Red Devil Frosh/Soph 5th at Conference
Competition once again brought out the best in Hinsdale Central sophomore Nick Piker during Saturday’s frosh-soph West Suburban
Conference Silver Division Meet at Glenbard West.
“I had a 25-foot (personal-record) in the discus and it was kind of surprising,” Piker said. “All of the meets this year have been pretty consistently cold so we really haven’t had a warm day.”
It was cold and windy near Lake Ellyn, but Piker still managed to enjoy a breakthrough and, even better, a conference championship. His personal-best discus throw of 135 feet-4 inches on his last of six throws earned him the Silver title after earlier winning the shot put (46-3 1/2).
The Red Devils finished fifth as a team with 75 points, just three behind fourth-place Downers Grove North. York (194.5 points) dominated
the meet with Lyons Township (88) and Glenbard West (85) second and third. Oak Park-River Forest (20.5) and Proviso West (17) were sixth
and seventh.
Piker was seeded second in discus with 111 feet. He needed his big discus throw to beat York’s Josh Morgan (123-4) for the title. Piker had two previous personal-best distances in the competition but the furthest of those was 123-0, four inches behind Morgan. “It was close until the end,” Piker said. By contrast, Piker dominated shot, winning by 6-3 ½ over Morgan, while
sophomore teammate Matt Strand-Jordan was third (40-1/2) with a personal-best throw by three feet.
Last week, Piker threw a personal-best 47-2, nearly a foot further
than Saturday. “He’s been working on (discus) a lot and it finally paid off. He popped one today so that’s exciting,” Hinsdale Central throws coach
Brian Griffin said. “(Piker and Morgan) were going back and forth. He won it on his last throw so that’s exciting when you get out there and compete.
“No one pushing him to throw further (in shot) and I think that hurt him. He’s a competitive kid. When you have that competition, you do better. It was overall a good day.”
Piker was second in shot at the indoor conference meet. He won shot and was second in discus at last year’s freshman Silver Meet. If Piker competes at the Class 3A Lyons Township Sectional Friday, he has his mind set on the sophomore school discus record of 143-10 by Norm Chesta in 1961 – the oldest standing outdoor track record at the
grade level. “It’s a lot closer than I thought it was. I wasn’t sure about it at first until today,” Piker said.
Sophomore Rich Licata, freshman Derek Roberts and sophomores Keenan Ary and Marc Roszkowski combined to take second in the 800 relay (1 minute, 35.51 seconds fully automatic time) and the 1,600 relay
(3:40.89) to York’s 1:34.82 and 3:37.87.
Sophomore Alex Conte was second in the 110 high hurdles (17.00) and third in the 300 intermediate hurdles (44.23), and sophomore Mike Korompilas was third in the 800 (2:04.03). The Red Devils were the top seed in the 800 relay and 1,600 relay. Their 1:34.9 in the 800 relay that finished second in the frosh-soph race at Lincoln-Way West’s Warrior Invite April 29 came close to the
1:32.9 sophomore school record from 2003.
“I think we did pretty well. We messed up on a few handoffs but it’s nothing big,” Roszkowski said. “We’ll just work on getting a lot better next year and hopefully we’ll beat York. That’s our main
competitor.”
“(We’ve learned) that the competition is really hard and we really have to work at to try and get that first spot. I believe in two
years we can get there.” For Saturday, the relay teammates all wore matching headbands. “Derek said he was going to Sports Authority to get some things and he’s like, ‘What do you want?’ We’re like, ‘Get some headbands. We think they’ll look cool,’ ” Roszkowski said.
At the indoor Silver Meet March 18, Conte won the 55 high hurdles and was fifth in the 55 low hurdles. On Saturday, Conte was third in the
110 prelims and was beaten by .11 in the final by York’s Jahmal Ross, who competed on the varsity level indoors. “Jahmal Ross did a really good race. New experience, new people,”
Conte said. “Overall I thought I did pretty well. My steps in between (the hurdles) were perfectly in rhythm so I felt good with my race. “Winning (like I did indoors) feels good. Second still feels good but it’s the act of being called conference champ that just makes it that
much more of a higher intensity than second place.” This was the final meet for the younger hurdlers. Sophomore Philip Pielet also shows promise for next season, taking fourth in the 110
hurdles (17.82) and seventh in the 300 hurdles (46.85). “Overall I thought I did really good sophomore year. Freshman year I was absolutely terrible. I’m not going to lie,” Conte said.
“I picked it up this year. Hopefully I can pick it up next year and maybe get a starting spot on maybe 300s, maybe 110s would be good too,
but overall I’m going to work hard over the summer and see what I can do.”
Freshman Shawn Gollnick was fourth in the 200 (24.67). Sophomores Alec Wohlever (800 in 2:08.54) and Ryan Somerfield (1,600 in 4:40.17) and
the 3,200 relay (sophomores Ankit Aggarwal and Rajan Khanna, freshman Aria Darbandi, sophomore Jack Rogers in 9:20.26) were sixth, and
sophomore Dylan Palo was seventh in the 3,200 (10:34.44).
Varsity Devil's 5th at Conference - Cherry twice a Conference Champ - by Bill Stone
At the indoor West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet March 18, the Red Devils were forced by injuries to revamp their lineup for the 1,600-meter relay. Junior Max VonMallinckrodt and seniors Elliot Wilm and Azad Darbandi
and Ben Cherry finished sixth.
That group has made a lot of progress since then. Their last 400 meters at Saturday’s outdoor Silver Meet at Glenbard West couldn’t have been sweeter.
