A final look at the state boys track meet
Last weekend's boys state track and field meet was the end of the road for some, a steppingstone for others.
Some, like St. Charles North distance runner Kyle Zankowski, plans to run on the club circuit at Iowa State. Others, like St. Charles East's Jake Zahn, isn't so sure if the Saints' 3,200-meter relay in the 3A preliminaries would be the end of the line for him at Minnesota.
"It could be the end of track. It's likely, I'm fifty-fifty," Zahn said.
"It's been great. I've had four years of track, two of cross country. It's been fun, all the experiences we've had, but everything has to come to an end."
Zahn, who graduated off St. Charles East's relay along with seniors Jared Eads (Illinois State) and Tim Johnson (Duke), may be lured back.
"We'll see through next winter, when it all starts up again," he said.
May 29 appeared to be the end of the line in track for West Aurora's Leon Spears. A dynamite football player with his blazing speed, he'll play running back and return kicks starting in the fall at Quincy.
He called his downstate experience "pretty satisfying." That's an understatement. In 2009 Spears ran on the Blackhawks' third-place 400 relay as well as a fourth-place 800 relay.
This year he, Jarick Phillips, Matt Souvannasing and Zach Woods added a seventh-place finish in the 800 relay and Spears was also all-state in the 200 dash.
"I didn't think I could do it," Spears said of his 200 finals qualification. "To come in, in the open 200 in my first year doing it behind (2009 champion) Josh Zinzer, I had my time to blossom."
Geneva's Kevin Sparks, who ran in Section Two of the 3,200 during Saturday's finals - otherwise known as the "fast heat" - will continue running cross country and track at North Central College. The Cardinals in 2009-10 became only the second Division III men's program after Wisconsin-Lacrosse to win cross country, indoor track and outdoor track national championships in the same school year.
Sparks' collegiate goals are greater than simply recording times of 14:30 over 5 kilometers, or 31 minutes in the 10K.
"I think just being in the college environment gives you experience for the real world," said Sparks, who finished 15th overall in the 3A 3,200. "And coach (Al) Carius prepares you for that a lot. He teaches you how to be a good athlete, how to be a good student, how to be a good person."
Every little bit helps: Marmion junior three-sport athlete Eddie Grahovec admitted he thrives when nervous. In the Class 2A 300 hurdles his ability to excel under pressure nearly captured a spot in the finals. His personal-best time of 39.95 seconds was one of just two sub-40 times not to reach finals.
"For me," he said, "being nervous helps build up my Adrenalin. It gets my blood pumping so it's not always bad, I think, to be freaking out a little before the race."
Don't go changing: Frank Boenzi - big man, big laugh, big smile.
About last year: St. Charles North's Christian Ilunga, a transfer student from Germany, capped his three-sport senior year in the States at Charleston, competing in the Class 3A 100 and 200 dash prelims.
At that point last year he certainly wasn't running track in Hamburg, Germany.
"I was doing nothing, probably hanging out with friends," said the 6-foot-4 Ilunga, who also played football and basketball for the North Stars.
"I played a little bit of basketball, but not even once a week."
Transfers run well: Aurora Christian was unable to score in the Class 1A boys state track team, but a couple of its recent athletes did.
Junior twins John and Sheldon Magee, who transferred to Plainfield South this academic year, helped their new team score big relay points in Class 3A.
John Magee ran the lead leg in Plainfield South's 400-meter relay, which placed fifth. Coming back for more, John ran leadoff and Sheldon ran the anchor leg of Plainfield South's second-place 1,600 relay which ran a sizzling time of 3 minutes, 17.60 seconds.
John Magee also ran on an 800 relay that didn't make it out of preliminaries. Sheldon Magee ran in the open 400-meter preliminaries but did not advance.
The final word: Kaneland had plenty of athletes figure into its Class 2A runner-up finish - Edgar Valle, Derek Bus, Taylor Andrews, high jump champion Chris Sinon, the 3,200 relay of Dominic Furco, Sean Paulick, Joe Levita and Trevor Holm. All were all-state finishers who led Kaneland's dramatic improvement from its 13th-place overall finish of 2009.
None had bigger expectations upon him than senior Logan Markuson, coming off his record-setting 2009 state championship in the 300-meter hurdles.
He sincerely would have liked better than to finish seventh in both pole vault and the 110 hurdles, fourth in the 300s. His resolve was obvious running the anchor leg of Kaneland's victorious 1,600 relay. He would not be denied down the stretch, and the foursome of Tommy Whittaker, Valle, Bus and Markuson earned the points needed to tie Cahokia for second place.
Markuson addressed the pressure Kaneland felt entering the week.
"I know of few of us had kind of a rough week with the pressure," he said. "The most difficult part is just getting here. If you think of it as just a normal meet it takes the pressure off you."