Boys track and field: Mittelstadt, Grayslake Central rule NLCC meet

Cornering the market on shot put and discus is kind of Grayslake Central's thing.

The Rams have dominated on both the girls and the boys side this track season.

Grayslake Central senior Julia Reglewski is one of the best female throwers in the state, and won the Lake County Invite, the Northern Lake County Conference and the Class 3A sectional in both events.

On Friday, Reglewski's male counterpart at Grayslake Central, Marcus Mittelstadt, won both the shot put (47 feet, 11 inches) and the discus (164 feet, 2 inches) at the Northern Lake County Conference boys meet, where Grayslake Central also won the team title with 167 points, breezing by second-place Antioch (86.5) by 80.5 points.

Mittelstadt is hoping to follow in Reglewski's footsteps at the upcoming boys sectional and stage another sweep.

Funny thing is, Mittelstadt has actually been following in Reglewski's footsteps for a long time.

Just as compelling as the storyline of Grayslake Central's across-the-board, female/male excellence in shot put and discus is the relationship between Reglewski and Mittelstadt.

It's a fun, little twist that is a bit unexpected.

"Julia has been my best friend since second or third grade, and she got me into throwing," Mittelstadt said. "In middle school, she was a really good thrower and I would watch her and I thought it looked really fun. She convinced me to try it. And I took that into high school.

"We've competed together and practiced together for years now. We trained a lot during COVID. We give each other a lot of tips, we bounce ideas off of each other. It's fun that we're both doing so well."

Mittelstadt also placed second in the pole vault (14 feet, 6 inches). That event was won by Lakes senior Colin Kao (14 feet, 6 inches).

The biggest winner of the day was Wauconda senior Javerius McGuinn. He rolled up three first-place finishes - long jump (21 feet, 7.5 inches), 100 meters (11.02) and 200 meters (22.45).

"I get to use my speed in the 100 and 200," McGuinn said. "I start fast and I build up and get faster as I go."

McGuinn used his speed on the football field, too.

He was a wide receiver for Wauconda and was known for his speedy routes. He will be playing football at Division II Missouri Western State.

"Running track helps with my speed and my endurance in football. They go hand-in-hand," McGuinn said. "My football coaches in college are actually open to me trying track in college, but I'm not sure yet if I'll do that. It's possible."

First, McGuinn wants to get downstate in track.

He missed opportunities as a freshman and sophomore due to back-to-back hip flexor injuries. And last season was wiped out by COVID.

"It feels so great to (be healthy) and do what I thought I could do," McGuinn said. "I'm hungry for state. Really hungry for state."

Junior Bryan Vale of Grayslake Central won the 3,200 meters with a 10:50.74. He placed second in the 1,600 meters to Round Lake's Cody Arenas, who won the event with a 4:37.01.

The other longer race of the meet, the 800 meters, went to Grant senior Josh Delgado, who smoked the field and finished with a 1:59.04, nearly 4 seconds ahead of the next-closest finisher.

"Some people call the 800 distance, others say it's a sprint. I think it's both. I just stay in zone and focus on the paces I want to hit," said Delgado, who will be running at Southern Illinois University next year. "And I'm also trying to give myself enough energy to finish the race. I've seen my times drop all season. This isn't as good as my PR (1:53) but it was really hot today and windy so I thought that was a solid run. I'm really happy with this."

Alejandro Gomez of Round Lake won both the 110 hurdles (15.73) and the 300 hurdles (41.92).

Sushil Suresh of Grayslake Central won the 400 meters (51.40) and freshman Kosta Zografos of Wauconda won the high jump at 6 feet, 2 inches.

Xavier Patterson of Grant won the triple jump (43 feet, 1.75 inches).