Stellar effort nets Lake Zurich Lake County crown
On one of the few nights this spring that the stars in the sky were actually visible, Lake Zurich took its cue under the lights at Mel Eide Field.
Seniors Alex Brend and Jacob Brinlee were called upon one last time, along with Chris and Mike Rantis, to bring the Bears just their second Lake County Invitational title in five years. Those four Bears made up the 1,600-meter relay as the meet came down to this final race.
A win by Lake Zurich and a finish of no better than fourth by Deerfield would give the Bears the title.
As the race unfolded, Lake Zurich's biggest foe turned out to be Stevenson. Into the final lap, Brinlee held off a hard charge from Stevenson senior James Vestuto to win in 3:23.04 and give the Bears all the points they would need to capture the meet title.
The 93 points Lake Zurich scored gave the hosts their second Lake County Invite crown in five years and the second for coach Chad Beaver. Deerfield was second with 91.5 points, followed by Stevenson (86), Warren (73) and Barrington (48).
“Tonight was a well-rounded performance by all of our kids,” Beaver said. “We won this meet tonight because the kids went out and did what they needed to do to get the job done.”
The Purdue-bound Brend had another record setting performance with wins in the 800 run and the relay. But his best race came in the 1,600, where he raced toe-to-toe with Barrington junior Erik Peterson.
Into the final lap, Brend had a small lead but Peterson quickly countered and pulled even with Brend into the final 100 meters. At the line, Peterson edged Brend 4:18.84 to 4:18.90.
“I knew that (Alex) had just run the 800 so I tried to out-kick him at the end,” Peterson said. “It was a great race.”
Just a few events earlier, Brend's assault on the Lake Zurich record book continued as he ran away from the field to bust up the school record in the 800. His final time of 1:53.58 shattered the mark held by Joe Kraft since 1983 by over 2 seconds. The time is also the fastest in the state this spring.
“I was surprised how fresh I felt at the end,” Brend said. “I'm happy I got the record, but I know I can go faster.”
Brinlee contributed to two other Bears relays that ran off season-best performances on the best weather night of the season. Brinlee, Ben Papke, Connor Schrader and Mike Rantis ran 43.39 in finishing second to Stevenson (43.12).
Brinlee teamed with Jason Tiedmann, Schrader and Mike Rantis to run a season-best 1:29.61 in a second place finish again to Stevenson (1:29.40).
“I am happy with tonight,” Brinlee said. “But we still have a lot of work to do to get back to our goals.”
Stevenson's third-place finish was highlighted by four victories from Brandon Stryganek. The Illinois-bound senior captured the 100 meter in a great race over Grayslake Central senior Jahard Nelson (10.82 to 10.98). Then Stryganek blew the field away to win the 200 in a quick 21.85.
“I am happy with tonight, I think,” Stryganek said. “I'm happy with the relays because we finally put those together tonight.”
Stryganek, Jaffar Mascoll, John Fajardo and Carl Miller were on the winning 800 relay while Fajardo, Miller and Stryganek teamed with freshman Ki Hwan Kim for a season best effort.
Senior Kevin Wood also won the 3,200-meter run for Stevenson in 9:26.60.
The night started with an impressive performance by Barrington in the 3,200-relay. Peterson joined Eric Schneider, Karl Eiring and Ryan Skelly to run a meet record 7:51.48. The time was just shy of the Broncos school mark.
“I knew it was going to be tight,” Peterson said of chasing the school record. “You could see the other guys going so well that you couldn't help but get charged up.”
The field events also provided an early spark before the running events got running. In the shot put, six throwers passed the state qualifying mark; there were school-record efforts from John Pfeiffer of Lakes (56-2) and Kyle Lombardino of Grant (56-1).
Other winners included Isaac Jean-Paul of Warren in the long jump (22-1.5), Jeremy Birck of Libertyville in the high jump (6-7), Nick Lange of Round Lake in the triple jump (44-2.25) and Sean Wells of Grant in the 110 high hurdles (14.94). Adnan Meskic of Vernon Hills captured the 400 in 50.49 and Brandon Dorsey of Wauconda won the 300 hurdles in a personal best 39.44.