Boys track and field: Prospect, Palatine take top two spots at MSL meet
The MSL boys track and field championships held at Fremd Thursday night came with their natural subplots included.
One being the last attempt to get some momentum before next week's sectional meets in terms of achieving those all-important PRs which can improve one's chances of qualifying for the state meet at Eastern Illinois University in two weeks.
Then, there's the unmentioned fact for the seniors competing that graduation is in the radar for them over the next couple of weeks marking the completion of one stage of their lives. That's the case for Palatine senior long jumper Jacob Bostick who will head to the University of Iowa to continue his football career beginning his summer conditioning program in Iowa City just after the Memorial Day weekend.
That point was not lost on him as he took a moment for some reflection after winning his previous competition at the Palatine Relays two weeks earlier.
"It's actually crazy to think that literally in (less than) a month, I'll be out at Iowa," Bostick said. "I'm in no rush. I'm just really excited about enjoying this time before I go to college. I'm just really taking it all in."
He could also take in a shiny new MSL Conference champion medallion in the long jump thanks to his school record-setting length of 23 feet, 6 inches. That also aided his team's runner-up finish (102.5 points) with MSL West Division titlist Barrington (98.5) that served as the team battle of the night due to Prospect dominating the meet.
The Knights ran away from the competition taking top team honors for the third time in six years with 183 points.
"We have a great group of guys," Knights coach Jay Renaud said. "They're best friends who get along really well which makes it a lot easier to coach for sure."
Prospect won the team title by sweeping all four relay races: the 4 x 100 (41.59), 4 x 200 (1:27.87), 4 x 400 (3:27.70), and 4 x 800 (8:05.43).
It also had won individual short distance crowns with Aidan Orlando in the 100 meters (10.95), Sean Beihoffer (22.17) in the 200 meters, and Dominik Balenda (49.04) in the 400 meters.
All of which coming into the warmest temperatures of the season which made for a boost of nervous energy according to Orlando, who earned the unofficial title of the MSL's fastest man.
"In that weather, I was actually a lot less nervous because I wasn't really focusing on running the best time I can because I knew it would be in cold weather. But on the other hand coming out here and it was perfect weather for sprinting, I was nervous because this was the meet. I did my best, I got my PR."