Final two events the key in Batavia team win at #SmithStrong Invitational

Photo: Quintin Lowe anchors Batavia to the win in the 4x4 (Kevin Dorsey Photo)

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Minooka, Ill – It looked like host Minooka was on their way to winning their own invitational Saturday afternoon. A charge at the end by Batavia gave them the win in the final two events to help them win the team with 114.5 points in this meet that featured some of the top Boys teams in the state.

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Minooka scored 90.5 points to finish second with Waubonsie Valley (64 points), Homewood-Flossmoor (59 points), and Oswego (48 points) finishing in the top five teams.

It was sunny at the Central Campus track, but winds gusted to 20 mph at some points of this meet. It most cases, it did not seem to hamper some great performances. Batavia took the lead for good when Scott Parker came from behind on the inside lane to win the 200 Meter Dash in a wind-aided IL #1 21.95 (+3.0 m/s). Robert Smith of Homewood-Flossmoor (22.10) and Cael Hiser of Minooka (22.16) finishing second and third.

Batavia secured the team title in the 4x400m Relay. Jonah Fallon grew the lead for the Bulldogs on the third leg of the final section, then Quintin Lowe held off Minooka in the final 100-meters to give his team the win (3:31.85) ahead of Minooka (3:34.15) and Plainfield South (3:34.37). Lowe had a busy afternoon finishing third in the 800 Meter Run and fifth in the 1600 Meter Run.

Minooka’s Tyler Colwell had a big day on his home track involved in three wins. He took the baton for his anchor leg with a slight lead in the 4x100m Relay. That grew by the time he crossed the line in 42.64 for the win. Homewood-Flossmoor was the closest school to Minooka in second (43.55). It was the same story in the 100 Meter Dash as Colwell ran 10.89 to pull away with the win with Homewood-Flossmoor’s Taji Mathis-Akinremi finishing second (11.16). Parker finished third winning the third section in 11.17. Colwell also anchored Minooka’s quartet to the win in the 4x200m Relay by two seconds ahead of Batavia and Homewood-Flossmoor who were both timed in 1:31.35.

All four distance events in this meet had great performances. Minooka built up a five second lead entering the final lap of the 4x800m Relay. Sandburg’s Brock Rice ran a great final 400 gaining on and catching Minooka’s Robert Hadjuck just before the finish line. A lean by Rice gave Sandburg the win (8:03.60) by five hundredths of a second ahead of Minooka (8:03.65). Oswego ran 8:11.92 to finish third.

There was no drama in the 3200 Meter Run. Ethan Forsell of Oswego took the lead early never looking back. The senior ran 9:37.24 to win easily by nine seconds ahead of Ethan Marshall of Waubonsie Valley (9:46.78). Michael Michelotti of Oak Park-River Forest finished third. The sophomore ran 9:52.19 to win the first section of the event.

Zachary Balzer of Minooka passed Oak Park’s Lou Delano in the final 50-meters to run 1:59.79 to claim the win in the 800 Meter Run. Delano finished second (2:00.23) ahead of Lowe (2:01.80).

The lead traded off it seemed every 75 meters in the 1600 Meter Run. Balin Doud of Oswego held off a valiant sprint to the finish by Waubonsie Valley’s Angel Solis to hold on to win the race. Doud (4:21.88) and Solis (4:22.13) both ran personal bests in finishing first and second. Declan Tunney of Sandburg (4:23.10) and Camyn Viger of Plainfield South (4:23.98) finished third and fourth both under 4:24.

Track Highlights

Gabe Czako of Lockport took the lead after going over the second hurdle and went on to win the 110 High Hurdles (14.77) with Collin Forrest of Minooka (14.97) his closest competition. Forrest came back to run 40.92 to win the 300 Intermediate Hurdles as Jake Lansdowne of Neuqua Valley ran 41.56 to finish second.

Max Mitchell of Neuqua Valley held the advantage for the first 250-meters of the 400 Meter Dash. Evan Gronewold of Huntley, who finished second in last year’s state final in this event, came up to take the lead and win from Lane 1 (50.80) ahead of Jacob Hohmann of Batavia (51.22) and Gabriel King of Plainfield South (51.63).

Field Event Highlights

Brodey Squires of Waubonsie Valley jumped a personal best of 22-1.25 to win the Long Jump with Charlie Nolan of Normal West (21-11), Sterling Shumpert of Homewood-Flossmoor (21-10.25), and Caleb Wright of Oswego (21-9) finishing second through fourth. Batavia’s Jalen Buckley jumped 46-4.75 to win the Triple Jump almost two feet ahead of second-place James Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley (44-5.75).

Elijah Pflipsen of Kaneland won the Shot Put with a winning put of 53-9.25. Hayden Swim of Huntley (53-8) finished second ahead of the Waubonsie Valley duo of Sam Mika (53-3) and Jose Barragan (50-11). Mika came back with a huge personal best of 168-3.75 to win the Discus.

Nick Pennington of Neuqua Valley cleared 13-7.5 to win a windy Pole Vault competition. Nicholas Fortino of Batavia and Kyle Eppenstein of Plainfield South both cleared 13-1.5 to finish second and third. Matt Cless of Evanston cleared 6-4.75 in winning the High Jump. Normal West’s Charlie Nolan and Jonovan Findley finished second and third both clearing a 6-2.75 height.