Boys track: Glenbard East's Mikel sets the pace
No way is Patrick Mikel slow. Steady, no doubt.
In a loaded 400-meter dash at Friday's Mike Yavorski Hornet Track Invitational in Darien the Glenbard East senior ran his bread-and-butter event as usual, using pace and mental stamina to overcome the field.
In a heat boasting 100 dash winner Mitch West of Montini, Benet's Konrad Bayer, Hinsdale South's Michael Noble and Lemont's Chris Thompson, who brought a seed time of 48.45 seconds, Mikel kept coming to win in a season-best 49.37.
"I'd say the guy that was in Lane 4 (Thompson), he went out, I think he's like, 'I'm going to win this big-time.' And then when it got to like the 150-ish (meter mark), he's like, 'Oh, I'm not gonna,' because I think he's burned too much energy and I don't think he had enough to finish at the pace that he wanted," said Mikel, also runner-up in the 200.
"I psyched him out big-time."
Rams coach Dennis Lueck agreed: "He broke his will."
Hinsdale South, with former coach Yavorski there as always, broke the stranglehold Bloomington had held. The Hornets' 153 points topped Bloomington (142), Benet (106), Glenbard East (76.50), Montini (56) and Lemont (49.50).
"We have a lot of good senior leadership, and it's good that their last meet here on the varsity level they were able to do that," said Hornets coach Dean Norman.
They included triple jump winner Shawn Davis, Brian Jordan with a 1:59.01 time in the 800, Charlie Nodus with a 36-second edge in the 3,200 and Dylan Boye in the 200.
Boye tore left knee ligaments in long jump at the 2015 Yavorski. It hurt his recruiting, he admitted, but he plans a return to jumping next year at Emory University. On the track, though, he's reborn.
"My sprints are faster than they've ever been before - pre-tear, pre-surgery," Boye said. "I'm happy to be back."
Montini's Will Smith, Mitch West, Nick Foster and Prince Walker won the 400 relay. Three events later West won the 100 in 10.99 seconds.
"Even though it's really cold out here my time was decent, 10.9," West said. "It's 45 degrees so, I don't know, it's a good time."
Benet's Jeff Girardot will have a great time reliving Friday. He joined freshmen Colin Luwanja and Connor O'Keefe and fellow junior Patrick Engels to win the 3,200 relay. In the open 1,600 Girardot was in third place, 20 meters behind Bloomington's Jack Doud with 200 left. Girardot found another gear and nipped Doud with a lean.
"I've just gotta go, gotta go now," Girardot thought. "Yeah, it was a little rough the first two laps, but I decided I really had to kick it in the last 200 if I wanted to win."