Cherry took the baton for the anchor leg in a close sixth place, but the open 400 champion from earlier that day used another great sprint
down the stretch to give the Red Devils an electrifying victory in 3 minutes, 27.20 seconds fully-automatic time.
“I knew once I got to the 100 mark, it was over,” Cherry said. “As a goal, our team was trying to compete and do the best we can and try to (run a season-best). Then to come out and win the conference championship, that really was awesome, especially in that fashion.Coming to the finish line, the whole team was standing there, and they
were screaming. It was awesome. It was a lot of fun.” Hinsdale Central had plenty to smile about in finishing fifth with 57 points in cold and windy conditions for mid-May. York won its ninth
straight outdoor Silver title by just 1.5 points over indoor Silver champion Lyons Township (130 to 128.5 points) with Oak Park-River Forest (100.5) and Glenbard West (80) third and fourth. Downers Grove North (47) and Proviso West (15) were sixth and seventh.
Senior Bill Monat won shot put with a throw of 51 feet. In an outstanding field in the 1,600, senior Billy Fayette (4:16.31)finished second to York senior Jack Driggs (4:14.47), who was third at
state in 2010, after leading until the final 250 meters. Senior K.C. Akuba tied for second in high jump by clearing a season-best 6-2. Cherry won the 400 in 49.75 seconds and ran a 49.6 anchor split on the 1,600 relay after earlier winning the 400 in 49.75 as the No. 2 seed. VonMallinckrodt and Darbandi (52.3) and Wilm (52.8) all ran in the
52s. Hinsdale Central entered the 1,600 relay seeded sixth in 3:26.0, but top-seeded LT was close at 3:22.0. When the Lions finished second to
the Red Devils in the race (3:27.43) by .23, it cost them the two team points that would have given them their first outdoor Silver title
since 1976. “It all started with the heat sheet. I looked at it and said, ‘There’s no dominant team. There’s no reason why we can’t win this,’ ” Cherry said. “I saw that everyone’s in a tight pack and I’m thinking to myself, ‘If I won the open 400, I’m faster than all of those guys.’
When I got the baton, my goal was, ‘I want to win this thing.’ To finish the way we did was just unbelievable. This is exactly the time we want to peak.” Darbandi and Wilm, who returned to track after a one-year absence, enjoyed their first conference titles. Darbandi brought the Red Devils
to steps within fourth when he handed off to Cherry, who immediately passed those two anchors and said he tried to strategically stay close
to LT and York (4th, 3:28.02) before turning it on down the straightaway.
“Coach told me to just chill the first 200 meters and that’s what I did. I think it paid off because I gave (the baton) to Ben in a good place because he could have cut in. Ben anchored really well,” said Darbandi, who earlier was third in the 800 (2:01.65). “It’s my first conference title so I’m happy about it. My times were not what I wanted to
hit but place-wise I think I did good today.”
Cherry, who won the 600 at the indoor Silver Meet, became the Red Devils’ first outdoor 400 Silver champion since John Mangan in 1998. This was the first time the Red Devils won the 1,600 relay in program history. “It’s a surprise (to win), but a good surprise. I didn’t think it was going to happen,” Wilm said. “I knew we’d do better than people thought, but I didn’t think we were going to get first, especially in my leg I messed up a little bit coming around on the outside. (Cherry)
likes that spot, kind of like me. We like getting better (and passing). He’s fast and has got that kick at the end.” Cherry is the lone returnee from last year’s 1,600 relay, which qualified for state. Two graduates from that lineup, Jordan Cray and Chris Kiser, were among those cheering the relay to victory Saturday. Leadoff anchor VonMallinckrodt was among three juniors in the relay’s plans this season but Connor Furlong and Anthony Vicino were hampered by injuries. VonMallinckrodt also was part of the fifth-place 3,200 relay with juniors Jack Feldman, Ted Owens and Neil Pedersen (8:10.11). Feldman also was fifth in the 800 (2:02.27). In the 3,200 relay, VonMallinckrodt ran a team-best 1:59.4 split.
Feldman had a personal-best 2:00.8. “That 800 (leg) really, really kills me because I’m not used to it yet. But so far I’m getting better at it and running sub-2:00s now,” VonMallinckrodt said.
“Every time I’ve ever done (the 1,600 relay), I’m always the leadoff. I just love leading us off, putting us up there, handing off well.”
Monat won his first Silver shot title fairly comfortably by 13 ½ inches. Of his sixth throws in prelims and finals, he had four of at least 50 feet that would have taken first place. Monat had a breakthrough last year when he took second at the Silver Meet to graduated Pete Claus of Downers North. Monat also was second at the indoor Silver Meet to junior teammate Ryan Callen, who was
seventh Friday (44-10). “It means a lot because I’ve gotten second place two times in a row.
Winning it was a big goal of mine this year so I achieved that,” Monat said. “(A 51-0 is) a pretty good throw that’s not a PR but it’s kind of cold kind of weather. I came through, threw better than everybody else and that’s what counts today.”
Fayette nearly won his first outdoor Silver title in the 1,600. He was coming off a school-record 4:14.20 FAT as part of a blistering race at
the McCarthy Invitational May 7, which boasted the five fastest reported Class 3A times in the state this spring, according to DyeStat Illinois. Four of them were in Saturday’s race. That same night, Driggs sat out the DuPage County Meet with a slight hamstring injury, but Driggs had won the 3,200 at Prospect’s Wanner Invitational April 29 (9:07.32) with Fayette second (9:09.76) as an
open entry. “I thought my best strategy was to string it out as much as possible and hopefully take the kick out of everyone, but Jack got me at the end and he’s a great runner,” Fayette said. “There’s no shame in losing to him, but I did want to win today.” Fayette and senior Zach Withall only competed in the 1,600 to be as fresh as possible. Fayette took out the first 400-meter lap in 59 seconds, about three seconds faster than he had planned. Driggs passed Fayette in the
backstretch of the final lap just after the second turn. Withall finished seventh (4:22.66).
