Lake Zurich takes aim with new talent
Good teams in track and field don’t rebuild from one year to the next. Instead, they typically reload — and that is just what defending North Suburban Conference champion Lake Zurich is doing.
The newly found depth, plus two talented seniors at the top of the lineup, helped the Bears to their first team title at Stevenson in four years. Lake Zurich amassed 117 points to hold off the host Patriots. Warren ran third just ahead of Grant in fourth and Barrington round out the top five.
“This is the most balanced and maybe one of the deepest teams we have had since I have been here,” Lake Zurich coach Chad Beaver said. “I thought our mental toughness tonight was phenomenal. We knew it was going to be cold and the weather would be a factor, but the kids gutted it out and really worked tonight.”
Two Bears that have worked plenty over the last two seasons are seniors Jacob Brinlee and Alex Brend. Both contributed to key wins for Lake Zurich.
The Purdue-bound Brend anchored the 3,200 relay team that included Chris Rantis, Isaac Honegger and Pat Juras to a season-best time of 8:07.6. Brend anchored the relay with a blistering 1:53.5 split.
“(Alex) really is going for it this year and you can see it,” Beaver said of Brend. “He really wants our school record and has some big goals.”
Brend teamed with Brinlee, Rantis and Mike Rantis to run a season-best 3:26.2 to win the final event on the track, the 1,600 relay. Brinlee closed with a quick 49.7 split coming from more than 70 meters behind to nip Cary-Grove (3:26.5) at the finish line.
Lake Zurich senior Ryan Moncrieff captured the 1,600-meter run as the only other event winner for the Bears. His time of 4:27.3 was a season-best and held off a talented field that included Erik Peterson of Barrington and Kevin Wood of Stevenson.
“I like running in weather like this,” Moncrieff said. “I trained hard all winter with my teammates in this kind of cold weather so I was prepared for this tonight.”
The bitterly cold temperatures may have only looked like they bothered Grant junior Sean Wells, but on the track, Wells was as hot as a summer day.
Wells contributed to three event wins for the Bulldogs, including a school record. He teamed with Matt Spears, Dillon Waters and Leo Minne ran 43.9 in capturing the 400 relay and breaking the school record.
The Bulldogs are also proficient in the throwing events, and they showed their strength in taking both the shot put and discus events. Kyle Lombardino led the way in the shot put with Chris Orc and Justin Campbell. Lombardino teamed with his brother Brandon and Orc to win the discus event.
Back on the track, Wells is quickly establishing himself as one of the best hurdlers in the area. He teamed with JT Tosti, Kyle Whitman and Steven Niewiedzial to win the high hurdle and low hurdle shuttle relays.
Despite finishing back in the pack, Cary-Grove and senior Anthony Golowach were dominant in a pair of relay wins. The Trojans captured the 800 relay in 1:31.0 and the sprint medley relay in 1:35.6. Golowach was joined by Ryan Borys, Mike Gleesen and Tommy Rohn in both relay wins.
Warren earned victories in the frosh/soph 400 relay and the long jump relay.
Stevenson took the high jump relay. Barrington captured the 3,200 relay on the frosh/soph level and was just edged by Lake Zurich on the varsity level.
Round Lake won the triple jump and was led by a best jump of 42-8 from Nick Lange.