York achieves three-peat in again winning the Stan Reddel Invitational team title

Dukes helped by winning five of six relays; Distance races shine led by win in 1600 by Jochum; Quaid-Bowman over 16-0 in Pole Vault win.

By Michael Newman

Elmhurst, Ill – York repeated as team champions in the Stan Reddel Invitational winning for the third straight year. The Dukes scored in 15 out of 20 events contested in this meet to score 109.33 points. Prospect scored 82 points to finish second ahead of Willowbrook (68 points), and Hersey (58 points).

The distance events took over the track (of course) inside the Joe Newton Field House as fast times exploded especially in the most exciting race of the day in the 1600 Meter Run.

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James O’Sullivan of Palatine and Thomas Jochum of Glenbard South were the top two seeds in the second section of the 1600 Meter Run. It was expected that those two runners were going to challenge for the race win. Jochum used a hide and seek strategy taking the race out in a breakneck pace passing the first three laps in 29.2, 59.6, and 1:31.4. “IT was the excitement of the race,” Jochum said about the adrenaline that hit him in the first three laps. “I knew I had gone out too fast. I just had to slow down a little bit.

It did calm down a little bit passing 800-meters in 2:04.9. In the meanwhile, O’Sullivan bided his time hoping Jochum would come back to him. That was happening as O’Sullivan passed in 2:10.3. When the gap stayed the same as Jochum passed in 2:37 at 1k, the Palatine senior knew he had to chase after the sophomore.

Jochum was feeling the fast early pace as he ran his sixth lap in 36 seconds passing 1200-meters in 3:13. O’Sullivan at that point was within three seconds and getting closer. The two runners were within a second entering the last lap as it looked like O’Sullivan would make the pass on the final back stretch. That was not the case. As O’Sullivan readied himself to take the lead, Jochum in a way woke up and surged into the curve gaining control of this race.

Jochum crossed the line with the win timed at 4:19.85 (IL #9). O’Sullivan ran a smart race in running 4:22.38 (IL #14) to finish second. The top seven runners in this race all ran season best. Samuel Hill of St. Charles North finished third (4:30.20) ahead of Luke Robinson of Prospect (4:30.65) and Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South (4:31.17) who finished fourth and fifth. (Watch Jochum Interview)

Adrenaline hit Alex Krieg of Palatine reacting to the electricity of the track as he passed the first 400 meters of the 3200 Meter Run passing in 64.3 seconds. Krieg opened a six second lead by the halfway point passing in 4:37.5. A pack led by Greyson Ellenson of St. Charles East and followed by Aiden Noel of Wheaton-Warrenville South, and Landon Samuelson of Hononegah were six seconds back. Ellensohn was the runner that made the move but could not get any closer to three seconds of Krieg. The Palatine junior found another gear to not let Ellensohn close as he ran 9:23.39 (IL #8) to win the race named after former York runner and assistant coach Jim Hedman. Ellensohn ran 9:27.75 to finish second with Samuelson (9:30.13) and Noel (9:38.60) finishing third and fourth. (Watch Krieg Interview)

A second Palatine runner, Carter Hayes, took control of the 800 Meter Run early. Hayes and Hersey’s Mateus Salomao pull away from the rest of the field as the two runners passed 400 meters in a swift 55.8 seconds. Hayes took control of the race on the final lap as he ran 1:57.49 (IL #5) for the win as Salomao ran 1:58,52 to finish second ahead of teammate Jon Choi (2:01.69) who finished third. (Watch Hayes Interview).

Michael Wilson of St. Charles East got out fast in the first lap of the final section of the 600 Meter Run and never looked back. Wilson controlled his race winning the event running 1:26.18 (IL # 13) to win ahead of Evan Haworth of Willowbrook ran 1:27.40 to finish second in the section and third overall in the event. Max Zangan of York was by himself running 1:27.31to win the third section and second overall.

It looked like York would win easily in the 4x800 Meter Relay as they had a five-second lead entering the final leg of the race. The handoff between York runners Everett Sinson and Carter Olsen eluded the two runners with the baton flying off the track near the infield. Olsen picked it up and returned to the track but now behind Prospect’s Boris Dimitrov. Olson caught up in the first lap as the two runners battled for the lead. Prospect had the lead in the final 50 meters in the race, but Olsen caught Dimitrov at the line to win 8:16.79 – 8:16.81. St, Charles North ran 8:22.76 to finish third.

The Dukes had two win out of the three B-Level relays in the meet. They swept all three Varsity relay win. York only had two individual wins in this meet. One of the wins came in the 55 Meter Dash. Wylder Smith of St. Charles North set the standard running 6.52 (IL #7) to win section three. Bruno Massel of York in the final section ran the same time of 6.52 to win his section. Timers had to go to the thousandths discover that Massel was four thousandths of a second ahead of Smith giving the York senior the win.

York’s other individual win came in the 55 Meter Low Hurdles with Luke De Simone running 7.36. De Simone finished second in the 55 High Hurdles behind race winner Nathan Cichy of Prospect who ran 7.72 (IL #2) to claim the win with De Simone running 7.81.

Massel gave led off in York’s quartet in the 4x200 Meter Relay. The team of Massel, Henry Duda, Danny Karnatz, and Aaron Jobi ran 1:32.61 for the win ahead of Willowbrook (1:33.32) and Prospect (1:34.41). Danny Karnatz opened the lead for his team in the 4x400 Meter Relay in a race they never trailed, Karnatz, Zangan, Jobi, and Jack Ostendorf ran 3:29.70 (IL #9) for the win ahead of Prospect (3:33.94) and Naperville North (3:34.86).

Other Meet Highlights

Kyle Quaid-Bowman of Glenbard South did not come into the Pole Vault competition until the rest of the field had exhausted all their attempts at 15-0. He only took five attempts at this meet clearing the event win on his second attempt and then took three attempts to clear 16-0. Quaid Bowman cleared 16-6 in January at the Reno Pole Vault Summit. Jonathan Nitsch of St. Charles East and Will Viken of Rolling Meadows both cleared 14-0 tying for second.

Logan Farrell of Hersey dominated the Shot Put competition as he achieved a personal best of 58-1.25 (IL #4) to win the event by seven feet. Elijah Danguiian gave Glenbard South their third win of the meet clearing 6-2 to win the High Jump.

Jordan Pate of Willowbrook jumped a personal best of 21-3.25 to win the Long Jump. His teammate Jaden Royal also achieved a personal best of 43-7.75 to win the Triple Jump.

Samuel Wollak of St. Charles East took the lead just before 200-meters as he ran 51.35 to win the 400 Meter Dash. Hononegah’s Chase Cutler (51.81) and Christian Lobato (52.38 to place second and third. Jaylin Miller of Willowbrook ran 22.88 to win the 200 Meter Dash ahead of Rolling Meadows’ Gunnar Woetzel (23.04) and Prospect’s Nathan Cichy (23.09).