“We wanted to run as well as we could for today. We would have liked to done a little bit better but we laid it on the line and tried our best and there’s nothing to be upset about really,” Fayette said. “My plan was to lead the way I did, but I wasn’t going to go out as fast. It wasn’t my best but with a little better pacing, I probably
could have run a PR but I went after it today. The last 200 I was just too tired, didn’t have anything left.”
Junior Reed Wigley finished fifth in the 110 high hurdles (16.44) as part of a strong day for the hurdlers. Junior Ryan Daleen was kept out of the 110s to compete only in the 300 intermediate hurdles and took seventh (42.85) out of the slower heat. Junior Zane Ziesmer, who replaced Daleen in the 110s, reached the eight-person finals and took seventh (16.85). Senior Pete Stubbings was seventh in the 3,200 (9:55.95). The Red Devils compete at the Class 4A Lyons Township Sectional Friday
in Western Springs. Top-two finishers and any entries that achieve state-qualifying standards at the meet advance to the state meet May 28-29 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
WRITE-UP ON STATE - By Bill Stone
Hinsdale Central seniors Billy Fayette and Zach Withall challenged themselves to become all-state track runners this season.
Thanks to their strong races Saturday, they gave the Red Devils two individual all-staters in one meet for the first time since 1983.
Fayette finished seventh in the 3,200-meter run (9:18.65 fully-automatic time) and Withall was seventh in the 1,600 (4:16.31) at the Class 3A state finals at Eastern Illinois University in
Charleston. Top-nine finishers earn all-state honors.
Fayette, making his third state appearance, had finished 25th in the 3,200 at the 2010 state meet (9:37.46) after being 26th as a sophomore(9:44.46). On Nov. 6, he earned all-state honors in cross country for top-25 finishers for the first time by taking 16th.
“I wanted to be all-state as a junior in both cross country and track and obviously I didn’t do that and I was pretty upset about that,”Fayette said. “I realized I had to work a lot harder to get where I wanted to be and it paid off this year. I was all-state twice. You need your disappointments to get back up, that’s for sure.”
Both runners thought they could have done even better. Although Withall equaled his personal best, he was just 1.83 seconds from his goal of a top-five finish.
“I wanted to get top five, but I’ll take it because that was such a close race the whole time,” Withall said. “I’m not mad. I’m not elated
but still it’s above average. I don’t know how to describe it.
“(The finish was) not as much as I would have liked. I wanted to go like 4:14 or 4:13 but I’m not going to lie. My hamstrings just didn’t
want to go today. I never know how I closed as hard as I could. I didn’t have a 4:14 in me today.”
Fayette had run as fast as 9:09.96 at Prospect’s Wanner Invitational April 29, a time that would have finished fourth Saturday. He also
qualified for state in the 1,600 for the first time but scratched from that race to give him the best chance in the 3,200, which is run in
two heats Saturday.
Seeded in the faster heat, Fayette was up with the frontrunners in the final 800 meters, briefly taking the lead during the seventh of eight
laps but couldn’t sustain his position down the stretch.
York senior Jack Driggs pulled out the race (9:06.25), just ahead of Oak Park-River Forest junior Malachy Schrobilgen (9:06.80) and Maine
South senior David Eckhart (9:06.90). Fayette has competed against Driggs and Schrobilgen often since their schools also are in the West
Suburban Conference Silver Division.
“(My goal) was top three and if I ran really, really well just try to win it, but today I just obviously didn’t run my best and hats off to
Jack, Malachy and all of the other guys. They did great,” Fayette said.
“Maybe I could have battled a bit tougher, but I tried to hang until the last lap and just turning to go, my legs got pretty tired. I don’t
really know why. It’s definitely a pace I could handle. It just wasn’t my best day, but I’m glad to be here and I was all-state and that’s
what I was looking for but I would have preferred to be top three or so.”
The last time the Red Devils had multiple individual all-staters was 1983, when Jon Thanos was fourth in the 3,200 and John Clayton was
eighth in the 800.
Fayette and Thanos are the program’s only all-staters in the 3,200/2-mile run, which made its event debut in 1967. Thanos holds the
school-record time in the event of 9:06.6.
Withall is the first all-stater in the 1,600 since senior Ryan Somerfield took ninth in 2005 and the Red Devils’ highest finisher in the event since Mark Collins was fifth in the 1-mile run in 1973.
Withall made huge strides from 2010, when he was eighth in the 1,600 at sectionals (4:28.7 manual time). His breakthrough began in cross country, where he emerged as the Red Devils’ No. 2 runner and took 73rd as the team’s second finisher at the state meet. Hinsdale Central finished 14th in its first back-to-back state appearances as a team
for just the second time in program history and seventh time overall.
Now Withall will compete at NCAA Division II University of California, San Diego and Fayette will compete at Division I University of
Richmond.
“It’s been an up and down journey at times, but it’s been great training,” Fayette said. “It’s a bit sad that it’s coming to an end because I love my coaches, I love my teammates and I love being a Red Devil. It’s going to be sad to move on, but I have great things to look forward to.”
Senior Ben Cherry was 12th in the 400 (49.54), missing the nine-runner finals by .36.
The 3,200 relay of Cherry, senior Azad Darbandi, junior Jack Feldman and Withall was 14th (7:55.41), missing the 12-team finals by .59.
