Throwers carry Benet to second place
Wielding potentially dangerous objects, discus and shot put throwers get sent off to their own figurative track and field island.
In those hinterlands they depend on their throws coaches and on each other. Benet senior Sean O'Connor and junior Frank Scheck enjoy this working relationship, which on Friday helped Benet take second place at Hinsdale South's Mike Yavorski Invitational for the second time in three seasons. Bloomington won the seven-team meet a third straight year.
Scheck and O'Connor, under the tutelage of Benet throws coach Tim Cedarblad, went 1-3 in discus and 2-3 in shot put.
The Benet throwers joined 3,200-meter winner Brady McLauglin, 800 winner Jack Tuttle, a winning 3,200 relay of Connor Towne, Jeff Girardot, Sean Harnik and Joe Weber and jumper Max Zinski, among others, in racking up points.
"It's always a great thing," Scheck said of working alongside O'Connor. "Some days you're sitting there, you're like, 'My first throw wasn't that good.' He's like, 'All right, come on, just chuck one out there and you can get a new PR.' We've always had each other to be there."
Glenbard East's Ben Sullivan did achieve a new personal record in outdoor shot put, a winning mark of 49 feet, 10½ inches.
Like Scheck-O'Connor, Sullivan bounces stuff off Glenbard East junior Dom Wroblewski, who finished fourth in shot.
"We push each other," Sullivan said. "We talked about it earlier in the season, like, let's do really good in track this year, let's push each other. So far it's getting better and better each week."
Partnerships extend to the track. Hinsdale South juniors Brian Jordan and Jevais Harris each broke 52 seconds in the 400 - so did Glenbard East's Pat Mikel - in pursuit of Lemont's Chris Thompson. Thompson's time of 48.18 seconds sits No. 1 on the Dyestat board in Illinois.
"It's a dual relationship. He learns some things from me, I learn some things from him," Harris said of Jordan.
"He pushes me every single day to do my best," said Jordan, who ran the 400 in 50.45. "I do the same for him."
The Hornets must assess star junior Dylan Boye. He performed the day's best long jump, 22-6, but on his next try he skidded while planting and tweaked a knee, not to return for triple jump.
Against the Yavorski's Class 3A competition Montini, a Class 2A squad, improved from sixth place in 2014 to fifth, scoring 21 more points.
Along with senior Matt Fisch, whose sole triple jump earned the win at 44-0½, the Broncos' core group includes sprinter Mitch West and hurdler Malcolm Pitchford. West placed second in the 200 dash while in the 110 and 300 hurdles Pitchford finished second to Bloomington's Christian Neal, a six-time state qualifier.
Montini's most talented group in a decade also seeks a qualifier or six.
"We just want to get downstate, show people that we can compete and that we are a really great team, and that Montini came from absolutely nowhere and is coming down to state to compete against the best," Pitchford said.