Miller time for tough BG star

One week ago at the Mid-Suburban League meet, Buffalo Grove senior Steve Miller watched his entire season flash before his eyes.

In the final of the 200-meter dash, Miller pulled up with a leg injury and had to be helped from the track. While the injury looked serious at the time, many hours of treatment and plenty of tender loving care provided Miller the chance to race at the Buffalo Grove Class 3A sectional Friday night.

"I felt all week like there was a chance I could run," Miller said. "My coaches did a great job of getting me ready to race."

Even with all of the treatments and rest, Miller still had to race - and race he did. He breezed through the qualifying heats of the 100 as the top seed, but the first real test came in the 400 relay. As the anchor, Miller brought home the team of James Blackmon, Sam Alfano and John Angotti in a school record 42.8 to win the event and qualify.

Two events later, Miller broke away from the field in the 100-meter dash winning in 10.8 to qualify for two events at state for the first time.

"The 400 relay was a great warm-up," Miller said. "My teammates gave me a great boost and got me going."

Other Bison qualifiers included two-time state medalist Matt Newman in the high jump (6-8), Alan Baxter in the shot put (56-2), Josh Hampton in the long jump (22-9) and the 1,600-meter relay team of Blackmon, Alfano, Mike Galla and Kevin Mulligan (3:23.3).

After a day of disappointments at the MSL meet, Barrington bounced back in a big way. The Broncos used the jumping events to get themselves off in the right direction. Seniors Kevin Crowley and Sam Ojuri jumped 22-9.5 and 22-9, respectively, to earn qualifying marks in the long jump.

On the track, it was the efforts from seniors Jason Taylor in the 110 high hurdles, senior Ryan Mangone in the 400 and 800-meter runs and junior Chris Cogswell in the 1,600 that lifted the Broncos to the team title. Barrington scored 64 points to edge second-place North Suburban Conference champion Lake Forest.

"This night ended up going better than I think we thought it could," Barrington coach Todd Kuklinski said. "Our group of seniors really came and stepped up tonight."

Barrington also qualified its 400 and 1,600-meter relay teams.

Fremd kept its tradition of sending throwers and sprinters to the state meet alive. In the discus, senior Jeff Bobek had his best night of the season throwing a personal best 166-6. Teammate Christian Lombard also qualified with a personal best of 164-6 to finish second. Bobek also qualified in the shot put with a best effort of 52-10.

On the track, senior Alex Roark earned a trip to state in a pair of events. Roark qualified with a third place finish in the 400-meter dash. Then Roark closed out his night by winning the 200-meter dash in 21.8.

Mike Varela also qualified in the 300 hurdles for Fremd (39.5).

For just one night it all came together for Libertyville senior Pat Callan. Callan, who had been close in both the 110 high hurdles and the 300 intermediate hurdles used his opportunity at the Buffalo Grove sectional to qualify in both events.

In the 110 high hurdles, the Augustana-bound Callan ran a personal best 14.7 in a second place finish to Taylor. At the longer 300 intermediate hurdles distance, Callan raced to a lifetime best of 39.6 and another qualification for next week.

"I had worked so hard with my coaches that I knew I had to get this done tonight," Callan said. "I stuttered over the first hurdle in the 300 hurdles, but I regained my steps and rebounded to get done what I wanted to get done."

One senior that got plenty done Warren senior Karsen Green. In his signature event, the 800-meter run, Green ran a season best 1:54.9 finishing just behind Mangone. Then, Green anchored teammates Jake Jurewicz, John Marlowe and Chet Michna to a qualifying effort in the 1,600-meter run.

Warren also qualified its 400 and 800-meter relay and earned an individual spot from Leonard Brady in the 400 relay.

Stevenson earned a trio of individual qualifiers. Sophomore Brandon Stryganek became the first Stevenson sprinter in nearly 2 decades to qualify in the sprints as he finished second to Roark in the 200. Derek Chmielewski qualified in two events winning the shot put with a personal best mark of 56-3 and taking fourth in the discus.

Other individual qualifiers included Jarret Austin and Weston Ross of Wheeling in the high jump and the 400-meter relay team of Ross, James Kurtz, Pat Splon and Mike Barton. Palatine qualified Ed Anderson in the long jump (22-7), Chris Norman in the 400, Dan LaRocca in the pole vault and Alec Bollman in the 1,600.

Libertyville's Jeremy Birck in the high jump and Tyler Bartlow of Stevenson in the 1,600 and Lake Zurich's Gerry Perez in the 1,600 and 3,200 and Francisco Soto in the 800 also qualified.

At Loyola: Expecting the unexpected when it gets to the track and field sectionals is really the norm. So when Maine West dropped over 10 seconds from its seed time to qualify in the 3,200-meter relay at the Class 3A Loyola sectional, it was easy to understand why coach Andy Trotter and the Warriors were excited.

Maine West ran a season-best 8:02.27 to earn the team of Martin Chavez, Juan Chavez, Pawel Mirek and Trevor Kelley a trip to the state meet next weekend.

"We all knew what we had to go out and do," Kelley said. "I ran my leg as hard as I could and when I turned around everyone was cheering so I knew I had to do something good."

Martin Chavez, who later qualified in the 800-meter run with a second place finish, brought home the baton on the anchor leg.

"We knew we had a chance to make it," Chavez said. "I was excited there at the end because I knew that we were close."

While the Warriors were excited, Prospect was downright giddy after its start to the meet. The Knights, who are always a power in the 3,200-meter relay, flexed their collective muscles to pop off a state-best 7:50.03 to win the event. Chris Hayek, Albert Ciolek, Pat Ford and Ryan Lynch made up the Knights relay.

"This is really a great feeling," said Hayek, who earned his third consecutive trip to state. "It's great to know that we get a chance to race down at state again."

Hayek later qualified in the 1,600 with a season-best 4:19.51. Other qualifiers for the Knights included Chris Spudic in the 3,200, Matt Babicz in the shot put and discus and Marcin Kwieck, who won the 300 intermediate hurdles in an impressive 39.35.

Hersey also earned a ticket to state by taking yet another 3,200 relay team to state. Carmen Maiorano, Garrett Vick, Sam Zielke and Nat Knautz ran a season best 7:59.98.