Glenbard S. going to state in big numbers
Glenbard South is going to need alternate transportation.
The Raiders made Friday night's Class 2A Glenbard South boys track sectional look easy, scoring 156 points to win the meet by more than twice as many as second-place St. Francis (75) and Riverside-Brookfield (75). In the process the Raiders qualified more athletes for next weekend's state meet in Charleston than expected.
Thus the need for a bigger bus.
The night started out great for the Raiders, who had junior Austin Teitsma win both the shot put and the discus, Connor Douglas win the long jump and Joe Boesso take the high jump in the field, then began the track proceedings with first-place finishes in the 3,200- and 400-meter relays.
"The kids did a great job tonight," Raiders coach Andy Preuss said. "Going into it we scored it 120 to 80, you know, but those ifs. But then the high jumper wins and Teitsma wins both the shot and the disc, and Douglas and we score 40 points just with wins. Then Boesso's brother (Nick) gets fifth in the disc and the other shot putter (Alex Anderson) scores ..."
Teitsma was thrilled with his toss of 51-31/4 in the shot put.
"My goal was to get past 50 in this meet," Teitsma said. "I've just been having a hard time in practice lately. I've been getting right under. Like 49, 49, 49. That's awesome."
The Raiders have won their sectional in three of the past four years.
For St. Francis, Mark Kachmer held off Glenbard South's Andrew Payne to win the 200, reversing places from the 100.
"Andrew's a fast runner," Kachmer said. "I ran the best race I could've. I got out really well. I really did well in the middle, but in the end I started to tighten up. It's good for him to win, but at least I'm going down (to Charleston), so whatever."
Dan Grace won the 800, holding off Fenton's Justin Smith, though both qualified.
"I was a little worried," Grace said of Smith, whom he passed with about 300 meters to go. "Coach isn't going to like this, but I looked back for a second and saw that I had it."