Barrington’s Scarbrough has reason to smile
CHARLESTON — There rarely is a time when Barrington senior AJ Scarbrough isn’t smiling and after the triple jump preliminaries at the Class 3A boys state track and field championships at O’Brien Field and Eastern Illinois University, Scarbrough had plenty to smile about Friday.
His first jump was almost as good as his last but his best of 47-4¾ set a school record and has Scarbrough in the top spot for today’s finals.
“I didn’t want to have to chase anyone, I wanted everyone to come chase me,” he said, naturally with a big smile. “Tomorrow I have something big and I know I can jump farther.”
One of the signature events for the Mid-Suburban League at the state meet has been the 3,200-meter relay and that event didn’t disappoint this time around.
Prospect, which is a regular in the state finals in this event, earned its spot in the finals for the eighth time in the last nine years and will go for a medal for the sixth year in a row. The team of Mike Thill, Dan Troutman, Ted Ford and Josh Campos finished third in their heat in 7:51.12.
Palatine finished just ahead of the Knights and did so in record-setting fashion. Kendrick Cornelius, Tim Johnson, Christian Zambrano, and Andrew Clingerman set a school mark in 7:50.80 and qualified for the finals for the second year in a row.
“I was never more nervous than I was waiting to get my chance,” Clingerman said. “Once I got the baton I calmed down some, but it was still a nervous race.”
Much like the Prospect 3,200 relay, Conant senior Ben Bowers is no stranger to racing at the state meet and his experience in Charleston paid big dividends on Friday.
Bowers started the afternoon session by clearing 6-5 in the high jump and earning another trip to the finals in that event. He took to the track shortly after that and won his heat in the 110 high hurdles in 14.42.
Though he narrowly missed the finals in the 300 hurdles, it was still a good day for the Penn-bound Bowers.
“I knew a lot about what to expect since I have come down here before,” Bowers said. “I am pleased with today and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Hersey senior Mark Balmes knows just what to expect at state as well and he performed nearly flawlessly in the shot put on Friday. Balmes tossed the shot 58-0½ and sits in second place to Josh Freeman of Cary Grove (63-9¼).
The discus was a little scarier for Balmes. Into his last throw he was on the outside looking in but that didn’t last long. His final throw of 156-6 earned the Carthage-bound Balmes the final spot in the discus finals.
For Fremd senior Nick Bednarek, the sky won’t be his limit this weekend in the pole vault. The Illinois State-bound Bednarek has big goals for this event and he did his part to move closer to the biggest of the goals by making the finals with a clearance of 14-9 in the prelims. Kody Cagwin of Rolling Meadows also cleared 14-9 and earned a spot in the finals.