Oak Park-River Forest repeats team title at WSC-Silver Boys Championships

Shultz leads OPRF with sprint double; Golub speeds to double win in 800, 600; Crazy finishes in 3200/1600 spotlight a great night of competition

By Michael Newman

Elmhurst, Ill - Caleb Schultz and Kevin McGovern closed the door on York for Oak Park-River Forest as the two sprinters clinched the team title for the Huskies with a finish 1-2 in the 200 Meter Dash. It made them untouchable as they repeated the Silver Division title Friday night inside Joe Newton Fieldhouse.

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The Huskies scored 149 points finishing ahead of York (121 points) and Downers Grove North (81 points). Hinsdale Central and Glenbard West tied for fourth (61 points) in this seven team meet.

Oak Park and York had faced each other three weeks before at the Proviso West Invitational with both teams tying for second place. The meet on Friday night was highly competitive as this conference meet traditionally is where Oak Park Coach Tim Hasso and York Charlie Kern kept lifting up their teams with every passing event. Hasso exclaimed during the meet, “ This is great. The rivalry is back.”

The two programs have been among the best in this conference for the past decade. OPRF has dominated lately including winning the indoor conference title with 132 points in 2023. York finished fifth last season with just 50 points. The Dukes won the Frosh/Soph title last year and some of that success came with that group with them now on the varsity level. Never the less, both teams slugged it out for the team title.

The difference for the Huskies on this night was scoring multiple athletes in some events. Enough to make a difference in the team scoring. Kaden Garland started the meet off for his team with a 57-3 mark to win the Shot Put. Mark Ortiz of Hinsdale Central finished second (51-0.5) with Oak Park teammate Jonathan Sibley-Diggs with a 49-7 put to finish third.

Caleb Schultz was part of 30 points to help OPRF win the team title. The first four runners in the 55 Meter Dash were separated by six hundredth of a second, Schultz ran 6.53 (IL #10 tie) to win the event ahead of Mason Ellens of Glenbard West (6.56), and York’s Cash Langley (6.57) and Bruno Massel (6.59). Schultz ran 22.42 to win the 200 Meter Dash with teammate Kevin McGovern finishing second and Ellens finishing third, both timed at 22.71.

Oak Park-River Forest won two of the three relays contested in this meet. The quartet of Mariano Escobedo, Michael Michelotti, Andrew Harmon, and Daniel Johnson held off Downers Grove North running 8:04.86 (IL #10) to win with North (8:06.49), Glenbard West (8:08.79), and Lyons Township (8:11.55) finishing in the next three places.

It helped that Oak Park was seeded to run in the first of two sections of the 4x200 Meter Relay. They took the early lead and did not have to worry about teams near them during handoffs. The quartet of McGovern, Schultz, Kingston Petersen, and Kwabena Osei-Yeboah ran 1:31.76 (IL #9) to win the first section and the overall event. York ran 1:34.53 to win the second section and finish second overall.

York won the 4x400 Meter Relay with Danny Karnatz giving the Dukes the lead on the opening leg. Max Zangan, Avi Shah, and Brady Golomb held off Oak Park on the final three legs to take home the win in 3:32.49 with Oak Park (3:33.45) and Glenbard West (3:33.80) finishing second and third. Golomb anchored in a 50.9 split for York.

The Pole Vault was exciting once again. Both Gavin Schaer of York and Lucas Brauc of Oak Park-River Forest cleared 15-0 in the event. Schaer won the title on fewer misses. Both athletes also scored points in other events. Schaer cleared a personal best of 6-3 to finish second in the High Jump. Michael Prieto of Hinsdale Central cleared 6-6 to win the event. Brauc ran 52.10 to win the second of three sections of the 400 Meter Dash. Emanuel Murphy of Downers Grove North followed in the third section running 51.82 to win the event.

Vince Davero of Downers Grove North was one of three athletes in this meet to win multiple events. It was extremely close in the Long Jump. Davero jumped a state leading 23-2.75 to win the Long Jump with Oak Park’s Kwabena Osei-Yeboah jumping 23-2.25 (IL #2) finishing second. It was the same finish in the Triple Jump. Davero jumped 47-2.25 to claim the win with Osei-Yeboah with a 46-8.25 jump (IL #7) to finish second.

