since 1995. Nate Parks was second in the high jump, also at 5-11.

The meet was in doubt until Hagberg, running the 200 for the first time outdoors in his career, took second in the event in 22.59, just behind Oregon's Jordan Thomas' 22.15.

"I didn't know what to expect in the 200," said Hagberg, who also won the 110 hurdles in a school record 13.88, which also tied the conference meet record set by BC's Dan Roby in 2001.

"That's been my goal the whole year, to get that record with Roby."

Hagberg also led off the Rockets' second-place effort in the 400 relay. Teaming with Tommy Gast, Mitch Plum and Nick Smith, they ran a 43.87. BC also won the 800 relay with Gast, Chris Leffler, Smith and T.J. Pasia clocking a 1:33.90.

Phebus was also a double-winner for BC, taking the 1,600 in 4:38.98 and the 800 in 1:59.37.

"I've never doubled up with two gold medals," Phebus said. "That really means a lot to me and it feels amazing. It definitely feels good to be the first group of seniors to win conference four times."

Central also got a third-place finish from its 3,200 relay team of Nick Laggett, Kyle Hazelton, Scott Knewitz and Phebus in a time of 8:40.38, a third from Plum in the 400 in a time of 53-flat, and a third from Pasia in the long jump.

Baseball

St. Charles North 8, Elgin 0: Zach Hirsch hurled a 1-hitter for the North Stars, walking none and striking out 10. Jake Thornton stole 3 bases and had 2 RBI.

Glenbard North 2, West Aurora 1:ŒDJ Smith's solo homer in the sixth inning gave the Blackhawks (13-12, 6-10) the lead. But the Panthers (8-10, 8-8) scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the DVC win.

Geneva 7, DeKalb 1: Chris Jordan pitched the distance for Geneva (18-6, 11-6), allowing 4 hits and no earned runs. Kevin Massoth batted 2-for-4 with a double.

Burlington Central 12, Hampshire 2:ŒWith two outs in the third inning, Hampshire led Burlington Central 1-0.

Then things fell apart for the Whip-Purs. Winning pitcher George Heller's 2-run homer started a 4-run rally, and the Rockets went on to defeat the Whips, 12-2, in 5 innings in a Big Northern East baseball game on Rocket Hill Thursday.

Bryan Bell, Matt Maciaszek and Zach Romando each had 2 hits, Bell also homered, and Austin Jarvis scored 3 times as the Rockets improved to 12-10 overall and 5-4 in the Big Northern East with 1 game left.

Boys tennis

Geneva 6, St. Charles East 1: Chris Fowler, David Ta and Collin Rapp all won singles matches for the Vikings. Fourth doubles Joey Rasich and Neil Hogan picked up the Saints' lone win.

Softball

Waubonsie Valley 2, St. Charles North 1: Starter Christine Roggemann pitched 5 innings for the North Stars, who dropped to 16-10 overall and 8-7 in the UEC.

St. Charles East 5, South Elgin 1:ŒJenny Niemiec batted 2-for-3 and Rae Ann Payleitner had a double and 3 RBI for the Saints (11-11-1, 7-5) Gabby Moe won her sixth game.

Glenbard South 8, Geneva 0: The Vikings (10-11, 4-6) managed 3 hits against the Raiders. Kelly McCaffrey batted 2-for-3 for Geneva.

Kaneland 2, DeKalb 1: Lindsay Hansen nailed the go-ahead single in the sixth inning. Mallory Huml allowed 1 unearned run and won her 12th games of the season.

Aurora Christian 16, Westminster 4: The Eagles (5-15, 5-7) scored 9 runs in the second as they topped the Eagles in Aurora. Megan Cryder scored 4 runs and drove in 3. Shannah Morris had a double, home run and 4 RBI.

Girls soccer

Rosary 4, Kaneland 0: Christine Dickerson scored twice for the Royals (10-8-2) and Brittney Hutchinson and Laura Butz tallied 1 goal each. The Knights fell to 8-15-1.

Girls lacrosse

St. Charles 11, Fenwick 6:ŒMegan Brady led St. Charles with 6 goals and 6 assists. Megan Piemonte added 2 goals, and Courtney Kuzniar, Mackenzie Graham and Brianna Schafft all scored 1 goal.

Men's golf

Orchard hosts new event:ŒA new "Scratch & Scramble" golf event will be held May 24-25 at Orchard Valley Golf Course.

The two-man team event will play a better ball format on Saturday, followed by a scramble format on Sunday. Entry fee is $50 per player plus green fees each day. Carts, range and a $20 skins game are optional.

The purse will be $3,000 based on 30 teams entered. The top five places will be paid, with $1,350 to the winning team.

Tee times are 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. You can register online at orchardvalleygolf.com or visit the golf shop at 2411 W. Illinois Avenue in Aurora.

Men's baseball

Waubonsee 4, Clark State 3: The third-seeded Chiefs won their first game in the NJCAA playoffs. Lucas Bradbury's double down the right field line in the ninth inning scored the game-winning run.

The Chiefs will play the second round of the playoffs today at home against No. 5 Rock Valley, who upset No. 2 DuPage.

Women's softball

UW-Oshkosh 5, Aurora 0: The Spartans (35-7) dropped their opening game in the NCAA Tournament. They play an elimination game today against North Central College at 2 p.m. today in Eau Claire, Wis.