In their first state meets, senior Bill Monat was 21st in shot put (51 feet-10 inches) and 34th in discus (121-0) and junior Ryan Callen was 25th in shot (50-9 ½).The 1,600 relay of junior Max VonMallinckrodt, senior Elliot Wilm, Darbandi and sophomore Rich Licata was 35th (3:28.03).
DEVIL'S TAKE SECOND AT SECTIONALS
by Bill Stone
Before Friday’s Lyons Township Sectional, Hinsdale Central senior Ben
Cherry never had competed in the 3,200-meter relay, 400 and 1,600
relay all in the same meet.
Cherry could have, and probably should have, been spent after
qualifying for the Class 3A state meet in his first two events with
the 3,200 relay and by winning the 400.
Would he have enough energy left as the lone returnee from last year’s
state-qualifying 1,600 relay?
“My goal coming in was to qualify in three events,” Cherry said.
“(After the 400, head coach Jim Kupres) asked me how I felt, and I
wanted to qualify to get all of these guys downstate because it’s such
an unbelievable experience.
“When I coming off the turn, the only I was thinking about was how
awesome it was for me to go downstate as a junior and to have all of
these other guys go down. I’m exhausted, though.”
By just .38 of a second, the 1,600 relay made the state cut to climax
a great night for the Red Devils in Western Springs. They earned nine
state berths for state either automatically with top-two sectional
finishes or by achieving state-qualifying standards in the meet.
Cherry (400 in 49.70 seconds fully-automatic time) and seniors Billy
Fayette (3,200 in 9:16.26), Bill Monat (career-best 56 feet-9 inches
in shot put) and Zach Withall (1,600 in 4:20.96) were sectional
champions.
Monat also qualified for discus (2nd, 143-7) and Fayette advanced in
the 1,600 (2nd, 4:23.73) after advancing to state only in the 3,200
the past two seasons as the team’s only other state returnee. Junior
Ryan Callen advanced by taking second in shot (50-11), and the
third-place 3,200 relay of Cherry, senior Azad Darbandi, junior Jack
Feldman and Withall (7:51.31) and third-place 1,600 relay of junior
Max VonMallinckrodt, senior Elliot Wilm, Darbandi and Cherry (3:23.36)
beat the respective state cuts of 8:00.04 and 3:23.74.
The Red Devils (81 points) also finished second as a team to LT (134)
and 23 points ahead of third-place Downers Grove North. The state meet
is Friday and Saturday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
“Everyone qualified that should have qualified. The (1,600 relay) was
a total longshot. Other kids had some (personal records), best
performances tonight so across the board the kids did great,” Kupres
said.
“It all came together. Right now our senior crew is like nothing else.
They’re some of the best seniors we’ve ever had, such great leaders.”
For the 1,600 relay and the Red Devils, there was a bit of tension
awaiting the official FAT verdict. Finally, Kupres burst from the
results tent with his thumb up, indicating that they had advanced.
The Red Devils entered sectionals with a seed time of 3:26.84, 3.1
seconds from the cut.
“I can’t even put it into words right now,” said Wilm, who ran the
second leg. “It’s incredible. I’m amazed. It’s unbelievable. I got
more tired now (waiting).”
“Ben is the Athlete of the Meet -- phenomenal,” Kupres added. “I’ve
never seen a triple like that, splitting 1:55, 1:56 in the 3,200
relay, running a 49.70 (in the 400) and then splitting 48 in the
(1,600 relay). Unbelievable.
“I had said Ben, ‘Are you OK to run (the 1,600 relay)? If you don’t
want to run it, you don’t have to.’ He came back 20 minutes and said,
‘I’m good to go. Coach, if we’re in it, I’m going to run hard.’ ”
State preliminaries are Friday with the event finals Saturday.
Top-nine preliminary finishers in the 400 and 1,600 relay and top-12
finishers in shot, discus, the 1,600 and the 3,200 relay advance to
finals. The 3,200 is run in two heats Saturday.
Based on sectional performances, the Red Devils’ 3,200 relay is seeded
fourth, Fayette (3,200) and Monat (shot) are fifth, Withall and
Fayette are 13th and 16th in the 1,600 and Cherry is 18th in the 400.
DISTANCE RECAP
Fayette was disappointed with his 3,200 at the 2010 state meet.
Withall was disappointed with his 1,600 at last year’s sectional.
That didn’t happen with their races Friday.
Fayette dominated the 3,200 as his 9:16.26 won by 11.37 seconds over
Downers Grove North’s Ben Silver.
Withall then led the 1,600 from the start for a 4:20.96 while Fayette
pulled out an important second in 4:23.73 by .52 over Downers North’s
Brian Llamas despite feeling ill especially during the middle of the
race. The state cut is 4:21.84.
“I’m so happy for Zach. He ran gutsy and he led wire to wire, which
was awesome,” Fayette said.
Withall is making his first state appearances after a breakthrough
season as the No. 2 runner for the state-qualifying cross country team
in the fall.
“I was really happy with how I did. I was really pumped up for the
(1,600). I really did what I set out to do,” Withall said. “We were
competitive, Billy and I going 1-2 in the (1,600). We get a top-three
finish in the (3,200 relay). We did our part and we didn’t deviate
from our plans at all.”
Fayette was all-state in cross country for the first time in November
and has put himself among the state’s elite in both the 3,200 and
1,600. He set the modern-day school record in the 1,600 (4:14.2) in
winning Hinsdale Central’s annual McCarthy Invitational May 6. Still,
Fayette said Friday he is considering scratching from the 1,600 at
state to focus on a memorable 3,200 effort.
