A banner night for Burlington Central
STERLING - The drought ended for Burlington Central's boys track team Friday night.
The Rockets won their first sectional championship at the Class 2A level and their first at any level since 2005, edging Kaneland and Freeport following a nip-and-tuck battle at the Sterling sectional.
Central finished with 87 points to Kaneland's 74 while the Pretzels were right behind with 68 points.
The Rockets put an exclamation point on the victory with a dominant performance in the 1,600-meter relay. Lucas Ege started the anchor leg with a narrow lead and pulled away from runner-up Erie-Prophetstown.
Ege also won individual titles in both the 110 and 300-meter hurdles, setting a track record in the latter event with a time of: 38.11.
"We knew we were a little ahead at the start of it, but when we were on the last 200 (meters) I said, 'I'm going to win this for Central,' " Ege said. "I knew coming around the turn my guy was going to get us the lead."
Drew Kries, Kyle Neubauer, and Nick Harvey were the other 1,600 relay runners. But the Rockets really won the meet in the two previous events.
"The mile and the 200, the two events before the 4-by-4, where Clay Musial got second, and Brad Sorensen got third, were huge for us," said Central coach Mike Schmidt. "That really set us up and took the pressure off the 4-by-4."
Central also won the 3,200-meter relay with a team of Josh Teets, Harvey, Musial, and Neubauer.
Other state qualifiers for the Rockets were Jared Trupp in the pole vault (13 feet, 6 inches), Dionte Smith in the triple jump (44-7), Musial in the 1,600 (4:28), and Harvey in the 800 (1:58.51).
Kaneland was led by Ben Barnes, who won both the long jump (22-6½) and triple jump (44-11).
The Knights were strong in the field events, with Danny Walker winning the pole vault at 13- 9 and Zack Thielk taking second, and thus qualifying for state, in the shot put with a heave of 47- 9.
On the track, Austin Kintz won the 1,600 in 4:26.10, edging Musial. Kintz's teammate, Matt Richtman, will be joining him in Charleston next week after finishing fourth in the 1,600 but making the state qualifying time.
The Knights also qualified their 400, 800 and 3,200 relay teams. The 1,600 and 3,200 relays each produced an impressive 6 state qualifiers.
Ege's wasn't the only track record on the night, either. Sycamore's Dion Hooker eclipsed the quarter-century old mark in the 100 meters, winning in 10.43. He also won the 200.
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