Boys track and field: Dundee-Crown’s Sobodu sets school record in 100 at Lake Zurich invite
Oreoluwa Sobodu ran a 10.44 in the 100 meters, good for 90th in the nation, as he took first place for Dundee-Crown and took center stage at the 2026 Bear Invite in Lake Zurich on Thursday.
“It means a lot because that's the school record,” said Sobodu, a senior for the Chargers. In addition to placing 90th nationally, his time was also good for sixth in Illinois.
According to Sobodu, it was all about keeping pace early on and picking up speed late.
“Usually my start is pretty poor — 60, 70 is where I really hit my gear,” he added. “I came out, I had Micah (Pickett) in front of me…that's good, that's what I can chase.”
Pickett, a Hoffman Estates sprinter, led early and took third in the race with a 10.53, finishing behind Sobodu and Nick Gast of Lake Zurich, who ran a 10.50.
“I got out pretty strong and then after about the first 40 meters, I was feeling really confident,” said Pickett. “And then Oreo and Nick came in — they caught me, but it was a good race overall. Came in with a new PR.”
Pickett was the Mid-Suburban League champion in the 100 for the Hawks last year and he has been happy with his spring so far. He is consistently running sub-11 seconds in the 100 and also ran the 200 on Thursday, finishing second with a 21.92.
Sobodu took first in the 200 with a 21.69, as Gast trailed them in third with a 22.07 in his home meet.
“It’s my favorite meet of the year,” said Gast. “It's always great competition. And the weather's perfect. Last year, [I set my] first school record, and I just beat it again today and it's been really fun.”
“It's just, it's always surreal,” he added. “Two years ago, I never would have even dreamed of being this good at track, and now each meet I get better and better, and it's so fun racing at the top competition.”
Bears coach Todd Anderson was happy with his team's overall performance, and grateful that his seniors were able to enjoy fantastic weather for their last home meet after his fourth season leading the team.
“I started off with 100 kids, went to 110, 115. I'm up to 130 kids right now in the program,” said Anderson. “That’s a testament to the kids and the great coaches that I have…kids wanna be here. So, it's fun for us.”
Some other standouts at the meet included Alex Czerwionka of Maine South, who took first place in the 3,200 with a 10:01.94.
“I hung right on the lead runner the whole time. With 800 to go, I tried to lead a bit, but he didn’t want me to take over the lead yet, so hung on him until the last lap,” said Czerwionka. “He probably had a good 10 meters on me and then I ended up closing really well and outkicked him in the last 50.”
Antioch took first place in the 4x100 relay, as Gavin Stone, Logan Lennon, Alan Sakalowski and Jacob Yeager combined for the win with a time of 42.97.
“We wanted to get a PR. We wanted to get a good time, to kind of see how we're seeded in sectionals,” said Lennon. “I think we all just felt really good today. We were stretched, we were hydrated, especially, and I think all those combinations, especially with our handoffs, allowed us to come on top today.”
Jordan Phelan of Lakes took home first place in shot put with a 63-10.5 throw, setting a new PR in the process.
“It feels a lot nicer to throw in the warm than the cold,” said Phelan, who also finished second in the discus with a 152-8. “You're just able to move faster and it's easier to warm up, stay warm while you're waiting and stuff.”
MarQuan Brewster, Drake Miller and Praise Akinyemi were standouts for Fremd.
Barrington coach Todd Kuklinski spotlighted sophomore Griffin Dahlin as a standout for the Broncos. Dahlin won both long jump and triple jump at the sophomore level.
Nathan Sauber and Andrew Raistrick were among the leaders for Huntley. They both podiumed in the mile. Sauber ran a 4:34.29 while Raistrick ran a 4:31.31.
Lake Zurich led the team scores with 78.5 points. Lakes was second with 74 and Maine South third with 72.