Palatine makes strides in Bolingbrook

Too much track?

Not if you’re a head coach whose father happens to have a boys track meet named after him.

On Friday, Palatine’s team competed at Hinsdale Central, and the Pirates junior varsity also had a meet. That did not, nor does it ever, dissuade Palatine coach John Nalley from bringing his boys the next morning to the western suburbs to compete in the Carlin Nalley Track and Field Invitational.

“For us it works out really well because we have a lot of numbers in our program, so it gives boys the chance to actually compete at an invitational level. And I will always enter the meet,” said John Nalley, whose father, Lisle High legend Carlin, serves as a referee.

For example, Saturday’s 44th annual rendition, held at Bolingbrook due to a conflict at usual site Benedictine University, provided an opportunitiy for the all-sophomore squad of Andrew Clingerman, Jordan Jarrett, Cam Kuksa and Rob Hank to run the day-ending 1,600-meter relay.

Their time of 3 minutes, 37.27 seconds, good for fourth place in the large-school portion of the two-tier meet, will not shock the track community, but it pleased John Nalley as a preview of the future.

The meet also helped rejuvenate the likes of Tim Meincke. Indoors at Palatine’s conference meet, Meincke ran the 1,600 in 4:22, but a right knee injury derailed that good start. Saturday, running the third outdoor “mile” this season, was the high-water mark of his comeback, his time of 4:30.06 taking first.

“This one was my best outdoor mile so far, this was actually a pretty good race for me,” said Meincke, whose teammate, sophomore Christian Zambrano, placed eighth at 4:43.82.

Meincke, who sat behind the leaders till the time was right, sought a 4:22. Still, this satisfied.

“I think today’s effort is a good start for more good things to come,” he said. “It’s a good race to get me back into it.”

In the other open long-distance event, the 3,200-meter run, Palatine’s duo of Marcus Garcia and Peter Tomkiewicz were in command, finishing 1-2 to help the Pirates to an overall fifth-place team finish behind meet winner Bolingbrook.

Friday at Hinsdale Central, Garcia recorded his personal-best time in the 800. Saturday at Bolingbrook, and perhaps motivated by Tomkiewicz’s lower seed time, Garcia recorded another PR of 9:38.50.

“I woke up kind of tired and my legs were a little burned out from yesterday,” he said. “But going into it I didn’t think about it or anything, about what I was doing, just went for it.

A big kick by Ryan McGough helped Palatine move to second in the 3,200 relay, and both Jeff Winters and Will Stein reached the finals of the 200 dash.

“For us,” John Nalley said, “it gives a lot of kids a lot of experience.”