Boys track and field: Neuqua Valley can't break winning habit at DVC meet
In his race, the 1,600-meter run, Neuqua Valley's Zach Kinne did not expect a lead that large. After all the races, neither did Wildcats coach Mike Kennedy.
In the last boys outdoor track and field championship under present DuPage Valley Conference membership, held Friday at Lake Park in Roselle, Neuqua Valley's 192 points topped Wheaton North (149.50), Wheaton Warrenville South (120) and Naperville Central (86). This fall the Wheatons, Lake Park and Glenbard North help inaugurate the DuKane Conference.
"There's some really good teams in this conference and for us to score that much was surprising, it really was," said Kennedy, whose Wildcats are six-for-six spanning indoor and outdoor DVC titles. A team effort included 110- and 300-hurdles winner Donovan Turner and sprinters Myles Gascon and Patrick Hoffmann, who ran on winning 400 and 800 relays.
"Some of the definition of our local area and the good competition that we see is from these teams. So we're going to be sad to see them go, definitely. And their coaches are friends of ours," Kennedy said.
In the 1,600 Kinne sped to a quick lead and pierced the wind to win in 4 minutes, 18.78 seconds, an eight-second gap over a strong cast containing Colin Kirkham of Lake Park and Rokas Gudinavicius of Metea Valley. Kinne won the last Gill Dodds Trophy to be awarded to the DVC 1,600 winner.
"We definitely went for it today, kind of going for points just to show where our strength is," Kinne said.
Many came in field events, where Ife Oketona and Norman Dong went 1-2 in long jump, Mac Mitchell topped Naperville North's Will deBolt in triple jump and Wildcats sophomore Matt Appel placed second in both discus and shot put, the latter won by Wheaton North's Tyler Johnson.
Waubonsie Valley's Mantaj Singh nicked Appel by 2 feet on his final discus throw, 159 feet, 2 inches.
"The wind dialed down in the finals, which really helped because it was a left crossover, which is good for lefties, bad for righties because it topples (the discus) over," Singh said. "So luckily it dialed down or I wouldn't be having this interview, actually."
Neuqua challenged in the 3,200 before WW South's Sean Maison and Wheaton North's Connor Zydek reprised their earlier 1-2 positions.
The 800 became a 60-meter dogfight between Naperville Central's Thomas Shilgalis and Waubonsie Valley's Wes York. Shilgalis held off one of York's trademark kicks to win his first DVC title by .04 seconds, at 1:55.44.
"I just had the mentality of going into this race as the fastest guy, and if you think that, you can do it," Shilgalis said.
Lake Park's Tommy Paprocki set a DVC pole vault record at 15 feet, 9 inches, edging Tom Ansiel's 15-7 from last year.
"The mindset I had at this meet was just, I'm going to go in there, I'm going to be powerful, I'm going to be energetic and I'm just going to do it. I'm going to do what I've learned over the four years, and it paid off," Paprocki said.
WW South sprinter Cedric Rowzee has yet to lose a heat outdoors. In the 100 he beat Wheaton North's surging Prince Tarpeh and Glenbard North's Xavier Curtis and got Gascon in the 200.
Rowzee's secret, "It's cold, so stay warm."
Wheaton North, which won the sophomore level, added Ian Rothery's 400-meter win and another when high jumper Ben LeVasseur outlasted Metea Valley's Pryce Giwa-Osagie and Glenbard North's Randy Schmitz. Briggs Cecil, Charlie Hill, Joey Simon and Rothery capped the Falcons' 42-year DVC stay with a 1,600 relay title.
"I'm gonna miss these guys," said Falcons coach Don Helberg. "Steve (Wiesbrook, Naperville Central coach), he and I ran track in college together. I've known him forever, coaching against him and the rest of the Valleys. It'll be sad, but it'll be exciting for the new conference."