Larkin’s Norwood county triple jump champ
An interesting game of “top this” developed at the end of the triple jump competition at the 93rd Annual Kane County Boys Track and Field Meet at Millennium Field in Streamwood Friday.
Burlington Central standout Tre Llanes, the third-to-last jumper, took the lead with his leap of 43 feet, 11¾ inches, topping the previous best jump by nearly eight inches.
St. Charles North junior Oshay Hodges then stepped up and passed Llanes with a jump of 44-11½ to take the lead with only one jumper remaining. But that jumper was Larkin senior Lamonte Norwood, who got fired up by watching Hodges celebrate.
“He came back laughing and everything. That made me a little bit upset,” Norwood said. “So I took it and used it to my ability and I jumped a 45. It pumped me up.”
Norwood’s jump was a personal best and four inches better than the state qualifying standard in Class 3A. It was also the first title by a Larkin athlete or relay team at the Kane County Meet since Stephen Bee won the 200-meter dash in 2006.
The team title was won by West Aurora for the fourth consecutive year and for the 18th time since 1982. The Blackhawks finished with 110 points, safely ahead of second place Batavia (82.5). St. Charles North was third with 62 points, followed by Kaneland (57), St. Charles East (49), Burlington Central (57), Geneva (42), Dundee-Crown (31), Marmion (26), Streamwood (20), Aurora Central Catholic (17), Larkin (15) and East Aurora (1).
It was no surprise that a Dundee-Crown runner won the two-mile run. The surprise was his identity. Wisconsin-bound distance runner Anthony Manfrin sat out the meet for precautionary reasons due to soreness he called “a hip flexor.” Instead, senior teammate Andrew Knapik took the Kane County title in 9:27.40.
“I’m used to chasing (Manfrin) down, but I’m ready to go whenever,” Knapik said. “I’m not going to falter when he’s not running no matter what. I planned to sit back for the first mile and make my way up.”
Streamwood sophomore Blake Holder’s breakthrough evening ended prematurely when he pulled up with a sore hamstring in the turn of the 200. In addition to being part of the winning 400-meter relay team alongside Terrell Campbell, Steven Sandoval and Sean Patterson (43.36), Holder also took the title in the 100-meter dash. His time of 10.90 edged Batavia’s Emund Kabba (11.05), who had beaten Holder in the 55-meter dash at the Upstate Eight Conference indoor meet.
“He beat me by two one-hundreths of a second,” Holder said of Kabba. “I had the best time going into the prelims, so I had the mindset I wasn’t going to lose again. I don’t like losing.”
Holder and the Sabres were also in contention for the 800-meter relay title, but a fall during a handoff ended that hope.
Burlington Central, which won the Kane County Meet in 2007 but scored only 7 team points at last year’s meet, bounced back behind three second place finishes to take sixth place.
“Much better,” Central coach Mike Schmidt said. “I’m proud of our team. We earned back some respect and it’ll hopefully transition into the money meets at sectional and state.”
In addition to his third-place finish in the triple jump, Llanes was fourth in the long jump (21-5¾) and took second in the 110-meter hurdles (14.88). Central’s Clint Kliem placed second in the mile (4.:29.15), Mike Gulik was second in the 800 (2:00.49) and both took part in the Rockets’ second-place 3,200 relay (8:06.72).
Central’s Michael Kellenberger was on pace to break his personal best in the 300 intermediate hurdles, but he caught the last hurdle, tumbled to the track and did not finish.