Lake Park wins on track, in field
It's no secret. If Lake Park's track events lend any support to a state-caliber field crew, the Lancers can do serious damage.
That was the case Saturday at Wheaton North's 25th annual Best Four Invitational. A crisp meet that tested the depth of the five teams involved, Lake Park got it done in track and field.
"I think track's coming together pretty well. I think we should have a shot at doing pretty well at state," said Lancers senior Luke Nally, 3,200-meter winner ahead of Naperville Central's Mitch Gilbert.
Scoring in Wheaton and scoring in Charleston are two different animals, but Lake Park's surprise 400- and 800-meter relay wins along with its usual field dominance earned the four-level title with 195 points, nipping Wheaton North (194) and Wheaton Warrenville South (193). Naperville Central scored 113 points, Willowbrook 89.
Two-time WW South state long jump qualifier Kevin Piraino's 45-foot, 6-inch effort interrupted Lake Park's march to field titles. Zach Ziemek won both pole vault and long jump, Jeremy Kline took Level 1 discus and twin brother Jermaine Kline won shot put with a personal-best 62-3. Jermaine actually led all discus throwers out of Level 2 with another PR of 184-10.
"My first two throws, I think it was like 140 feet and 130," Jermaine Kline said. "I'm like, 'Oh, this is pretty bad right now.' So (Lancers throws coach Bob Nihells) was like, 'Stay relaxed.' So I felt like I had noodle arms."
A meeting of 2009 3A high jump qualifiers, Spejcher outdueled WW South's Dan Hohenstein. May 2009 had been Hohenstein's last competition, as he blew out his left knee in the first quarter of the Tigers' second-round football playoff game against Geneva. He was cleared to compete on Tuesday and first practiced on Friday. Saturday Hohenstein cleared 6-4 to Spejcher's 6-6.
"I'm pretty happy, pretty excited I can do this my first meet back," said the football tight end. "It's good to be back competing in something, and especially at this high level."
WW South opened the running events with a 3,200 relay win by Nick Casa, Matt Mazzoni, Matt McAndrews and Colin Zimmerman.
Wheaton North's C.J. Jossell won the 110 hurdles, and the Falcons won every straight race from 100 to 1,600 meters - Ivan Tamba in the 100 and 200, sharp newcomer Anthony Rocco in the 400, Jake Waterman in the 800 and twin brother James Waterman in the 1,600.
Willowbrook's Anthony Jordan attacked the 300 hurdles to win in 39.4 seconds. Later, anchoring the Warriors' 1,600 relay, Jordan sprinted from third to first place to the delight of partners Kevin Aguilera, Jibril Jones and Jeff Urbanowicz.
"I give all the credit to them," Jordan said. "They came up to me one day in school, like third period - 'Somehow, we've got to get this down today.' We practiced hard this week, we love our coaches. They helped us make it through there."