Boys track and field: Naperville Central takes top spot after tight finish at DVC meet

Thursday’s DuPage Valley Conference meet at Naperville Central could have gone in any direction.

With three events left, four of the six teams were separated by 4.5 points, so it was hard to tell who would emerge at the top.

Naperville Central ultimately won with a 148.5 after battling from behind most of the night and took a victory lap with the conference championship trophy.

“If you can win the DVC, you're an elite team,” said Naperville Central coach Steven Stack. “Because the elite teams are in the DVC. So it gives us a ton of confidence going forward.”

The Redhawks got their first win when Derek Williamson took the 3,200 meters in 9 minutes, 34.05 seconds. Lukas Probst won the 800 in 1:57.53, and the 4x200 relay team took its race with a time of 1:27.87.

Ben Blank was the most instrumental with wins in the shot put by throwing 17.24 meters and the discus with a 51.81, the latter of which gave the Redhawks the outright lead for good.

“It feels really good to know that me doing what I love doing is helping out other people, is helping out the team that I love,” Blank said. “So that's great.”

Despite no individual wins, Kyle Clark was named athlete of the meet after finishing second in the 400 (48.21) and third in the 200 (22.37).

Waubonsie Valley took the top three spots in the high jump, led by winner Ishmaiah Elliott with a 1.88. The Warriors got another victory from Jackson Klaft in the 200 in 22.12 and also won the 4x400 relay — the final event — in 3:24.08, just barely missing out on the win at 143.

“All-around, we've had individual runners in the past that have been really good,” said Klaft. “But overall, as a team, this is the best we've been in my four years here easily.”

Naperville North (third, 132) finished first in the 4x100 relay in 41.75 and got a victory from Shawn Kyereh in the triple jump with a 12.98.

Neuqua Valley (fourth, 126.5) dominated the first half of the meet, starting with a win in the 4x800 relay in 8:03.99. Daniel Robinson went a distance of 7.28 to win the long jump, then claimed the 100 in 10.67. Sandwiched between that was Rogan Nelson taking the pole vault with a 4.34.

The Wildcats found another victory late from Jesse Gudauskas in the 1,600 in 4:21.18.

Akinyemi Igbalajobi of Metea Valley (fifth, 75) won the 110 hurdles with a 14.61, two hundredths of a second over Mason Hill of Naperville North. He completed a hurdles sweep with a 38.84 in the 300. Joining him as a winner was Henry Faber in the 400, who completed the event in 47.97.

DeKalb (sixth, 41) had two third-place finishes. One came from Ricai Nellums in the triple jump with a 12.65. The other was compliments of its 4x100 relay team in 42.13.