Fayette was 25th at state last year in 3,200 (9:37.46) after entering
as the 15th seed and being 26th as a sophomore (9:44.46). The outdoor
school record is 9:06.6 by Jon Thanos in 1983.
“I don’t really want to say out loud what my goals are but I have
pretty high expectations for myself. I have really high goals for that
3,200 for sure,” Fayette said.
“I wanted to get myself in the fast heat, which I was I did. The
(1,600) was just to go out there and run a fast race and kind of tune
up for next week.
The most important thing is going to state and the monkey’s off the
back now for that. I didn’t feel my best tonight but next week’s when
I’m supposed to feel my best. I’m looking forward to Charleston big
time this year.”
Withall has improved so much this year that his eighth-place 4:28.70
at last year’s sectional seems far away.
“I wanted to run a 4:23 last year. I wanted to qualify (the then-
4:23.50 state cut). That’s not exactly close, but I thought I had it
in me,” Withall said “I really had a goal after last year that I was
going to make it in the (1,600) this year. I’m proud to say that. I
didn’t really remember making that promise to myself until yesterday.”
Juniors Neil Pedersen (9:49.00) and Ted Owens (2:02.30) were eighth
and ninth in the 3,200 and 800, respectively.
THROWS RECAP
Monat was waiting all outdoor season for a breakthrough and he got
more than even he expected.
Monat not only advanced to state for the first time in shot as the No.
1 seed (51-0) but he did so with a personal-best 56-9.
Earlier in discus, he delivered a personal-best 143-7 on his final
throw to pull out second place to qualify.
“It really just feels great to see the results of the hard work
earlier in the year pay off in being much better now. It feels great
because I know I did a good job,” Monat said.
“Throughout the season I’ve been lifting really hard. Outdoor season,
I kind of struggled (with my distance). These last couple of weeks,
I’ve been backing off my training.”
Counting his six throws in prelims and finals, Monat beat his previous
lifetime best of 53-10 from indoors Feb. 26 four times and his
previous outdoor best all six times.
In discus (155-0 state qualifying), Monat was the 22nd seed at 120-0.
He already had thrown 134-3 Friday, but that was in third place to
Brother Rice’s Marcus Cheatom (141-8). Then came Monat’s last attempt.
Surprisingly, the Red Devils haven’t had a home discus ring to
practice at because of continuing construction. They’ve been throwing
off sidewalks or training at Hinsdale South when possible.
“Walking out with the tape measure (and hearing) a 143-8. I was so
relieved,” Monat said. “This week I actually focused on (discus),
really practiced hard at it and I was expecting big things from
myself. Once I saw that other guys were throwing 135, 140, I knew I
could compete with that.”
Callen also was having a frustrating spring after throwing 52-4 ½
indoors, and college recruiting for football also has affected his
training regimen. On Friday, Callen was stunned when a warmup throw
just standing, rather than with his usual spin motion in competition,
traveled 52 feet – about seven feet further than his usual distance
throwing that way.
In prelims, Callen tried a standing throw to get an early mark. The
50-11 on his first attempt managed to hold onto second place the rest
of the way.
Callen, who held off third-place Jordan Booth of Argo by four inches,
entered sectionals seeded 10th at 47-0. A 50-11 would have been the
No. 2 seed.
“I thought I was going to definitely be scratching the clawing the
rest of the meet in order to get second place, but it just turned out
a lot of guys just didn’t throw what they were seeded at,” Callen
said. “It got me there and that’s all that matters. It would have been
really easy to give up but (throws coach Brian Griffin) really pushed
me these last couple of weeks.
“I’ve had a rough outdoor season. I’m not going to lie. I tried to do
my best all season and fortunately for me I hit my peak at
sectionals.”
Nick Piker completed a strong sophomore season by taking fifth in
discus (134-3) after being third most of the night.
“I’m so happy for Bill and Ryan (qualifying) in the throws because
they’ve worked so hard. They went to a throws camp last summer,
they’ve worked so hard and they’re great kids,” Kupres said.
RELAYS RECAP
Darbandi saw his older brother Arash compete at state last year in the
3,200 run.
Now it’s his chance – and with both the 3,200 and 1,600 relays.
Azad Darbandi was an alternate for last year’s 1,600 relay. He and
Feldman got their first taste of competing at state in November with
the boys cross country team.
“The fact that I didn’t make state sophomore, junior year, it makes it
so much sweeter. I would say today is one of my favorite days ever in
high school,” Darbandi said.
“Watching all of the events and the entire sate series down in
Charleston fuels you up to work harder. I wanted to compete. I wanted
to be a part of it with everyone else.”
The 3,200 relay showed potential early outdoors when it won Downers
Grove South’s Bud Mohns Invite April 16 (8:07.05) but with Fayette in
the relay. The Red Devils ran 8:10.11 at the conference meet with
VonMallinckrodt and Feldman part of that lineup.
Three days before sectionals, however, VonMallinckrodt awoke with a
fluke muscle injury that intensified. On Wednesday, Feldman found out
he was going to replace VonMallinckrodt in the 3,200 relay after not
competing much in the event since the indoor season.
Feldman responded with a 1:58.2 split, a personal best by 2 ½ seconds,
while others included Cherry (1:56.6), Darbandi (1:57.7) and Withall
(1:58.2), who could save some energy for the 1,600 once the Red Devils
had the state cut secured.
“I didn’t think I’d be getting to state this quick. I expected to do
it during cross country next year,” Feldman said. “Of course, it’ an
awesome thing doing it in cross country but it might be a cool thing
to get all-state this year (top nine). That’s our ultimate goal.
