Boys track and field: Prospect scores a win at Buffalo Grove Invitational
With a strong effort from start to finish, the Prospect boys track and field team pulled away from New Trier Saturday afternoon to win the Buffalo Grove Invitational under some pretty windy running conditions.
The Knights took home first place with 162 points to topple the runner-up Trevians with 137 points, and third-place squad Glenbrook South (97 points).
Crystal Lake South also had a strong showing with a fourth-place score of 95 points followed by rival Crystal Lake Central which edged Conant 53-52 for fifth place. Elk Grove (32 points) placed seventh in the nine-team field.
Prospect's troops were led by John Moellenkamp, who placed first in the 100-meter dash in 11.29 seconds along with a winning time of 22.98 in the 200-meter dash.
Junior Erik Snell also brought home a first-place medal for the Knights in the 800-meter run (1:59.43) while teammate Michael Sharis (6-feet, 2-inches) was the high jump champion.
Tim Zalinski placed second in both the 100-meter dash, and the 200-meter dash while Prospect teammate Andrew Diversey captured second place in the 400-meter dash. The Knights also got a second-place finish from Sebastian Swistak in the shot put.and discus.
"It's a pretty windy day, but I went out pretty fast," said Snell regarding the 800-meter race. "I'm keeping an open mind (for reaching state), I want to keep focused on each meet, not look too far ahead, and hopefully make it downstate."
The Knights' best showing in the relays was a second-place finish in the 4x200 meter race.
"It was a really good team effort, and we're gearing up for our MSL East meet on Tuesday," said Prospect assistant coach Mike Stokes. "(Snell) is setting himself up really well for conference and sectionals, and that was a really good time in the wind today."
Despite not being at 100 percent healthy, Crystal Lake South senior Matt Reall won the long jump with a leap of 19-feet, 1½ inches. The Gators also got a first-place finish from Dylan Law (15.88) in the 110-meter hurdles.
In the 4x200 meter relay, CLS's team of Reall, Jace Langguth, Dan Sage, and Zach Borgert also posted a winning time of 1:35.26. The Gators' 4x100 meter relay team placed second.
" (Reall) showed up this morning with the flu, and I'm just proud that he stuck it out and he wanted to earn points for the team," said CLS coach Nick Willhoit. "(Law) had a rough week last week, but he recovered from last week and he had a personal record today."
Conant was led by Patrick Malecki (39-06½), who won the triple jump, while teammate Ulises Silva placed second in the 110-meter hurdles. Silva also placed third for the Cougars in the 300-meter hurdles.
"(Malecki) is a senior for us, he's a very solid competitor, and he was the No. 2-seed so it was nice to see him get to the top spot," said Conant coach John Powers. "All of our kids come to compete from top to bottom, and they give 100 percent."
Elk Grove got second-place finishes from Kosei Kusunoki in the long jump and triple jump while Buffalo Grove's Tyler Frank placed third in the pole vault.
Prospect got a third from Kendall Morrow in the 800-meter run, and a third from Nathan Kowalski in the high jump.
The Gators got a third from Borgert in the 100-meter dash, a third from Reall in the triple jump, and a third from Reall in the 200-meter dash.