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Scouting DuPage County boys track

Top local teams: Downers Grove South, Hinsdale Central, Lake Park, Metea Valley, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley, Wheaton North, Wheaton Warrenville South, York.

Top athletes: Addison Trail: Jaavion Bradley, sr., high jump; Benet: Konrad Bayer, jr., sprints; Sean O'Connor, sr., throws; Downers Grove North: Ryan Clevenger, sr., distance; Jack Diamond, sr., middle distance; Zach Hogan, jr., jumps; Downers Grove South: Juankeem Finley, so., sprints; Josh Jones, sr., jumps; Nick Kersting, sr., hurdles; Jack LaLonde, jr., distance; Fenton: Josh Casey, sr., sprints; Axel Nava, sr., middle distance; Glenbard East: Karon Keyes, jr., sprints; Ben Sullivan, sr., throws; Glenbard North: Frank Montefalco, sr., sprints; Luke Siperly, sr., hurdles; Glenbard South: Jack Curtis, sr., sprints, high jump; Michael King, jr., distance; Andre Steiger, sr., throws; Glenbard West: Chris Buechner, sr., distance; Ben Hecht, sr., Andrew Lindstrom, sr., sprints; Hinsdale Central: Stephen Chun, sr., pole vault; Blake Evertsen, so., distance; James Reilly, sr., sprints; Hinsdale South: Dylan Boye, jr., jumps, sprints; Jawahn Downing, sr., sprints; Brian Jordan, jr., sprints; IC Catholic: Jordan Rowell, so., sprints, jumps; Lake Park: Gio Basso, sr., jumps, sprints; Lucas Bennett, sr., pole vault; Mike Prestigiacomo, sr., throws; Dylan Scheirich, jr., throws; Antonio Shenault, sr., hurdles; Lisle: Aaron Harris, jr., sprints; Metea Valley: Jordan Cagigal, jr., sprints; Kelvin Givantt, sr., jumps, sprints; Alonzo Taylor-Jones, so., sprints; Montini: Matt Fisch, sr., jumps; Mitch West, soph, sprints; Michael Hollingshed, sr., sprints; Naperville Central: Scott Hicks, sr., distance; Kyle Hilton, sr., hurdles; Naperville North: Harrison Beard, sr., hurdles; Kerry Gschwendtner, sr., distance; John Klaiber, sr., distance; Neuqua Valley: Kyle Bender, sr., sprints; Tommy Cwiok, jr., throws; Zac Espinosa, sr., sprints; Connor Horn, jr., distance; Ty Moss, sr., sprints; St. Francis: Jeff Duke, sr., sprints; Adam Izewski, sr., jumps; Timothy Christian: Andy Margason, jr., hurdles; Waubonsie Valley: Tyler Kirkwood, jr., high jump, hurdles; Jeff Penny, sr., hurdles; Jon Vollrath, sr., distance; Jaquere Williams, so., sprints; West Chicago: James Kubik, sr., pole vault; Westmont: Quintin Brown, sr., sprints; Nick Dea, sr., distance; Wheaton Academy: Jonah Jones, so., distance; Brandon Lach, sr., distance; Ty Seager, jr., sprints; Wheaton North: Steven Connor, sr., hurdles, sprints; Matt Contreras, sr., pole vault; Bradley Dowell, sr., middle distance; Chico Jackson, jr., jumps, sprints; Ben Moore, sr., sprints; Wheaton Warrenville South: Kyle Cepeda, sr., distance; Tom Hutchison, sr., throws; Josh Prueter, sr., sprints; Willowbrook: Jimmy Funteas, sr., distance; Donnie Hawkins, hurdles, sprints; Josan Murphy, jr., sprints; York: Charlie Kern, fr., distance; Matt Plowman, sr., distance; David Prigg, sr., pole vault; Alex Teague, sr., sprints, hurdles.

