Motivation pays for off for Kane County champ West Aurora
It was a disappointment that stuck in the craw of the West Aurora track and field team.
After finishing in third place two weeks ago at the Peterson Prep Invitational - 23 points behind host Kaneland and nine points behind Geneva - the Blackhawks aimed for redemption at the 92nd annual Kane County Boys Track and Field meet at West Aurora Friday.
Led by Leon Spears and Matt Souvannasing, West Aurora not only won its third straight Kane County team title but did so in convincing style by scoring 126.5 points. Second-place Kaneland netted 103 points, followed by Geneva (73), St. Charles North (68), Batavia (61.5), Dundee-Crown (28), Marmion (27), East Aurora (20) and St. Charles East (19).
"Everyone stepped up," West Aurora coach Cortney Lamb said. "We scored in every event except the 400. We got beat by Geneva and Kaneland, so we circled this one on our calendar. We really wanted to come out and compete well and get us set up for the rest of the season. I'm so proud of the kids. They did a really, really nice job."
Spears swept the 100-meter dash (11.03) and the 200 (22.78), while Souvannasing won the long jump (20 feet, 8 inches) and took second in the triple jump (43-3/4).
Spears and Souvannasing also joined teammates Zach Woods and Jarrick Phillips to win the 400-meter relay (43.26) and the 800-meter relay (1:31.07).
"We're more well rounded," Spears said after his team scored 25 more points than it accrued at the 2009 Kane County Meet. "We hunger for first place in every meet. I think that's the difference between last year and this year."
The Blackhawks also benefitted from first-place finishes from Aviance King and Steve Loran. King won the high jump with a leap of 6 feet, 7 inches. The 2010 state qualifying standard for Class 3A is 6-5.
Loran won the 3,200-meter run in 9:45.74, nearly 12 seconds ahead of second-place Declan Duggan of St. Charles North.
Kaneland's Logan Markuson, the defending Class 2A state champion in the 300-meter hurdles, enjoyed a productive meet despite being edged in the 110-meter hurdles by .12 seconds by Robert Mohr of Batavia (14.80) and teammate Taylor Andrews (14.90).
Markuson won the pole vault with a state-qualifying height of 13-9, and the senior came back to edge Mohr in the 300 hurdles. Mohr held the lead until the penultimate hurdle, which he clipped. His slight stagger allowed Markuson to pass Mohr in the final 30 meters and win in a time of 39.89.
"The only thing going through my mind was that (Mohr) just won the 110s and we had to get back at him," Markuson said. "With all that motivation it was like state again. It was one of those who-has-the-most-at-the-end kind of things. I really lucked out. If he would have had a clean hurdle, I'm sure he would have won it."
Kaneland's Derek Bus won the 400-meter dash (51.12) and ran a leg for the Knights' victorious 3,200-meter relay (8:04.58) and 1,600-meter relay (3:27.31).
Geneva's big points gainer was thrower Frank Boenzi. The senior won the discus with a personal-best distance of 168-5 and took first in the shot put with a heave of 56-7. Both throws were of state qualifying caliber.
St. Charles North's Oshay Hodges won the county title in the triple jump (43-71/4) while teammate Christian Ilunga finished second to Spears in both the 100 and 200.