Boys track and field: Lakes' Ruiz, Thiel reprise 400 rivalry in Lake County Invite

There is no doubt whatsoever that Lakes junior Cameron Ruiz is a team player.

While he will acknowledge a good performance on the track or in the jumps, Ruiz is quick to mention the points he and his teammate earned in that event.

But there is also no doubt that Ruiz was more than thrilled to hold off teammate Brandon Thiel in the 400 meters.

In what has turned out to be a signature track event for both Ruiz and Thiel, the two battled once again in the 400-meter dash at the Lake County Invitational at Antioch on Friday night. Ruiz jumped out to a big lead and through 200 meters had already made up the stagger.

But Thiel, as he has done so many times, battled back. As the two came across the finish line, Ruiz edged Thiel by .02, with both running personal best times - 48.95 and 48.97. Barrington sophomore Louis Cossio ran a personal best 49.79 in his third-place finish.

"I knew I could run a 48, and I know it was Thiel's goal to do that also," said Ruiz, a Northwestern football commit. "I'm pretty happy with the win, but I am more than happy that we finished 1-2 and got the 18 points for the team."

Lakes needed all those points from Ruiz and Thiel as the Eagles held off hard challenges from Warren and Lake Forest to win its third consecutive Lake County Invite title. The Eagles scored 88 points to 78 for Warren and 64.5 for the Scouts.

Ruiz started his meet in record-setting fashion. His leap of 23 feet, 2½ inches in the long jump erased a meet record set by Shannon King of Waukegan in 1994. Ruiz also won the triple jump with a personal best leap of 46-1.

"The weather was so nice today and I have learned to relax and not stress so much about every race and every jump," Ruiz said. "Being relaxed is the best way to perform and I felt really relaxed today."

Ruiz wasn't the only record setter. Illinois-bound senior Cooper Jazo took down the meet record in winning the pole vault, as his clearance of 15-1 better the previous meet mark of 15-0 held by Angelo Zagrafos of Libertyville.

Senior Robert Kuhlmann claimed a meet title with a school record-setting performance of 1:55.33 in the 800-meter run. Kuhlmann held off Lake Zurich junior Brian Griffith by the slimmest of margins, with Griffith finishing second in 1:55.34.

The slimmest of margins also separated Warren's 400 relay from a meet record. The team of Hugo Flores, Melvin Pettis, Dante Johnson and Nick Marcinkus ran a school record 42.47, finishing .02 behind winner Lake Forest (42.45).

Marcinkus was busy claiming the 100-meter dash in 10.93 and finishing third in the 200 (22.71).

"We have been working on our handoffs all week, and we've been getting better and better," Marcinkus said. "Our focus this year is now on the 4x1 for sure."

While the 400 relay was a high point, Flores tried to put behind him a false start in the 400 - and he did, with a bang. Joining teammates Colin Ward, Stacy Jones and Alex Delgado, Flores helped anchor the Blue Devils 1,600-relay to a season-best 3:22.22 to win the final event of the night.

"The 400 is my favorite race, and being DQ'd hurt a lot," Flores said. "I looked at it as it was my only event left, so why not go after the relay?"

Grayslake Central junior Jack Aho had a goal in mind for Friday's county meet in the 1,600-meter run. Aho was the top seed, and he had visions of taking down Erik Petersons meet record of 4:12.47.

Aho took the race out fast and left the field after the first 400 meters. He came across the finish line in 4:14.71, essentially unchallenged.

"I can usually close in 60 but today my legs felt a little tired," Aho said. "Racing alone isn't easy. I struggled getting out faster alone and didn't get to the speed I wanted to get to."

Aho's teammate Mike Andrews took the top spot in the discus, winning with a toss of 152-8.

Other event winners included John Stefan of Barrington with a personal best toss of 54-4 in the shot put. Tennessee-bound senior Noah Agnew of Vernon Hills won the high jump at 6-7, and his teammates took the 3,200 relay in 8:11.86.

Stevenson senior Jared Borowsky won the 3,200-meter run in 9:30.91, just ahead of Matt Aho of Grayslake Central (9:31.37), and Josh Williams of Vernon Hills won the 200 in 22.20.