There were four distance races that spotlight this distance crazy conference. Two of the finishes were the wildest of the season. York’s Brady Golomb made sure that the other two races were under control.

Golomb, a transfer from Southlake TX, had never run in an indoor meet before this February. The tight turns agreed for the senior again as he ended his indoor season undefeated including two wins in Friday evening’s meet.

Golomb did what he has done most of this year. Take the lead and then dare anyone to take it from him. The pack stretched out quickly as he had the lead after the first turn. On the second lap, Nick Strayer of Lyons Township started to close the gap but could never get within a second of the York runner until the final lap.

Golomb ran a personal best of 1:54.65 (IL #4) for the win. Strayer ran 1:55.44 (IL #5) to finish second. Anthony Nitti of Glenbard West (1:57.37) and Max Zangan of York (1:58.92) finished third and fourth.

Golomb had less than 45 minutes to recover before he had to go to the line for the 600 Meter Run. He said afterwards that he could feel the half in his legs for a little bit. It did not stop the senior to take the lead. Connor Schupp of Oak Park tried to close the gap but that never came to fruition. Golomb ran 1:25.63 for his second win. Schupp finished second (1:27.11) ahead of York’s Avi Shah (1:27.69).

The craziness came in the two longest races of the meet. The pack was content to let York’s Zach Saltiel take the pacing chores for most of the 3200 Meter Run. Brady Travers of Downers Grove North tried to take the lead at first, but Lewis O’Connor of Oak Park clinched onto the lead with more than three laps to go. Coming to the final lap, Travers and Saltiel tried to pass O’Connor but the Oak Park runner would not let the two runners by as they entered the final lap.  In the middle of the curve, O’Connor started to slow and fall. Saltiel took the lead as he entered the back straight. Travers flew by Saltiel taking the lead for good.

Travers ran a 9:36.34 for the win ahead of Saltiel (9:39.51). Ben Wuggazer of Lyons Township finished third (9:41.04) ahead of Graham Faris of Glenbard West (9:42.46). O’Connor got up after the fall and finished fifth (9:54.62).

Strayer would have an hour to recover before the 1600 Meter Run. Fans were looking forward to seeing the showdown between Strayer and Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central. It met up to expectations for most of the race and then some.

Bandukwala took command of the pace on the first lap passing 200-meters in 31 seconds and 400-meters in 64 seconds with the rest of the field closely behind. Strayer at the end of the third lap had enough with the pace and took the lead. That first move broke the rest of the pack up with Bandukwala the only runner staying with the Lyons Township senior. The rest of the pack dropped back led by Phillip Cupial of Downers Grove North.

It was 2:08.9 at 800-meters, 2:42 at 1000-meters. Strayer was still leading. Bandukwala patient enough to stay on Strayer’s shoulder going along with the ride. The move came with 500-meters left in the race when Bandukwala tried to male a pass entering the far curve. Strayer felt Bandukwala on his side and made a significant move. It was a move that buckled the Hinsdale runner’s legs as he fell off the pace.

It looked like this race belonged to Strayer as the pace before that moved had slowed to a 67 second third 400. The lead was four seconds entering the final lap of the race. Cupial had moved pass a struggling Bandukwala and had his eyes on the lead.

The earlier 800 run by Strayer was starting to take effect on his leg as he entered the final curve with 100-meters left. Cupial meanwhile was finding gears that he did not realize that he had. The sophomore was making ground quickly on the Lyons runner.

With 20-meters left in the race, poof, Cupial had the lead and the win in one of the most exciting races of the year. Cupial’s final 200-meters of the race was 27.7 seconds.

Cupial ran a huge personal best of 4:21.01 to win the race. Strayer’s double was impressive in finishing second (4:21.56) . Will Surratt of Downers Grove North finished third (4:27.66) slipping by Bandukwala (4:27.86) in the final meters of the race. Tate Pavelka of Lyons Township (4:28.65) and Emmett Bradford of York (4:29.27) ran personal bests to finish fifth and sixth.