Perfect afternoon for Powers, Conant
Saturday could not have been a more complete day for Conant boys track and field coach John Powers.
Powers got to watch his son Cameron, a runner for Larkin, compete at the 30th annual Conant Relays on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s few and far between for the opportunities I get to see him run,” Powers said. “It was fun because I know some of the guys (at Larkin), so I try and cheer for them whenever I can.”
Powers had plenty to cheer about from his own team on Saturday as well.
The host Cougars ended a two-year drought by taking the team title in the meet with 156 points.
Lakes, which had won the title each of the last two seasons, ran second with 131 points while Grayslake Central, minus standout seniors Will Brewster and Luke Zygmunt, ran a strong third.
“I was proud of our whole team today,” Powers said. “After not having won this thing in a couple years, losing to Lakes, the guys wanted to win this one so I was glad they went out and got it.”
Zygmunt and Brewster competed in the Arcadia National Invitational in Arcadia, Calif., on Saturday night. The Butler-bound Zygmunt ran second in the mile in a school record time and state-best 4:13.7, while Brewster was fifth in his mile heat after running a personal best 4:14.7.
The day at Conant was full of record-setting performances on the track. The highlight came in the distance medley relay, where the Cougars team of Joe Sulentic, James Weaver, Noah Wojdak and Tyler Schneider broke the 2009 mark with a clocking of 10:41.5.
“Joe was hurt and Noah ran for the first time, so it was great to have those guys come out and contribute like they did,” said the Missouri-bound Schneider who anchored in 4:16.5. “We wanted to come and get the record today so I was glad we were able to accomplish that.”
Conant also broke the meet record in the sophomore 1,600-meter relay, winning in 3:35., and earned event wins in the high jump relay, the frosh/soph. sprint medley relay, the frosh/soph. 3,200 relay, the frosh/soph 800 relay and the freshman 1,600 relay.
The two-time defending champions produced four event wins, including a special performance to end the meet as the 1,600-meter varsity relay of Ayman Reffat, Jake Degrave, Ryan Prais and Trevor Ray ran 3:28.2. Ray brought the Eagles back from third place to win the event.
Lakes also captured the shot put relay. Led by senior Darius Tuminello and junior Ty Summers, the Eagles’ combined put of 178-11.5 was 5 feet better than runner-up Grayslake Central. Summers had the best individual effort of the day at 49-5.
Other event wins for Lakes came in the frosh/soph 400 relay (47.3) and the long jump relay, where junior Shaun Beutlich helped lead the Eagles to a combined leap of 74-3.5.
The sprinters at Elgin are healthy and the Maroons showed their potential with a pair of relay sprint wins. Having a healthy Dennis Moore in the lineup helped the Maroons win the 800 relay in 1:31.2. That team included Devante King, Terrell Campbell and Malik Dunner.
Virtually the same group came back to end the meet capturing the 400 relay. Moore, King, Campbell and Derek Moorman ran 43.6 to edge Grayslake Central for the win.
“Having Moore back helped and the speed added from Campbell helped a lot,” said Elgin coach Kevin Cleveland. “We just wanted to get a good time in because we haven’t had a chance to really run outside yet and we have a big meet coming up next week.”
Other event winners included Grayslake Central taking the discus relay with a combined effort of 460-7 and Larkin taking the varsity sprint medley. Cyrus French anchored in a blazing 49.8 and he was joined by Jalen Griffin, Jonathan Garcia and Keiren McKenzie.