That’s my goal for cross country, but to do it this early would be
incredible.”
The incredible run by the 1,600 relay might not have happened had
VonMallinckrodt competed for both relays.
“It was totally worth it because if I had run that (3,200 relay)
today, there’s no chance we would have got the (1,600 relay) because I
know it was close and the (3,200 relay) really kills my legs. I
wouldn’t have been able to pull it off,” VonMallinckrodt said.
“The whole meet I stayed relaxed and I was calm about it. I was
excited. I knew it was all up to me. I really had to run my hardest
race. I knew there was a lot of pressure on me to get a good handoff,
being the first leg. I knew I had to keep us in the race.”
Just like last year, the 1,600 relay qualified with three seniors and
one junior. The Red Devils were 23rd at state in 2010 (3:27.17) with
Cherry and graduated Victor Twardowski, Jordan Cray and Chris Kiser,
who all came to cheer on the Red Devils Friday.
Wilm returned to track for his senior year after taking off last season.
“I had no idea what I was going to expect. I didn’t know how fast I
was, I didn’t know how good times were going to be. It just kind of
happened,” Wilm said. “It was always about how I always wanted to go
to state but I just worried about meeting the time.
“The (1,600 relay) is an incredible race. It’s a big challenge, a lot
of competition so it’s awesome that we got it. It was scary for a
while (waiting for our official time), but the way it worked out, I
wouldn’t want it any other way.”
The 800 relay (Rich Licata, Marc Roszkowski, Anthony Vicino, Wilm in
1:34.09) and 400 relay (Dakota Limjuco, Andre Nelson, Dan Hinspeter,
Robert Liss in 45.25) were ninth and 10th, respectively.
At last year’s sectional, the 1,600 relay was fourth, but its 3:23.4
manual time beat the 3:24 state cut. At the conference meet May 14,
the Red Devils won the 1,600 relay for the first time (3:27.20 FAT) as
Cherry took them from a close last to first on the final leg.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to top last week. I’ll have to let this
one soak in but this was awesome. I’m really happy with how things
went,” Cherry said.
“If you told me I was qualifying for state in three events at the
beginning of the season, and to win the open 400 at such a competitive
sectional, it’s an unbelievable feeling. I was a little nervous I
wasn’t going to have anything left and then I knew come (1,600 relay)
time, I was going to let adrenaline take me in.”
JUMPS RECAP
Senior KC Akuba just missed qualifying for state as his 6-1 tied for
fourth. Akuba, whose seed height was 6-2, needed to clear 6-3 to
contend for the advancing three performers.
HURDLES RECAP
Junior Ryan Daleen was seventh in the 300 intermediate hurdles with a
season-best 42.06, dropping 1.38 seconds off his seed time.
SPRINTS RECAP
Cherry’s personal-best 49.70 in the 400 pulled out the sectional title
by .28 over Argo’s Mike Brown (49.98). Cherry, whose 49.74 was seeded
second to Brown’s 49.34, passed Brown with 35 meters left in the race.
Hinsdale Central’s other 400 entry was a glimpse to the future.
Freshman Derek Roberts ran 53.85 in his last attempt to break the
freshman outdoor school record of 53.1 set by Corky Larson in 1970.
“Of course, you’ve got to set a goal for yourself. It was a
41-year-old record so I would have loved to break it,” Roberts said.
“I was running hard for the first 300 but when I hit the final 100, I
died because that’s the fastest I’ve ever come out.”
Roberts nearly was part of a freshman record in the 800 relay with
Sean Gollnick, James Benak and Victor Ciardelli at the freshman
conference meet, when the Red Devils finished second to LT. The same
group was second to York in the 1,600 relay.
“I was happy enough to run sectionals as a freshman. I thought I was
just going to come to the meet and hang,” Roberts said. “(From this
season), I’ve learned to work hard. I’ve seen Billy Fayette and Ben
Cherry running and those guys never quit so all I’ve got to do is push
myself, working through the summer, work through the fall, motivate
myself.”
The Red Devil’s hosted the Hinsdale Relays last Saturday (@ Hinsdale South H.S.) under ideal conditions. The men got off to a terrific start for the first invite of the outdoor season in warm and sunny conditions. Overall, the team finished 3rd behind WSC rivals Lyons Township and Oak Park. See attachments at the bottom of the page for full relay results.
4*1600 Relay
Pete Stubbings (4:45) after being injured all indoor season and with just a few weeks of training under his belt. Pete’s time will drop considerably in a few weeks time.
Ryan Somerfield (4:48) just misses a p.r. and gained big meet experience. Ryan is looking for big things this outdoor season.
Matt Kane (4:50) is one of the most consistent performers on the squad. Matt will drop 10 seconds in the next two weeks.
Ted Owens (4:51) is continuing to round into good form and will meet the 4:40 barrier soon as well.
Sprint Medley
Max Von Mallinckrodt put this relay in great position with his opening 400 (51.5). Marc Rozkowski and Ben Cherry lengthened the lead as both ran great 200’s. Neil Pedersen brought it home in 2:04 (800) to earn 2nd place.
4*800
This quartet of sophomores ran tough and garnered a runner up position to Lyons Township.
Mike Korompilas (2:08.5) put the boys in 1st place through the first leg with a life-time p.r.
Dylan Palo (2:13.5) held the position as he ran an excellent leg.
Mark Gesior (2:14.3) also ran a great leg to hold on to 1st place through the third leg.
Forrester Evertsen (2:14.3) brought home the stick for a 2nd place medal.
