York, Lake Park go 1-2 at DuPage County meet
Naperville Central all-state hurdler Michael Jopes couldn't quite catch Lake Park standout Antonio Shenault in the 110-meter hurdles, but he still managed to have a great Friday night at the DuPage County boys track meet in Naperville.
Jopes ran a personal-best time of 39.08 to win the 300 low hurdles, and he took a solid second to Shenault in the high hurdles. After placing at state last year in both the 300 hurdles and the 1,600 relay, Jopes appears ready for another postseason charge this spring.
"The whole way I was gunning for Shenault because he's No. 1 in state and I've been running against him since about this time last year," said Jopes, who ran a 14.75 to Shenault's 14.56. "He was my target the whole entire time.
"That's what I said, I'll take second to him but no one else."
In the 300 hurdles Jopes was second to no one while York's Jarvis Hill was second with a time of 39.53.
"My previous best was 39.22 in the last meet, so it was a big drop tonight," Jopes said. "Let's hope this keeps going."
York defended its County Meet team title with 106 points, while Lake Park was second at 88.75, while Wheaton North, Naperville North and Wheaton Warrenville South rounded out the top five in the team standings.
The Dukes were led by sprinter Josh Farrar, who won the 200 meters with a personal-low time of 22.04 to hold off Wheaton North runner-up Steven Connor. Farrar also tied with Bartlett's Bryce Petty at 11.02 for the fastest time in the 100, and he helped the Dukes win the 400 relay in a time that beat Naperville North by more than a second and set a new county meet record.
Farrar went out and won the 200 moments after he learned that teammate Matt Plowman was disqualified after running an impressive 4:12 1,600 meters in which he collided with a Wheaton Warrenville South runner. The Tigers' Nolan McKenna won the race in 4:13.15 after the ruling.
"I found out he got DQed so I was in the zone and I wanted to bring back the points," Farrar said. "My coach just told me I needed to win the first 50 meters because my top speed is probably quicker than most people's. I had a pretty good start. … I twitched a little bit, but I won it for the team."
He teamed with Jeff Ostling, Jake Sacksteder and Greg Gornick to set the meet record in the 400 at 42.11, and York also claimed the 800 title in 1:29.56.
Lake Park had a number of solid efforts Friday, including a win in the 3,200 relay where Zach Schwarz, Matt Miarka, Lucas Bracher and Jeremy Lozano ran an 8:05.63 to beat runner-up Naperville Central by more than 13 seconds. The Lancers also picked up first-place points when Elliot Krause won the pole vault with a height of 14-9, and the throw titles went to Mike Prestigiacomo in the discus and teammate Curtwan Evans in the shot.
The meet ended with a thrilling 1,600 relay that saw rivals Wheaton North and WW South trade leads throughout the final two legs before the Falcons' Joe Kirby used a late kick to edge the Tigers 3:24.24 to 3:24.27.
"I knew once my teammates got me in a good position I was not going to let them down," said Kirby, who just did catch the Tigers' Josh Pruter before the finish line.
"It was fun. Something you dream about. To win a race like that, that was awesome."