Scouting report: Neuqua Valley's boys track team placed second in Class 3A in 2009, third in 2010 and fourth in 2014. Is this the year the Wildcats complete their trophy collection? Coach Mike Kennedy and his crack staff return nine of 14 athletes they took to Charleston last May headed by all-state, Division I recruits Ty Moss (Nebraska) and Zac Espinosa (Stanford) in the 400- and 800-meter wheelhouse, plus distance runners Connor Horn and Michael Widmann. As individuals, relay members or both, these four plus fellow returnee Kyle Bender helped score 30 of Neuqua's 34 points at last year's state meet. From Neuqua's roster of 130, a stable of potential qualifiers seeks their turn - among them distance runner Matt Horsley, jumper Kimani Mobley, hurdler Michael Jang and thrower Tommy Cwiok. "Really, having a lot of these guys on that same team coming back, they know what it's like coming close. They want to vie for a top position this year," Kennedy said.

Running in the Upstate Eight Conference one last time before the Wildcats, youthful Waubonsie Valley and improving Metea Valley head to the DuPage Valley in 2015-16, on March 20 both Moss and Espinosa broke the UEC 400-meter indoor record. Horn won the 3,200 by more than 13 seconds as Neuqua topped second-place Batavia - the River Division favorite - by 46 points. As well as repeating as outdoor UEC champion Neuqua has a clear goal: a state title. Competing at the Plainfield North sectional, arguably the strongest in Class 3A, it's a challenge simply to advance athletes to state. DuPage County's other usual suspects may also have their say.

Lake Park, Class 3A winner four straight years from 2010-13 and third place last year, isn't averse to winning titles based solely on field events. Throws coach Bob Nihells has his machine rolling again, six boys reaching 50 feet in shot put indoors including state finalist Mike Prestigiacomo - also fifth in discus last May - and newcomer Dylan Scheirich, whose put of 57 feet, 10 inches led Illinois most of the indoor season. Having graduated much speed, depth and particularly distance on the track, as well as Class 3A triple jump champion Marcus Jegede, field events will have to be huge for Lake Park. So will Antonio Shenault, the defending 3A 110 hurdles champion and 300 hurdles qualifier. The Minnesota football recruit tweaked an ankle in a pickup basketball game and didn't run indoors. "We have him back now, which is obviously a boost, but we have to be smart about how we work him back into the lineup," said Lancers coach Jay Ivory.

Lake Park took second place at the DVC indoor meet behind landslide winner Wheaton North. With each team allowed a third entrant into individual events due to this school year's odd six-team alignment, coach Don Helberg's Falcons scored 162 points to top the Lancers by 70. "This is probably the most depth I've had in my 31 years (in the program)," said Helberg, who with brother Ken at Wheaton Warrenville South has kept the DVC outdoor title in Wheaton every year since 1991. Naperville North coach James O'Connell, strong in the 1,600 and 3,200, seeks to break that string. Wheaton North also has front-line folks like jumper Chico Jackson and Steven Connor, a tall, strong hurdler-sprinter perhaps capable of reaching the 3A finals in eight different events depending on Don Helberg's decision making. But speaking of tweaked ankles, recently the Falcons have been snakebit under Charleston heat; Wheaton North's depth allows Helberg to experiment with lineups and keep the boys fresh for when it counts.

No team capitalized better in 2014 than York. Like his predecessor Joe Newton in 2000, coach Stan Reddel went out on top with the 3A title in his final season. Now the Dukes are led by former assistant Charlie Kern, who resigned a year following a touchy 2006 suspension over summer contact days but has wisely been welcomed back. Kern's roster of 160 includes intense distance runner Matt Plowman, Kern's freshman son, Charlie, and Alex Teague, who won both hurdles events and both short sprints at the West Suburban Silver indoor meet. On the last event of that meet, Oak Park won by 1 point over a young York team, both ahead of a Lyons Twp. squad on coaches' tongues as a team to watch. "Now that I'm here," coach Kern said, "the goal isn't really any different. The goal is to get one of those three trophies." Kern was not the only interesting coaching move made since last spring. Perhaps the greatest coup aside from York bringing Kern back also concerned a Dukes coach. Assistant Chris Korfist, who worked sprint magic first at Hinsdale Central and then York, moved to Montini to work with Broncos coach Eric Brechtel.

