Boys track and field: Pair of 1-2 finishes spark St. Charles East
Waubonsie Valley moved its annual Red Ribbon Classic boys track meet up to Friday from Saturday to avoid, yes, snow.
Some St. Charles East runners also made smart moves in Aurora.
The Saints duo of junior Aidan King and sophomore Luke Schildmeyer followed Wheaton Warrenville South's Jared Peaslee for much of the 3,200-meter race, as a crosswind swept the track. With two laps left King bolted for the lead with Schildmeyer in tow.
"A race like this, you don't want to get caught in the wind," said King, who proved his No. 1 seed entering the race by winning at 9 minutes, 40.47 seconds. Schildmeyer followed at 9:45.65.
"I know that if I kind of sat back and then trusted my last 800 (meters) I could win, and I went for exactly that because that's always the goal, to win every race. Time's important, but at the end of the day that's what matters, get those points."
Those 18 points in the 3,200 and 18 more on another 1-2 finish by Charles Murphy and Bennett Melone in the 800 provided the bulk of St. Charles East's 59.5 points, good for sixth place in the 14-team meet. Wheaton Warrenville South won with 105.
A week ago Murphy won the 800-meter run at WW South's Red Grange Invitational. He made it two straight at the Red Ribbon, again moving late and, this time, past Melone.
"I had the similar experience in the 800 last week, somewhat of the same racing mentality coming into this race," Murphy said. "I was going to just sit behind and then in the last 300 I was going to make my move and my buddy, Bennett Melone, came with me. I was very comfortable going the last 200 with him."
The two Saints finished in 1:59.06 and 1:59.57, respectively.
"It's great for our confidence going 1-2 in the 800," Murphy said. "We're going to stack our four-by-eight (3,200 relay) next week at (Kane) County, so it gives us a lot of confidence going into next week."
On the other end of the spectrum, South Elgin won a sprint relay at a major invite for the second time in two weeks. After Matt Jacobson, James Head, Jacob Todd and Davion Cherwin won the 800 relay at WW South, Royce Robinson led Jacobson, Todd and Cherwin to win the Red Ribbon 400 relay in 42.64 seconds.
"We needed that mark because we were 43-high and now we're in the 42s," said Storm coach Anthony LaRue.
"I get that sense, things are coming together," said Todd, a senior, who also took second by .03 seconds in a photo finish 100 dash, at 11.40.
As Todd and LaRue both noted, South Elgin has had to practice on grass at home and at Bartlett High's track while South Elgin's football field is being redone.
"It's just nice to see that we can still come together at the end of the day," Todd said.
"We adapt and overcome," LaRue said, "and now's the time to do it."
A threat early Friday at Rolling Meadows High School was found not to be credible, but a meet at the school was canceled. That left St. Charles North scrambling.
Though most meets' entries were locked in, North Stars coach Kevin Harrington got Ryan Arnold into the 1,600-meter run at Waubonsie. The coach volunteered to work the triple jump to repay the favor.
It was well worth it for Arnold. He finished third at 4:27.64.
"How many points did I score for the team?" joked the junior, the sole North Star there.
"(Waubonsie Valley) coach (Kevin) Rafferty, awesome guy, let me in the meet. I still have to go thank him," Arnold said.
"It was for me to get in a good time because we're coming up on the state series. We just wanted to get a feel for the mile because I really hadn't been able to get a good one. And the wind died down so it was perfect out."
Marmion junior Andrew Saloga battled WW South's Jake MacConnachie in pole vault, each athlete achieving 13 feet, 8 inches on their first attempts. Saloga, who had vaulted 14-10 early this season, got 14-2 on his third attempt, cleared 14-8 easily but bowed out at 15-2 to place second to MacConnachie.
"The past two years I didn't make it to (state) finals so that's been really my main motivation for this season, is to go to finals, see what I can do," Saloga said.
"Indoor state (Illinois Top Times) was fun, I won that this year (at 14-8), so I'm getting consistent at this height, which is good. That means higher heights are coming soon."