Hoffman's Hamilton hits his stride at Streamwood sectional
Hoffman Estates senior Marlan Hamilton has waited for his chance to run at O'Brien Stadium in Charleston for years.
He will only have to wait a few more days to do so.
Hamilton won the 800-meter run Friday at the Class 3A Streamwood sectional to earn his trip to the state meet.
"It feels good. I wanted it. I went after it," Hamilton said. "I'm finally going."
Hamilton finished in 1:56.51 seconds to edge Geneva's Peter Archibald by .32 seconds. The top-two finishers in each event and any athlete beating the state qualifying team advanced to the state meet, which begins next Friday.
"I've been running 1:58 consistently all year," Hamilton said. "At conference, I broke 1:57. This was a breakout race right here."
Hamilton also helped the Hawks' 4x400 relay team advance by finishing second in 3:24.98.
Hoffman Estates finished sixth as a team with 48.5 points. Geneva (102) won the team title, followed by Batavia (71.33) and Schaumburg (68.33). Conant (30.5) was eighth. Rolling Meadows finished 10th (24.33).
The Hawks' Steve Grajek won the triple jump with a distance of 43-2.5. Also moving on individually for the Hawks was senior Kyle Gonzales in the 3,200 run. He finished in 9:26.95 to beat the qualifying time of 9:33.24.
The Saxons edged the Hawks in the meet's final event, the 4x400 relay. Schaumburg won the event in 3:24.78, beating the Hawks by .20.
Schaumburg's Pat Lesiewicz will make his third trip to state after winning the 1,600 in 4:19.63. The senior competed at the state meet in the 3,200 the last two seasons, but did not run the event this year.
Also making a third trip to state for the Saxons is Dionte Hackler in the 400. Hackler, who has struggled with a hamstring injury and isn't 100 percent, finished second in 49.57, .48 behind Elgin's Adam Kuforiji. The senior did not qualify for the finals in either of his previous trips to state.
"(I want to) run the my best time of the season (49.4)," Hackler said of his goal at state. "If I do that, I have to walk away smiling."
TJ Akinola (second in high jump, 21-4), Connor Prizy (third in 3,200, 4:22.26) and Richard Barnes (fourth in discus, 156-11) also advance for Schaumburg.
Conant sophomore Ben Bowers moved on in both the 110 high hurdles (14.71) and the 300 hurdles (39.63). He finished third in both events.
"I could have done a lot better in the high jump, but I'm glad I'm able to go down in the 300s and 110s," Bowers said.
Conant's 4x800 team also advanced by winning the event in 7:57.64.
Rolling Meadows senior Jared Diaz won the discus with a throw of 167-5 to move on. Also advaning for the Mustangs were Photis Karkalis (4th in 3,200, 9:33.08) and Angelos Karkalis (2nd in 1,600, 4:20.07).