Burlington Central wins Huntley Invite

Huntley junior Ryan Sheehan has been experimenting with different poles trying to find the best fit.

He might have found it.

Sheehan won the pole vault Thursday at the Huntley Invitational and tied the school record by clearing 13 feet, 6 inches.

“I’ve been working on different poles and finally got on a longer pole,” said Sheehan, who said his personal best before Thursday was 12-3. “I was bending my other ones too much.”

Sheehan attempted 13-9, which is the state qualifying mark, but was unable to clear that height in three attempts, the third using a slightly longer pole.

“I need to work on getting a little more control,” Sheehan said of reaching his goal of placing at state.

Burlington Central won the team title in its first outdoor meet of the season. The Rockets scored 134 points. Rockford Boylan was second with 108, followed by Huntley (98), Marmion (78), South Elgin (68), Larkin (54), IMSA (10) and Hampshire (7).

The Rockets won four individual events and two relays. Tre Llanes won the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.0 seconds and was third in the 300 hurdles. Mike Kellenberger won the 300 hurdles in 41.74 seconds and was third in the 110 high hurdles. Clint Kliem (400 dash) and Evan Billek (200 dash) also finished first. Central won the 3,200 relay (8:40.9) and the 1,600 relay (3:34.3).

“We had a lot of nice performances,” Central coach Mike Schmidt said. “A good overall night. Nothing spectacular. You’re not going to have that on a night like tonight.”

Larkin’s Lamont Norwood hoped that getting outside would allow him to break the school record in the triple jump, but the chilly conditions were not favorable. The senior did tie a personal best, 44-8, to win the event by more than 4 inches. The school record is 45-2, “as of right now,” says Norwood.

“(The cold) kind of bothers me,” said Norwood, who also hit the 44-8 mark at the Fenton Invitational, an indoor meet. “My muscles are tighter and it makes my stretch less of a stretch.”

Jalen Griffen also won the 100 in 11.26 seconds for the Royals.

Huntley’s CJ Ayemoba won the long jump (18-10) and was second in the triple jump (40-1). Trevor Obecny finished first in the 800 in 2:03.6 for the Red Raiders.

South Elgin won the 400 relay in 43.8 seconds, .2 seconds better than Central. The Storm also won the 800 relay in 1:31.6. Sean Duncan was second in the 400 (54.24) and Juan Alcantara set the school record in the pole vault, finishing second, with a height of 12-0.