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Boys track: Neuqua Valley takes DVC title out of Wheaton

After 25 years the DuPage Valley Conference boys outdoor track and field championship plaque will leave Wheaton.

Friday at Wheaton Warrenville South, Neuqua Valley fended off constant pressure by four-time defending champion Wheaton North, by 14-time winner WW South, and by its own prom absences to be the first non-Wheaton champ since Naperville Central in 1990. The Wildcats scored 116 points to top Wheaton North (103) and WW South (92).

"I think the real thing is our guys stepped up tonight," said Wildcats coach Mike Kennedy, who followed up March's indoor title in the District 204 schools' first year in the DVC.

The Wildcats opened with a 3,200-meter relay win, went 1-2 in the 3,200 run with Pat Wolak and Dominic Dina and also in the 800 with Isaiah Robinson and Connor Horn, who doubled back to take the 1,600. Horn's victory was among a trio of great duels back to back to back.

In the 400-meter dash, Metea Valley's Jordan Cagigal and Wheaton North's Adam Terrini battled down the homestretch, and Neuqua's JaQuere Williams and WW South's Brandon Bell broke 50 seconds for the first time.

The 300 hurdles race was so tight that though WW South's Joey Zubak was named the winner, he and Glenbard North's Jace James - who won the 110s and high jump - each were clocked at 39.24 seconds.

In the 1,600, Waubonsie Valley's Riley Miller twice tested Horn, leading briefly with 300 meters to go and again with 80 left. Earning his seventh individual conference title spanning track and cross country, Horn closed hard to win in 4:21.81.

"I'm glad to take the win, but he's in really good shape, that was a good race by him," the Cornell-bound Horn said of Miller, who will run for the Coast Guard Academy.

Wheaton North's Alex Bienduga won the 200 and Metea Valley's Alonzo Taylor-Jones won the 100 in a personal-best 10.94 seconds.

"It definitely feels great to be healthy for about a month straight, a month and a half, I think," Taylor-Jones said. "To be conference champion, it's breathtaking. I didn't think I was going to be that."

Pole vault and high jump moved indoors to skirt the elements, and WW South vaulter Tom Ansiel continued his hot junior year with the win. Teammate Blaze Barista scored an outdoor-best triple jump of 44 feet, 9½ inches; in long jump Glenbard North's Devion Hodges bested Wheaton North's Chico Jackson. Hodges' last jump went 23-6 to set DVC and school records.

"It feels good, really," Hodges said. "It actually, really does. I've been working at this since my freshman year."

Throwing the discus 172 feet, 1 inch, Lake Park's Chago Basso beat Wheaton North's Dan Webber by 2 inches; at shot put the Lancers' Dylan Scheirich beat Basso by an inch, winning at 55-2.

"We've got a real strong field here," Scheirich said, "and then hopefully we'll be able to represent well for the DuPage Valley over at the state meet."

In 28-year WW South coach Ken Helberg's final DVC meet, Zubak, Baye Cooper, Kyle Thompson and Bell sent him out a winner with a crisp 3:24.65 in his signature 1,600 relay.

"Before, we'd said we were going to do it, mentally," Bell said. "And today we did it, physically."

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