Boys track and field: Geneva ends Batavia's 4-year County run

Geneva scored multiple points in multiple events to deny Batavia's drive for five at the 101st Kane County Boys Track & Field Meet at West Aurora Friday.

Geneva scored 124 team points. Batavia, which had won the event four years consecutively, placed second with 121. West Aurora was third with 80 points.

It was a rare victory for Geneva at the yearly competition. The Vikings tied Kaneland for the 2012 title. Prior to that, their last outright Kane County Meet title was in 1945.

"I think our strength lied in our doubles," Geneva coach Gale Gross said.

Scoring performances in field events positioned the Vikings for success on the track.

Jacob Uhlmann, a 6-foot-2, 250-pound senior, swept the shot put (52 feet, 5 inches) and the discus (145-8).

Meanwhile, teammate Frank Martin, a 6-4, 305-pound senior, took second in shot (52-4.5) and placed sixth in discus.

"It was just an exciting night packed with energy and good competition with both Frank and I in both events," Uhlmann said. "I think that really pushed me to push myself to the limits."

Geneva piled up points in the field: Cody Machlet finished third in the triple jump and Lawi Djuma took fourth; Onyi Ukaobasi and Djuma finished 4-5 in the long jump.

"The jumps and the throws were instrumental, but it was all over the track," Gross said.

Geneva senior Andrew Olenek won the 100-meter dash in 11.19 seconds and took second in the 200 (22.75) behind Jason Miller of Dundee-Crown (22.34).

Ukaobasi finished second in the 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles and anchored the fifth-place 1,600-meter relay.

The South Elgin 400-meter relay team broke a 34-year-old Kane County Meet record. The foursome of Royce Robinson, Matt Jacobson, Jacob Todd and Davion Cherwin finished in 42.49 seconds. The previous record of 42.54 seconds by the West Aurora team of Darron Guyton, Leon Spears, Josh Zinzer and Markus Cocroft had stood since 1985.

"It was actually only our second week running as a group so I think we're doing pretty good," Robinson said. "We're going to keep improving from here. You never know what we can do when it comes down to sectionals."

Robinson, Todd and Cherwin were on the South Elgin relay team that nearly qualified for the final day in Charleston last year. Todd said handoffs could be cleaner "but we'll live with it and move on. Hopefully, we'll get better next week."

Batavia's Damian Rodriguez won the 800 in 1:56.92 seconds, just ahead of teammate Joseph Knanishu (1:58.09). It was a new personal best for Rodriguez by three seconds.

"It feels incredible," Rodriguez said. "I wanted to take it out that first 400, go a little quick, then throw it all out there for that last 400."

Batavia finished 1-2 in the 400 meters, thanks to Kane County champion Trevor Tousana (50.03) and Julian Davis (50.50).

Burlington Central senior Connor Wagner swept to victories in both hurdles races and anchored the winning 1,600-meter relay team of Zac Schmidt, Tommy Zettl and Adam Kries. The Rockets nipped Batavia at the finish line in 3:25.61.

Wagner was pleased with an adjustment he made in the 300 hurdles. He had been taking 22 strides before the first hurdle. Friday he took 21 and won in 38.99 seconds.

"I tried switching things up and it worked out pretty well for me," he said. "I died out at the end a little bit so I'll keep on working on endurance."

West Aurora senior Moshe Rogers swept to victories in the triple jump (45-1) and the long jump (21-10.5). His personal-best triple jump is 46-2, set last year, but the two-time state qualifier was unable to make it to the final day in Charleston as a junior.

'"I'm out for blood this year," Rogers said. "I'm ready. I'm excited."

Dundee-Crown's Miller anchored the winning 800-meter relay for teammates Dylan Becker, Meante Foster and Alex Miller. The Chargers finished in 1:29.56 seconds, just ahead of South Elgin.

Daniel Chen of the Illinois Math and Science Academy won the 1,600 meter run (4:19.38), followed by Batavia runners Christopher Levario and Adam Kennedy.

The 3,200-meter run came down to the final stretch between two sophomores. Geneva's Ben Calusinski led most of the race, but Zack Loomis of St. Charles East caught him with 50 meters remaining, pulled ahead and won by five meters.

"The first mile I just tried to pace myself," Loomis said. "The second mile, the end kind of hurt a little bit, but on the last lap I just gradually sped up because I was trying to break 9:40 this year." Loomis finished in a personal-best 9:39.53 to win by over a second.

St. Charles East won the 3,200-meter relay by almost five seconds. Bennett Melone, Luke Schildmeyer, Mitch Gansemer and Charles Murphy clocked in at 7:59.42.

St. Charles East's Alek Crawford won the high jump after clearing 6-2, an inch better than Jack Michalski of Dundee-Crown.

Marmion's Andrew Saloga cleared 14-6 to win the pole vault by six inches over his nearest competitor.