Boys track and field: Turner, Clevenger shine for Wheaton Warrenville South at Grange invite
Zachary Turner took his performance to the next level at the Red Grange Invitational, helping lead Wheaton Warrenville South to a third-place finish with 61 points at their home meet Friday evening.
Turner set a new PR with a 53.4-foot toss in the shot put, taking first place a week after placing third at the Gus Scott Invitational with a 49-foot toss. He also placed first in discus with a 160-foot throw.
The continued progression is what he felt was the most important takeaway from the day.
“That was the first time I PR’d in outdoor season. So this is nice,” said Turner, a sophomore, about his shot put.
He was happy to be throwing in comfort at his home meet.
“It was great. I feel like with more competition, I probably could have gone a little farther. I feel like everyone's just having a bad day, especially in discus too,” he added. “I think more competition could have gone way farther, but I'm just happy to double stick well and get first in both events.”
Joining Turner in the win column for Wheaton Warrenville South was Josh Clevenger in pole vault.
Clevenger cleared 4.51m for his own PR, while adding crucial points for the Tigers.
On the other side of town, Jack Sanders took first in the 3,200 with a time of 9:48:09 for Wheaton North. Preparation was key for Sanders.
“We had some good workouts earlier this week, which obviously wouldn't translate to this week yet,” said Sanders. “It prepares you well mentally. And for me, lots of miles helped.”
As a distance runner, he is happy to be running outside and working on his consistency.
“It's a lot of laps for a 2 mile indoor,” said Sanders. “So it's been good to get outdoors, consistently building, which is, you know, what I'm looking for.”
Sanders seems to be trending in the right direction to get on track for some of his initial goals for the season. He hopes to continue dropping time of his 3,200 with dreams of making it to state.
“I still have to drop about 23 seconds off of what I ran today, which is a fair bit,” said Sanders. “But, anything's possible. And if that's the Lord's will that I make it to state, then that'll happen, but I gotta keep putting in the work.”
Glenbard West took home first in the 4x100 as Chase Martin Scott, Owen Ashmore, Benjamin Schoettle, and Jordan Ademuyiwa combined for a time of 41.38.
“It was a school record for them,” said Hilltoppers coach David Voland. “We're confident in that group of four being our group for this season. Best handoffs we've seen them have. They've just had lots of practice with that group and that order, in different conditions. And it was really solid and they all ran really well.”
Finn Benson of Glenbard West placed fifth in the triple jump with a personal best distance of 42.6 feet. He is another athlete who is continuing to progress this spring.
“I'm looking better than last year,” Benson said. “I think last year my PR was around 41 feet, and like 37 indoors.”
Colin Ford finished with a sub-11 second time in the 100 for Waubonsie Valley. Ishmaiah Elliott jumped 1.8m in the high jump for the Warriors.
Meanwhile, Metea Valley was shorthanded with several seniors away on a class trip.
“We are kind of down today because our seniors have a senior event going on tonight where they're all going to go into Great America,” said Mustangs coach Aaron Lewis. “So this gives us an opportunity to run some of our younger guys, see what they do.”
Zoelen Terry placed second for the Mustangs in the long jump with a distance of 6.83m.
Homewood Flossmoor placed first overall in the team competition with 97 points. Evanston came in second with 89.