Track and field: Former runner still inspires West Chicago coach McLeland

Paul McLeland still has the voice message Dan Horyn left the day before he died. Three years since Horyn's passing from esophageal cancer, it continues to motivate and inspire the West Chicago boys track coach.

McLeland coached Horyn, a 1997 West Chicago graduate and later an English teacher, assistant track and head cross country coach at Niles North, which on Friday will host its third annual Dan Horyn Invitational.

A portion of entry fees goes to the Daniel M. Horyn Foundation for esophageal cancer research and treatment at The University of Chicago Medical Center.

West Chicago used to compete at Glenbard South's Raider Invite, but after Niles North coach Paul Swanson converted the Niles North Boys Invitational to the Horyn memorial meet, McLeland switched arrangements.

"That's what we said we wanted to be a part of," McLeland said.

At West Chicago early in McLeland's 26-year coaching tenure, in 1995 Horyn placed 10th in the Class AA 1,600-meter run as a sophomore and finished second to Naperville North's Mark Pilja in the event in 1997.

He succeeded as a runner at the University of Illinois, and later, at Niles North, his rapport with athletes was so strong the youngsters would call him "Dad," according to the Foundation website.

McLeland visited Horyn at University of Chicago Medical Center a few days before Horyn's passing, but due to the advanced stage of the disease only Horyn's mother could see him.

McLeland recalls the message Horyn left on Sept. 8, 2013, which included disappointment he couldn't see his old coach and best wishes for an Ironman competition McLeland was running that day in Madison, Wisconsin. The next day, Horyn was gone at age 34.

"There's still times in runs when I think about what he went through," McLeland said.

The coach emphasized Horyn's fight against the cancer, and the positive attitude Horyn maintained against the odds. Diagnosed as Stage 4 in 2012, Horyn fought the disease 13 months.

"That pretty much sums it up about Dan," McLeland said. "He battled it like he battled the 1,600 meters."

Keeping pace:

A week after Hinsdale Central junior Blake Evertsen set the school outdoor 3,200-meter record of 9 minutes, 6.36 seconds at Arcadia, California, another Red Devil set another program mark - this time on the girls' side at 1,600 meters.

On April 16 at Hinsdale Central's own Devilette Invite, senior Annie Zaher ran the metric mile in 4:53.58 to set meet, stadium and program records.

Zaher, who won the Class 3A 1,600 run as a sophomore, topped the school record of Jill Hardies, who ran 4:57.47 at the 2012 state meet.

Zaher's meet and stadium records came at the expense of Marist's Maryclare Leonard, who went 5:01.87 in 2014. Leonard finished third on Saturday at Hinsdale Central, noted Red Devils girls distance coach Mark McCabe.

The air up there:

Benet junior Ali Munson was not intimidated at Naperville North's Gus Scott Track & Field Invitational on April 15 when officials raised the pole vault bar to 12 feet, 8 inches.

Munson, sixth in Class 3A last year at 11-9, was the only vaulter left after setting a new personal-best of 12-3. She was feeling her oats.

"Why not up it a little more," she said. "Go long or go home."

Munson didn't clear that height, but her confidence is what Benet girls track coach Scott Brooks likes to hear.

"She's an athlete that's starting to realize she's an athlete," Brooks said.

"Last year she was hoping to win. This year she's expecting to do great things. She's a different kid this year, a more confident kid."

End of an era:

Friday will be the final Red Grange Invitational at Wheaton Warrenville South under retiring Tigers boys track coach Ken Helberg. It's come a long way, baby.

"It's definitely gone beyond what I thought it was going to be, which is nice," the coach said.

When Helberg was named boys track coach in 1988, he said "five or six" teams competed in what was then known as the Wheaton Relays.

"Nobody really wanted a relay meet because you can't use those marks as seed times," he said.

Helberg asked the powers that be if he could change the format and was told no, he said. When the school moved to Wheaton Warrenville South from Wheaton Central he got the green light.

He went with three flights or heats of each event, what's known as an "A, B, C meet" that allows another tier of athletes to participate rather than the standard two per event per team.

"I like an 'A, B, C' format because it gets a lot of athletes involved," Helberg said.

The advent of fully automated timing system allowed faster resolution of heats than the manual system of timing by stopwatch. Hence, more teams without a huge time crunch.

Friday's Grange Invite will hold 16 teams, including Glenbard West, Metea Valley, Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley and 11 teams from outside DuPage County, including Danville, led by former Waubonsie coach Steve Luke.

"Sixteen, it's a nice, easy number," Helberg said.

He also gets a kick out of having athletes he coached now serving as coaches at his and other programs, including Jon Schweighardt of Glenbard West and Dustin Waddell of Lincoln-Way Central. Current Tigers assistant and former WW South thrower Chris Arthurs will succeed Helberg.

Perhaps another change could be naming the meet after the 28-year coach.

"I don't think so, it shouldn't be," Helberg said. "Red Grange did way more than I ever did."