Marmion races to 4th straight SCC title

The senior-dominated Marmion track and field team made it a clean career sweep Thursday night at home in Aurora.

The Cadets captured 11 of the 18 events at the Suburban Catholic Conference championship to win going away with 171 points for their fourth consecutive league title.

St. Francis was well back in second with 103.5 points, followed by Marian Central (84), Aurora Central Catholic (74.5) and Driscoll (50).

St. Edward and Montini finished in a sixth-place tie, and Immaculate Conception rounded out the field.

Oscar Aguinaga was a near-unanimous choice for athlete of the year in the conference after breaking the league record in 1,600-meter run after earlier claiming the 800.

"I wanted a (potential school record at 800 meters) under my belt before the sectional," said Aguinaga. "I think if the atmosphere was a little bit different - if it were state or the sectional - I could have set (a new personal record in the 1,600)."

Aguinaga ran respective times of one minute, 55.96 seconds in the 800 meters, and his 4:27.17 clocking broke the two-year-old conference record at 1,600 meters.

Andrew Larsen, the Cadets' senior transfer from Montini, was a solitary figure in winning the 3,200 run in 9:23.92.

St. Francis' Sean Montegue was nearly 40 seconds behind the University of Minnesota recruit.

One year after claiming MVP honors, senior Alex Rindone dominated the sprints for Marmion.

The Geneva resident turned back all comers in the 100 and 200 meters for the second straight year, and Rindone anchored the Cadets' 400-meter relay to another gold.

"I really wanted to get all 40 (points) today," said Rindone, whose chances evaporated when Marmion was disqualified in the 800 relay. "We still did well."

Joe Weber was in a league of his own in the two throwing events; the senior breezed in the shot put, and demolished his counterparts in the discus with a winning effort 27 feet farther than the runner-up.

Mike Shay and Sam Duffield added titles in the field with respective victories in the long jump and high jump for Marmion.

Duffield was second in the 300 intermediate hurdles, which augmented an earlier triumph by teammate Jared Meyer in the 100 highs for Marmion.

When Mike Duhig cruised home in the 1,600 relay, the Cadets' dominance was etched in the conference ledger for good.

"It's an honor to be the fourth runner (in the final event)," said Duhig, who hails from St. Charles. "We knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk (for the team title). We have probably one of the best teams in Marmion history."

Aurora Central had lone wins on the track and in the field; John Jochum brought home victory in the 3,200 relay as the final leg, and senior Phil Karafiat edged St. Francis' Kyle Gannon in the pole vault.

"(The team finish) is pretty much where I thought we would be," Aurora Central coach Troy Kerber said.

Despite scoring 32 points, St. Francis sprint standout Mark Kachmer was not overly happy with his day.

"Not very pleased," the senior said after anchoring the Spartans' 800-meter relay to victory. "I though we should have had the 4-by-1 (edged by Marmion at the wire). We have been working on a lot of speed work in practice. I definitely hope to be down (at the Class 2A state meet) in four events."

Kachmer was third in the 100 meters and second in the open 200.

In its final conference meet, Driscoll was paced by sprinter Pierre Washington-Steel and Joey Calabrese.

The latter broke the Highlanders' school record with a 41-foot-10.5-inch effort in the triple jump.

Calabrese and Washington-Steel were fixtures on the Highlanders' sprint relays, and Jeremy Wilk ran a 1:58.67 to place second at 800 meters.

"We wanted to go out with a bang," Driscoll coach Deirdre Archer said. "Our seniors did well. We had some good personal records in the jumps."

John Schiller lost the long jump by half an inch for Driscoll.

Three-sport athlete Shane Finane was once again the leader for St. Edward.

The Green Wave junior had a runner-up 45-2 throw in the shot put, and he augmented his personal best in the event with a sixth-place result in the discus.

Ryan Murray snared the lone individual running place with his 5:06.44 time in the mile, good for sixth.

The remainder of the St. Edward points came from its sprint relays.

"Overall, we had a good night," St. Edward coach Sean Collins said. "(Finane) has been a hard-working kid all year. We had a lot of personal records."