Distance Medley Relay
Most likely the fastest DMR ever assembled in HCHS program history. The guys ran sensational as they demolished the meet record by over 20 seconds!
Zach Withall (3:11) for the 1200 leg. Pulled away from a quality field to establish a lead of almost 5 seconds.
Azad Darbandi (2:00) held the lead for the 800 portion as the opponents were closing gangbusters.
Ben Cherry (50.4) lengthened the lead as he pulled away from Lyons and Downers South.
Billy Fayette (4:16), there was no catching Billy as he, too, lengthened the lead while hammering the 1600 all by himself in an almost life-time best of 4:16 to earn the gold.
Shot Put Relay
Ryan Callen, Bill Monat and Nick Piker set the meet record!
Callen (49’1”)
Bill Monat (50’1”)
Nick Piker (46’2)
F/S 4*400
Richie Licata (54.4)
Derek (53.4)
Keenan Ary (55.9)
Marc Rozkowski (54.2)
Varsity 4*400
Max Von Mallinckrodt (51.7)
Jack Feldman (54.3)
Ted Owens (55.5)
Elliot Wilm (52.2)
CHERRY AND CALLEN LEAD DEVIL'S AT WSC MEET
By Bill Stone 3/20/11
When Hinsdale Central senior Ben Cherry competed in the 600-meter run at the Proviso West Invite Feb. 26, he became a little too anxious to win.
Moments after the gun sounded to indicate the final 200-meter lap, Cherry sprinted into the lead by running on an outside lane. He held the lead until the final moments, when he was beaten at the finish by just 0.13 of a second.
“I made my kick at the wrong time. I was so frustrated in myself because that’s such a big invite,” Cherry said.
On his return to Proviso West on Friday for the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Indoor Meet, Cherry found himself in fourth place in the 600 as the gun sounded. This time, as planned, he waited another 40 to 50 meters before making his move.
By the final turn, Cherry moved into second place and he continued the surge to pull out the championship in 1 minute, 25.87 seconds -- 0.06 of one second ahead of Lyons Township senior Alex Economou.
“When I made (my kick), I know the thought that went through my head was really, ‘How bad do you want it?’ ” Cherry said. “In a twisted way (the loss) really did pay off in the long run. I wouldn’t have known where to make my kick had I not run at the Proviso West Invite.”
Junior Ryan Callen also won shot put with a personal-best 52-4 ½ inches for the Red Devils, who finished fifth with 59 points. Senior Bill Monat (51-6 in shot) and junior Ryan Daleen (55 low hurdles in
7.72 seconds) placed second, and senior Billy Fayette was third in the 3,200 in an indoor school-record 9:16.79.
Lyons Township won its first varsity indoor Silver title since 1976 with 130 points, followed by defending champion Oak Park-River Forest (112), York (91), Glenbard West (68), the Red Devils, Proviso West
(42) and Downers Grove North (25).
“We all put ourselves out there in the mix to try to do the best we can,” said Fayette, whose great distance day also included breaking his indoor school record in the 1,600 with a fourth-place 4:20.62.
“This is really a tough conference. I just think it shows we have a great team bond right now that we can do a lot and surprise a lot of people outdoors if we keep working hard.”
Cherry became the Red Devils’ first indoor Silver champion in the 600 since Rob Hulick in 1999. Cherry improved upon his time at the Proviso West Invite by 1.96 seconds.
“That (invite loss) was so frustrating, but if I had a choice of what I’d rather win the Proviso West Invite or the conference meet, no question it would be the conference meet,” Cherry said.
Callen won shot by easily surpassing his previous best of 51-5 on his first of six throws. Monat, who entered as the top seed with a personal-best 53-10 that won the Proviso West Invite, was more than four feet ahead of third-place Downers Grove North senior Brendan Keogel.
“With Bill throwing as far as he does, even times when I get a personal record by a couple of feet, it’s second place and I get overshadowed. This time, it felt nice because I got the personal satisfaction of a (PR) and the glory of a first-place medal. It makes it that much more meaningful,” Callen said.
“We did a lot less lifting (in practice) so I was expecting to be petty energized. It was a little bittersweet because Bill didn’t throw as well as he could have. But it did fell good to win.”
“It feels good to be able to have somewhat of off day and still throw pretty well and place second,” Monat said. “Obviously, it wasn’t what I was shooting for, but it gives me a little motivation going into outdoors. It was one of those days where I was slow and timing was bad. I was just feeling a little tired, weak. It was a combination of those two things.”
Callen is the Red Devils’ first varsity indoor Silver shot champion since Trey Koziol in 2003, but Callen won last year’s sophomore indoor Silver title with 44-8 1/2. Callen hasn’t looked back since cracking the 50-foot barrier at the Proviso West Invite. Now he and Monat are eyeing the 52-11 state-qualifying standard. Top-two sectional finishers automatically advance to state.
“(Finishing) 1-2 in sectionals would be amazing. I’m just trying to get up to the point where I consistently throw upper 53s so even if there’s an upset (placewise), I’ll be able to advance on my mark,”
Callen said.
Daleen and junior Reed Wigley reached the eight-man finals in both hurdles races. Daleen was second in the 55 lows to LT senior Sam Prentice (7.65), a 2010 state qualifier in the 300 intermediate hurdles, with Wigley fifth (7.97). Earlier, Daleen was fifth in the 55 high hurdles (8.50) with Wigley seventh (8.52).
“I was looking for a little bit of vengeance after that high (hurdles) race. I was winning and I clipped the fourth hurdle and ended up getting fifth,” Daleen said. “I’ve always been a big fan of the (low
hurdles) race since freshman year so it’s always a fun race and it’s rare, only for indoors. You only get to see it a few times a year.”
