Cornelius is in his element at Palatine Relays
When Palatine senior Kendrick Cornelius moved to the area two years ago, cold, and wintry conditions were only something he had read about in the paper or seen on television.
After a year in the area, Cornelius has become quite accustomed to the typical weather that accompanies meets like the Palatine Relays.
“Last year I would have been inside all covered up trying to stay warm,” Cornelius said. “This year I was prepared and ready for whatever weather came.”
And it showed, as Cornelius excelled in chilly conditions Saturday for the 80th running of the oldest track meet in the state, the Palatine Relays.
Cornelius earned wins in the 400-meter dash (51.0) and the 200 (22.5). Just 15 minutes after he ran in the 200, Cornelius anchored the Pirates’ 1,600 relay in 49.3 and a second-place finish in 3:28.5.
He earned the male athlete of the meet award, named for G.A. McElroy, for his incredible performance.
“I just worked hard in practice and coach (Chris) Quick has me doing all kinds of training to get ready for this,” Cornelius said. “I was hungry and I wanted to do whatever I could to help my team win.”
Yet even with the sensational performances from Cornelius, it wasn’t enough to overcome the tremendous team performance of Fremd. The Vikings won six events and totaled 126.5 points to earn their first Relays title since 2006.
“The thing I like about this meet is it’s a true team meet,” Fremd coach Jim Aikens said. “You have got to have a deep team with good performances everywhere to win a big meet like this — and this is a big meet for us.”
An area where Fremd has excelled so far this spring is in the sprint relays. The 400 and 800 relays have been points of dominance for the Vikings and they were again Saturday.
The team of Jake Lewis, AJ McGhee, Andy Fiszer and Christian Vail captured the 400 relay in an impressive 43.6. McGhee and Fiszer teamed with Ron Glassgow and Ken Bourgon to edge Bolingbrook and Grayslake North in the 800 relay (1:32.9).
Fremd earned relay wins in the pole vault, high hurdle shuttle, high jump and frosh/soph. 800 medley relays.
In their second-place finish to Fremd with 121 points, Palatine had several individual and relay wins. It was fitting on senior day that several seniors earned wins in the Pirates’ final home meet.
Marcus Garcia took control of the 3,200-meter run early and won easily in 9:42.6. One junior stole the show early when Andrew Clingerman battled Fremd’s Nick Vucovich to earn the 800 win in 1:58.6. Vucovich was just an eyelash behind in 1:58.7.
The hosts earned additional relay wins in the shot put relay and the distance medley relay. The distance medley was made up of Tim Meincke, Peter Tomkiewicz, Jordan Jarrett and Christian Zambrano.
Just behind the two Palatine rivals was fourth-place Huntley (72 points). The Red Raiders took the discus relay for the third consecutive year. The team of Justin Herbert, Devan Kennedy and David Cieck combined for the event win.
Senior James Davis repeated as champion in the 100-meter dash. His 11.0 win edged Aaron Similton of Bolingbrook at the line in a tight race.
“I just tried to keep my form and stay straight today,” Davis said. “I was going for 11 seconds or under, so it was a good day.”
One of the Red Raiders rivals, Jacobs, earned a pair of event wins and tied for sixth place with Grayslake North finish with 37 points.
Dom Blake started the meet with a solid performance in the rain during the 300 hurdles. His clocking of 39.0 was a season best.
The team of Nick Matysek, Pat Nerja, Ryan Ross and William Hennessy took the top spot in the 3,200-meter relay. The time of 8:09.0 is close to one of the fastest relay times the Eagles have put up this spring so far.
“I liked our chances for sure and everyone on our team ran great,” Hennessy said. “I can’t ask for a better 4 x 8 team to be on.”
The team the Eagles tied with – Grayslake North — had its best finish in the 400 and 800 relays. The 400 team of Brandon Uribe, Alex Rotter, Andrew Soulis and Jake Geary posted a season-best 44.2