Rocket Relays twice as nice for Burlington Central
The biggest race of the night was against the weather.
With nasty weather in the forecast for later in the evening, the Rocket Relays at Burlington Central were themselves a race against the clock. By the time Larkin nipped the host Rockets at the wire in a thrilling finish to the boys' 1,600-meter relay, a steady rain was falling.
Even better for Central, both its boys and girls teams won handily. The boys team won the 9-team event with 184 points, easily beating DeKalb, which finished second with 158.5. Batavia was third with 108.5.
On the girls' side, the Rockets' 168 points put them on top. Montini was second with 134, edging DeKalb, which tallied 133 points.
The Rocket runners, perhaps feeling the same sense of urgency, accounted for at least two meet records. Casey Matthews' 10.60 time in the 100 set a new standard, as did Matt O'Connor's 50.78 mark in the 400, where he narrowly edged out Matthews.
"I knew it was going to be hard, especially in the conditions we had," said O'Connor. "And I was in lane 6, and I knew I had tough competition."
"I wasn't expecting to run that time because of the weather," said Matthews. "You really can't predict what's going to happen. When the weather is bad, you don't know what the final result's going to be."
Elsewhere, Lucas Ege doubled up in the hurdle races, Kyle Neubauer won the 800, and the Rockets picked up some big points in the field events, with Sean Kisch winning the pole vault and David Abejide the triple jump.
Central's 3,200-meter relay, with O'Connor, Drew Kries, Nick Harvey and Matthew Bikun, was also victorious.
"Casey Matthews in the 100 broke the Rocket Relay record with 10.6," said Central coach Mike Schmidt, recounting the evening's highlights. "Of course, it was a little wind-aided, but its cold out, and that was a great time."
Hannah Zipoy won the girls' 400 meters for the Rockets. Bryce Weinrich won the 100 hurdles and was a close second in the 300, while Aly Detamble won the pole vault.
The Rocket girls nearly missed sweeping the relays, finishing second to Montini in the 3,200. Elizabeth Spencer and Emily Westergaard ran on all 3 winning relays.
"The girls did a nice job," said Central coach Vince Neil. "It's so hard in these home meets, the kids are virtually on their own. It's really nice for the coaches to see the kids taking ownership of their own performances, doing the things they need to do at this point without the coaches directing them."
Batavia ended up third on the boys' side of things. The Bulldogs were a late invitee when another scheduled meet conflicted with their awards night, so coach Dennis Piron was happy to have a chance to compete.
"I was extremely happy with our kids' performance, we had a lot of PRs and a lot of really nice times," he said.
Hampshire made some noise in the field events, with Douglas Stuehler winning the long jump and Gader Bulow the shot put.
Larkin's only win was the evening's final event, with the team of Alex O'Claire, Dante Bonds, Dom Dorantz, and Jarelle Shipp just hanging on at the wire.
Montini's girls were led by Maddy Jamrozek, who doubled in the 200 and 800, and Gianna Salzbrunn, who doubled in the 300 hurdles and long jump.