Boys track and field: Glenbard South feasts at Metro Suburban Conference meet
Glenbard South's Stevan Plavsic has the eye of the tiger. It overcame the stomach of the mouse.
The junior ate nothing before competing in four events Saturday at the Metro Suburban Conference boys indoor track and field invitational on his home track. He nonetheless won shot put and 55-meter low hurdles and placed second in high jump and 55 high hurdles.
It helped the Raiders earn a lofty 131 points that nearly doubled runner-up Riverside-Brookfield's 67.
"We came out of the field events with 70 points, which is our strength, so we did what we wanted to do," said Raiders coach Ronn Claussen.
To be fair, most in the 13-team field lack Glenbard South's indoor facility, some in their first or second indoor meets. That means bupkus to one with the eye of the tiger.
"I woke up and I'm, like, dude, you know what? I'm going to be a warrior today because I'm doing so much and I'm going to be tired, but you just have to shut up and do it," Plavsic said. "Once you get in that mindset that you're a machine right now and you have to get going - I didn't even eat breakfast this morning - you just have to be able to push yourself all the time."
He was among a Raiders field events parade that saw Antonio Hilliard, Will Werner, Julian Lalvani, Michael Zima and Jeremy Earnst all place first or second. IC Catholic's Sean Hipskind won triple jump, and Wheaton Academy's Josh Friedland, a freshman, set the Warriors' indoor shot put record at 39 feet, 5¾ inches.
Fenton senior Jeremy Lodewyck won the 3,200 ahead of Glenbard South's Austin MacClure, Timothy Christian's Clint Fincher and Bison teammate Cristian Sanchez. Fenton's Randy Almarales ran second in the 1,600 fast heat, Michael Lieggi third in the 800.
Lodewyck took control of the 3,200 at lap 13 of 20 "and piled it on from there," he said.
"I went into the last lap, I knew no one was right next to me, so I just gave it all I got because I had conference champion in the back of my mind the whole time," Lodewyck said.
"I wasn't expecting to go this fast," Timothy Christian's Caleb Mitchell said after he and teammate Will Terpstra sprinted to the finish in their heat of the 1,600, lots left in the tank.
"I could have gone a little harder," Terpstra said. "This is our first race, so we had no idea where we were actually going to end up, so I'm excited to see a good time right off the bat this year."
Following the graduation of superstar Jordan Rowell, IC Catholic is retooling around athletes such as Hipskind, Khalil Saunders, Robbie Whelan, Jared Bon and Justin Hall. Knights freshman Kyle Franklin placed second in the 200 dash, third in the 55 and helped the 640 relay place fifth even with a dropped baton.
"I just thought I should do high school track to make me a better running back," Franklin said.