Boys track and field: Barrington earns coveted May trophy at Hoffman Estates sectional
For the 16 schools convening at Hoffman Estates for Thursday's Class 3A boys track and field sectional meet, it marked their opportunity to qualify for next weekend's state finals at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
It also meant the opportunity to earn a team title if your team did well enough in regards to points through strong placement during the 18-event competition.
Which is exactly what Barrington did as it earned a second straight sectional team title with its 128 points putting considerable distance from runner-up Lake Zurich (85.5 points) and bronze finisher Fremd (82 points).
Dundee-Crown (70 points) and Schaumburg (61 points) rounded out the top five.
"We have a saying that's called TTIM — Team Trophies In May," Barrington coach Todd Kuklinski said.
"Everything we do from the beginning of the season in February to where we go from indoor season to outdoor season is about peaking at the right time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The kids did a great job. I'm so proud to be a part of this program."
In winning the program's sixth rectangular-sized plaque since 2003, the Broncos took three events — the 4x200 relay (1:28.69), a win from junior Owen Fors in the shot put (54-10), and Fors' junior teammate Adam Lyon (49.04) in the 400.
It also earned a trio of runner-up finishes and four third-place performances that allowed the Broncos to achieve such a high team score.
Fors spoke in regards to his coach successfully planting a positive mind frame in their approach to competition.
"Coach K says (to) be the predator, not the prey and that's one thing we take to heart (and) just try to do our best and win every meet as a team," Fors said. "Our team is close together."
Junior Cameron Libby's win in the 800 (1:56.71) paced Lake Zurich's runner-up finish while senior Rory Gaan's triumphs in both the 1,600 (4:17.35) and 3,200 (9:13.05) paved the way for Fremd's third-place showing.
Gaan, a Dartmouth recruit, enjoyed the meet's temperature in the 50s and partly cloudy while running his events.
"Today was a perfect day distance running (which) I'm grateful for," Gaan said.
"This is (such) a great sectional out here. I'm just happy to come out with two wins (and) make it to state. It feels good."
Speed was also king on the Garber Stadium track as a pair of juniors each snared a pair of victories in the four fastest events of the meet. Dundee-Crown's Oreoluwa Sobodu won both the 100 (10.67) and 200 (21.79) while Schaumburg's Ray Black took the 110 (14.40) and 300 (38.90) hurdles.
Sobodu felt that his prerace preparation was central to his successful evening.
"Our coaches taught us to be prepared to run in any kind of weather. Our job is to come out here and compete. That's all that matters."
Black added another accomplishment to what had been a successful junior year that included quarterbacking the Saxons football team to the program's first playoff berth since 2017 and as a starting guard in a 22-win basketball unit as he prepares to head to Charleston next weekend.
"It's been a pretty good, solid year for me, but I've got to keep going at state and hopefully place. It's been fun," Black said.