Add Montini throws coach John Grayson's impact as a football linebackers coach and Brechtel has seen his roster swell to 62 from last year's 31. Brechtel anticipates solid relay and open results from sprinters such as Mitch West, Michael Hollingshed and Prince Walker, plus the bonus of runners from the Broncos' first state-qualifying cross country team.

With last year's retirement of Jack Brady at Glenbard East, longtime assistant and former 20-year Rams football coach Dennis Lueck takes over in Lombard - minus jumps coach Tim Webber, among the best of his trade and now helping Jon Schweighardt at Glenbard West. Lueck's goal is simply to score at the Upstate Eight Conference meet, he said, now that the Rams and West Aurora have joined the Valley Division out of the DuPage Valley. West Chicago moves from the Valley to the River, where returning state-qualifying pole vaulter James Kubik could win that division.

With the breakup of the Suburban Christian Conference, which starting in 2015-16 sends Montini and St. Francis into the Chicago Catholic League for all sports, no alignment has changed as radically as the Metro Suburban Conference. Seven teams from the former SCC have joined to expand the roster to 14 from what nine years ago was four schools. "It seems like we're being welcomed by the schools in the new conference, which we're appreciative of," said IC Catholic Prep coach Bob Cronin. Glenbard South handily won the Metro Suburban indoor meet and looks to dethrone two-time outdoor winner Riverside-Brookfield. The Raiders need to get state-finalist shot putter Andre Steiger healthy, but senior Jack Curtis won four indoor events, the fourth straight conference meet he's done that. Curtis qualified downstate in four events last spring with 2A all-state finishes in high jump and the 200.

Some Metro Suburban schools are small but have big pop. IC Catholic sophomore Jordan Rowell, who already has football offers from Iowa, Northwestern and Purdue, finished third in the Class 1A 200 in 2014, sixth in the 100 and anchored an eighth-place 800 relay that also returns Andrew Oliver, Aaron Taylor and Luke Calles.

Wheaton Academy - with nearly 50 athletes its largest team in a decade - brings headliner Ty Seager. If he wasn't confident after placing eighth last year in the Class 2A 100 and seventh in the 200, the smiling junior should by now, Gatorade's Illinois boys soccer player of the year for a state champion.

Timothy Christian junior Andy Margason finished among the top 15 Class 1A hurdlers in both the 110 and 300, and won both Metro Suburban indoor events. He juggled both baseball and track a year ago, but now he's track-only. "Without putting too much pressure on him I expect a good amount of improvement and for him to be a state medalist," said Trojans coach John Vander Kamp.

Outside of the Metro Suburban another Class 1A school boasts a star sprinter. Lisle junior Aaron Harris fought off back problems to finish eighth in the 200. He's back at it: As of Wednesday Harris led all Class 1A runners indoors in the 200 and 400 and was ranked eighth in the 60-meter dash. "We're hoping everybody tries to draft in his wake," Lisle coach Ken Jakalski quipped about his younger sprinters.

If the Metro Suburban has been the poster child for change, other conferences thankfully remain stable.

Benet, which graduated 3A discus champion Stephen Hubona, brings the most balance coach David Stone has had into the East Suburban Catholic Conference, trying to knock off Marist to reclaim a league title for the ninth time in 12 years.

After a steady run of West Suburban Conference Gold Division championships by Downers Grove South with some Hinsdale South and Morton thrown in, in 2014 Willowbrook won the division for the first time since 2004. Cross country state qualifier Jimmy Funteas and hurdler Donnie Hawkins give Willowbrook coach T.J. Artman hope for a repeat, but Downers Grove South's balanced squad won the Gold indoor meet by 30 points over Morton, 55 points over sprint-based Hinsdale South. "I think that brought us back down to earth a little bit and refocused us for this year," said Mustangs coach Dustin Hausherr, who saw senior Josh Jones break a 30-year program indoor record with a 44-4 triple jump.

