Moss gathers 800 title for state runner-up Neuqua Valley
CHARLESTON - As of Saturday there's a new prince in south Naperville.
After a weather delay of more than two hours at the 121st boys track and field state championship finals on Saturday, Ty Moss won Neuqua Valley's first individual state title since Prince Riley won the Class 3A 400-meter run in 2005.
Winning the 800 in 1 minute, 51.80 seconds, Moss came out of the delay as he did his entire senior season.
"I just went out hard, went and did my thing. A lot of people responded well so I had to respond, too," he said.
His response, and a dramatic turn of events for Neuqua in the 1,600-meter relay - followed immediately by a cloudburst that dashed the trophy ceremony - helped deliver the Wildcats a second-place Class 3A tie with Evanston, matching Neuqua's previous high finish in 2009. Edwardsville won with 55 points to 37 for the second-place teams. Lake Park finished ninth with 22 points.
Moss, the Nebraska recruit who also moved from sixth place to fourth anchoring Neuqua's 3,200-meter relay, ran the first lap in his 800 victory in 53 seconds, pacing Springfield's Heath Warren. He surpassed that challenge when another emerged. With about 180 meters left Moss and his mirrored wraparound shades kicked past Edwardsville's Wes Schoenthal and cruised the homestretch to victory.
Despite being "antsy" during the delay Moss stuck to his plan: "pretty much just go out and win."
Moss improved on his third-place finish in 2014.
"It's a great legacy," he said. "I wanted to leave my name. Anywhere I go for a sport I want to leave as a legacy, be someone to remember, somebody to look at for a goal for younger people to become."
Future Wildcats may also look up the name, Zac Espinosa. Disgusted by "running scared" in a seventh-place 400-meter run after finishing fourth last year, in the 1,600 relay Espinosa took the baton in the ninth place. Gaining steam over 200 meters, he passed five runners around the third and fourth turns and handed the baton to Moss in fourth.
"When I saw us coming in ninth I said that's not acceptable, we need the points," said the Stanford-bound Espinosa. "So I just went for it, all out. I mean, this is the last race of high school, right? So just give it your all. And, especially, I was running angry after that 400."
Junior Connor Horn added fourth-place points in the 3,200, run in 9:13.52. Kimani Mobley took sixth in triple jump but the cumulative impact of Edwardsville's 12 finalists won out.
Agony-and-ecstasy moments are annual occasions at Eastern Illinois University. The Class 3A 110-meter hurdles offered both.
Wheaton North senior Steven Connor felt his testy hamstring pull clearing the third hurdle, cracked a knee into the fourth and crashed, got up and hobbled over the next six in an inspiring 35.60 seconds as the O'Brien Stadium crowd applauded.
"After everything Coach (Don) Helberg's done for me just to get me to this point, I didn't want to let him down," Connor said. "He's the best coach I could ever ask for. I'll never forget him ever, ever. He's the one that's been there for me no matter what."
Meanwhile, Waubonsie Valley's Tyler Kirkwood sped to third place in 14.56. Downers Grove South's Nick Kersting placed sixth at 14.75.
A joyful junior, Kirkwood took motivation from being seeded 13th entering preliminaries. Also, in the last race before the storm, Kirkwood felt calm.
"I didn't have any nerves, which is so weird," he said. "I was just like, 'Oh my gosh, this is state finals!' I have thought about this one for a long time and now that it's here, seize the moment."
Lake Park's Basso brothers, senior Gio and sophomore Chago, each placed sixth in long jump and discus, respectively. Grand Valley State recruit Mike Prestigiacomo briefly took first in discus at 188 feet before promptly being passed, twice, to settle for third. Lancer Dylan Scheirich took third in shot put, at 58 feet, 1 inch.
"I didn't want to get too excited, but I had some adrenalin," Prestigiacomo said.
Other top 3A finishes included York's Alex Teague placing fourth in the 100 dash and fifth in the 200; and Downers Grove North's Ryan Clevenger taking fourth in the 1,600 at 4:11.22.
In Class 2A, once the initial clouds broke Glenbard South's Jack Curtis hustled from his fourth-place high jump of 6 feet, 7 inches - held in the Lantz Field House - and the 100 dash. He finished sixth, Montini's Mitch West in fourth.
"Thank God for all those rain delays because if I had to jump then come run the 100 and jump again I don't think I probably would have cleared what I did," Curtis said in his last prep outing before going to Minnesota State-Mankato for football.
Cahokia, the first boys track team ever to win five straight state titles, beat 2A second place finishers Burlington Central and Champaign Centennial by 82 points. The Comanches' 119 points surpassed their own scoring record of 99.50 points set in 2013.
In 1A, where Tolono Unity won the team title, Timothy Christian's Andy Margason finished sixth in the 110 hurdles. Lisle junior Aaron Harris and IC Catholic senior Jordan Rowell dueled in the 100, 200 and 400. Rowell topped out at second in the 400, at 49.04 seconds, while neither runner placed lower than sixth in any race. They've met at sectional and state each of the last two years.
"I think last year I saw him more as a rival than a friend," Rowell said. "Toward the end of the year I was realizing, we're basically the same person."
The same driven person.
"Hard work and dedication, that's the key to getting here," Harris said. "They're all great competitors. But like I said last year, 363 more days to come back and go for that gold medal."