Radcliff runs state top 200m time at York Boys Invitational

By Michael Newman

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Elmhurst – Christopher Radcliff electrified the capacity crowd inside the Joe Newton Fieldhouse as he ran a state leading 22.19 on his home track to win the 200 Meter Dash at Friday evening’s York Boys Invitational.

His time also set a new meet, track, and school record. His teammate Jimmy Hoffman ran 22.60 (IL #3) to finish second.

RESULTS | MEET VIDEO

It is a big step for Radcliff in his junior season. His improvement over the past year has been dramatic considering where he was a year ago.

His health concerns during the 2019 season had himself, his family, and his coaches worried. There were meets and races where he would collapse right afterwards requiring immediate medical attention. With in a matter of minutes after collapsing, he would be okay, but his day of competition would be over. No one had an answer even doctors and specialists that he would go to.

“I started seeing it when I was running the 400 my freshman year and I would collapse after races. My sophomore year it happened more frequently. I was feeling tightness in my neck. It was a pinched nerve in my neck,” Radcliff said. “My blood pressure was also effected. My doctors said put on more muscle mass. It seems to be working.”

WATCH THE FULL RADCLIFF INTERVIEW

Radcliff did his work during the fall. He started running cross-country, but Achilles problems stopped him running. He hit the weight room and did his work to get ready for the 2020 Track season.

That work is paying off. His wins in two major invitationals at the distance the past two weekends is showing that he has become one of the top sprinters in the state.

The York junior is one of several reasons why the Dukes are one of the top 3A Boys teams in the state so far this season. York won their own invitational comfortably with 152 points. Prospect (83 points), St. Charles North (77 points), and St. Charles East (74 points) finished second through fourth.

Colin Hill stepped away from running the 3200 Meter Relay to concentrate on the 800 Meter Run. Hill passed Taft’s Lucas Guidone in the final lap and then held him off to win in 1:58.40 (IL #6). Guidone ran 1:58.72 (IL #8) to finish second. Hill also anchored York’s quartet to a win in the 1600 Meter Relay (3:34.67) ahead of Wheaton-Warrenville South by more than three seconds.

Without Hill in the quartet, York dug into their distance depth for a replacement with sophomore Ethan Summer and still came away with a win in the 3200 Meter Relay. Max Lupo gave the team the lead at the first exchange. St. Charles East took the lead on the second leg as XC All-American Bob Liking passed Summer with 300-meters left. Summer held close when he handed the baton to  Daniel Klysh. Micah Wilson of St. Charles East had the lead on the third leg for the first 100-meters. Then Klysh took over and extended the lead going through 600-meters in 1:25.9 on his way to a 1:59.3 split. Michael Moriarty cruised to a 2:00.8 anchor split to give York the win (8:08.21) with St. Charles East (8:20.35, IL #4) and Prospect (8:29.71) finishing second and third.

York’s Max Santiago had a great night in the hurdle events winning both. Santiago ran a personal best of 7.86 (IL #4) to win the 55 Meter High Hurdles. Santiago came back to run 7.53 to win the 55 Meter Low Hurdles (33” height).

Kameron Stearns also picked up a win for York as he jumped 13.04m (42’ 9.5”) to win the Triple Jump.

Other Meet Highlights

The distance races are staple events in this meet. This year again they were the spotlight races in this meet. Hersey’s Max Svienty took the lead after the 400-meters of the 3200 Meter Run and was never pressured after that clicking off 71 second 400’s in the first three quarters of the race. His winning time of 9:30.60 (IL #8) was almost 15 seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Colin Safford (9:45.28) and York’s Mickey Vreeland (9:46.96).

The top race of the night was in the 1600 Meter Run. Palatine’s Richie Jacobo set a torrid pace going through the first 200-meters in 30.3 and passing 400-meters in 63.4 seconds. If he was trying to take the kick out of the rest of the pack, it seemed to be working. By the time he passed 1200-meters in 3:17.5, only York’s Daniel Klysh, Jake Allen of Naperville North, and Ethan Seng of Wheaton-Warrenville South holding on some four seconds behind Jacobo. The bell lap the lead for Jacobo was still three seconds. His strides on the back stretch were efforted. Allen and Klysh pushed each other down the back stretch were closing the gap with Allen having the advantage entering the final curve.

Jacobo’s lead ended with 10-meters left in the race as Allen was side-by side with the Palatine runner. Allen had at the end running 4:21.79 (IL #3) for the win just ahead of Jacobo (4:21.97) and his Illinois #4 time. Klysh finished third (4:23.63, IL #5) completing a strong double for the meet. Seng finished fourth (4:25.30, IL #8) with a personal best.

Two hundredths of a second separated the first three runners in the 55 Meter Dash. Prospect’s John Moellenkamp ran 6.59 for the win just ahead of St. Charles North’s Joshua Duncan (6.60) and Joshua DiNatale (6.61).

There was a controversial finish in the 400 Meter Dash as York’s Will Heuer and Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Joe Franke came across the finish line together in their section race falling to the track after crossing the line. Officials determined that Heuer had drifted to the right impeding the progress of Franke. Heuer was disqualified giving Franke the win (52.37). Video after the meet confirmed the officials decision.

A bad first exchange put top seeded York out of the running in the 800 Meter Relay. The finish was close as the first four teams in the final section were within a half second of each other. St. Charles North hung on for the win (1:33.79) ahead of Prospect (1:33.90), Naperville North (1:34.01), and York (1:34.14).

St. Charles North sophomore Paolo Gennarelli uncorked a 16.74 put (54’ 11”) to win the Shot Put by more than four feet ahead of Willowbrook’s Enrique Cruz. Prospect’s Andrew Diversey jumped 6.13m (20’ 1.25”) to win the Long Jump.

The Pole Vault lasted close to four hours but created excitement on the southwest corner of the fieldhouse. St. Charles North’s Josh Kolodziej had the fans excited as he cleared a personal best of 14’ 3” to win the event. Diversey cleared 13’ 0” to finish second. Jonah Walton of Hoffman Estates cleared 6’ 0” to win the High Jump.