Where York is the solid DuPage County favorite in the West Suburban Silver, few runners had as good a 2014 season as Downers Grove North's Ryan Clevenger. The Wisconsin-bound senior's late-season times of 4:11.20 in the 1,600 and 9:07.22 both set program records. The fastest returning athlete in each event, the county's next seven 1,600 runners below Clevenger all graduated, and the next five 3,200 runners.

Fenton's John Kurtz - the dean of DuPage County boys track coaches now in his 47th year - was noting his own pleasure in the job, but with this strong team and individual talent he could speak for all area track: "It just keeps getting better and better."

Top meets: Wheaton North Best Four, April 11; Naperville North Gus Scott, April 17; Downers South Bud Mohns, April 18; Metea Valley, April 18; West Aurora John Bell, April 18; Downers South Bob Cohoon, April 24; Glenbard South Raider Invite, April 24; WW South Red Grange, April 24; Hinsdale South Mike Yavorski, May 1; Glenbard West Jim Arnold, May 2; Waubonsie Valley Red Ribbon, May 2; DuPage County, York, May 8; Hinsdale Central McCarthy Invite, May 8; Lisle's Carlin Nalley, May 9, Bolingbrook; conference meets May 12-15; sectionals May 21-22; Class 1A-3A Finals, Charleston, May 28-30.

- Dave Oberhelman

Marks in parentheses are 2014 fully automated state-qualifying standards for Class 1A, 2A and 3A, respectively.

*** - 2014 Class 3A state qualifier

* - 2014 Class 1A state qualifier

100 meters (11.14; 11.04; 10.94)

Josh Prueter (WW South, sr.) 10.93

200 meters (22.94; 22.54; 22.24)

(3rd-1A) Jordan Rowell (IC Catholic, so.) 22.07

400 meters (51.74; 50.84; 49.94)

(4th-3A) Zac Espinosa (Neuqua Valley, sr.) 48.18

800 meters (2:01.24; 1:59.04; 1:57.24)

(5th-3A) Matt Plowman (York, sr.) 1:54.00

1,600 meters (4:37.24; 4:30.44; 4:22.04)

(3rd-3A) Ryan Clevenger (Downers Grove North, sr.) 4:11.20

3,200 meters (10:04.00; 9:49.24; 9:29.04)

Ryan Clevenger (Downers Grove North, sr.) 9:07.22

110 hurdles (15.54; 15.24; 14.74)

(1st-3A) Antonio Shenault (Lake Park, sr.) 14.11

300 hurdles (42.00; 40.44; 39.84)

* Andy Margason (Timothy Christian, jr.) 39.88

400 relay (44.54; 43.54; 42.64)

(2nd-3A) York 41.48

800 relay (1:33.74; 1:31.74; 1:29.64)

(3rd-3A) York 1:26.66

1,600 relay (3:31.74; 3:27.44; 3:23.74)

(2nd-3A) Naperville Central 3:17.21

3,200 relay (8:26.24; 8:15.24; 7:58.04)

(1st-3A) Neuqua Valley 7:40.21

Pole vault (13-0; 13-6; 13-9)

(8th-3A) Matt Contreras (Wheaton North, sr.) 14-3

*** James Kubik (West Chicago, sr.) 14-3

High jump (6-3; 6-3; 6-5)

(6th-2A) Jack Curtis (Glenbard South, sr.) 6-9

Long jump (21-0; 21-8; 22-3)

Chico Jackson (Wheaton North, jr.) 23-5¼

Triple jump (42-3; 43-10; 44-10)

Zach Hogan (Downers Grove North, jr.) 44-10½

Shot put (48-0; 50-11; 52-11)

(11th-3A) Mike Prestigiacomo (Lake Park, sr.) 53-9

Discus (143-0; 149-0; 156-6)

(5th-3A) Mike Prestigiacomo (Lake Park, sr.) 184-5

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