It’s been a transitional year for Daleen and Wigley after they swept first and second on the sophomore level at last year’s indoor Silver Meet with Daleen winning the 55 highs (8.71) and 55 lows (8.24). They hope to continue their progress outdoors in the 110 high and 300 intermediate hurdles, an event that can utilize Daleen’s speed that he shows with the 800 relay.
“It’s a great feeling winning (on the sophomore level), but when you come to varsity, it’s a lot harder competing,” Daleen said. “It’s sobering to place high at such a competitive level because you realize you have to put in a lot of work to become champion, possibly. But at the same time it feels good because you know what you’ve accomplished.”
A cross country all-stater in November, Fayette accomplished plenty in the greatest distance double of his career. In the 3,200, he dusted his indoor school record of 9:25.33 from the Proviso West Invite and his lifetime best of 9:22.8 from last year’s sectional en route to earning his second straight state berth in the event. Fayette still had enough gas left to edge his indoor school record of 4:21.3 Feb. 18 at Proviso West.
“That was definitely the best double for me ever,” said Fayette, who will compete next season for the University of Richmond.
“I was motivated big time. I really wanted to go after it in the 3,200. I had a plan going in that no matter what, take the lead and push the pace and run my own race. I knew the other guys probably would just sit on me the whole way like they did, but I knew that was the way I had to run fast.”
Fayette led the 3,200 all the way until the final two laps, when York senior Jack Driggs, second at state in the race last year, took command and won in 9:13.22. Second-place OPRF junior Malachy Schrobilgen (9:15.58) was 1.21 seconds ahead of Fayette.
“I knew Jack was going to go. He ran a great last (400 meters), but I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t beat Malachy,” Fayette said. “He got me today. I’m going to be gunning for him outdoors, that’s for sure.”
Fayette’s 1,600 race was mostly pure guts, especially after he felt fatigued the first three-fourths of the race before catching a second wind despite being fourth and out of contact of the top three finishers until a late surge. Driggs (4:15.96), Schrobilgen (4:17.06) and LT senior Sam Telfer (4:19.78) took the top three spots.
“I had to push through that one a lot. I kind of hoped to (get a personal record), but I didn’t expect it,” Fayette said. “It’s a credit to Jack and Malachy for pushing the pace/ Without them, we wouldn’t have run that fast. It’s such an honor and privilege to run in this conference to run with such great runners that we have. I think it’s probably the best distance conference in the nation. Those guys took top five in state (in cross country) and that’s why I’m just glad to be able to stay level with them right now. I just want to keep it up for outdoors.”
Hinsdale Central senior Zach Withall was disappointed with his 1,600
(4:31.20) but still had enough mettle to pass York senior Ron Hedman
(4:31.60) just before the finish to take sixth place. In the 3,200, Withall was fifth (9:30.22), a personal best by 5.12 seconds.
“I was happy with that a lot,” Withall said. “I went all out in the (3,200). I had nothing left in my legs (for the 1,600).”
Also taking fifth were KC Akuba (5-8 in high jump) and the 3,200 relay (Neil Pedersen, Ted Owens, Jeff Somerfield, Bill Grimm in 8:47.41).
Jack Feldman was sixth in the 800 after finishing in a virtual tie with Azad Darbandi in 2:01.60, and the 1,600 relay (Max Von Mallinckrodt, Darbandi, Elliot Wilm, Cherry in 3:35.36) was sixth.
CONTE AND 4*200 LEAD DEVIL'S SOPHOMORE SQUAD AT WSC MEET
By Bill Stone
For the Hinsdale Central frosh-soph team’s 800-meter relay, getting the early lead was the first step during Friday’s West Suburban Conference Silver Division Indoor Meet at Proviso West.
Then came the matter of holding it.
“We came out first and I just kept the lead,” sophomore anchor Marc Roszkowski said.
“All of my teammates were on the side telling me, ‘He’s right behind you,’ so it was giving me pressure and I was trying to stay up as much as I could.”
The relay of sophomores Rich Licata, Keenan Ary, Mike Krohn and Roszkowski held that advantage and finished in 1 minute, 38.09 seconds fully-automatic time to earn one of two victories for the Red Devils, who finished fifth with 43 points.
Sophomore Alex Conte won the 55 high hurdles in 8.7 seconds with Philip Pielet fifth (8.63) and Conte also was fifth in the 55 low hurdles (8.29).
Sophomore Nick Piker was second in shot put (43 feet-5 inches) with Matt Strand-Jordan sixth (37-2). The 1,600 relay (Licata, Ary, Ryan Somerfield, Roszkowski in 3:46.57) was third and the 3,200 relay (Mike Korompilas, Dylan Palo, Forrester Evertsen, Alec Wohlever in 8:46.15) took fourth.
York won the meet with 154 points, followed by Lyons Township (136), Downers Grove North (77), Oak Park-River Forest (58), the Red Devils, Glenbard West (31) and Proviso West (28).
The Red Devils also won the 800 relay at the 2010 indoor Silver Meet with Roszkowski and Krohn part of that lineup. The relay entered Friday sharing the No. 1 seed of 1:39.00 with York, which finished second (1:38.37) Friday, 0.28 behind the Red Devils.
“The only team we re worried about was the team tied with us (York),”
Roszkowski said. “I would say (what pushed us is) the competition because when it’s us against slower competition, we seem to not do as well but when we’re going against schools that are better than us, we seem to (run) a lot better and keep up with them.”
Licata, a first-year track member, was pleased that he was able to give the Red Devils the lead on his first leg. About the only disappointment for Licata and his teammates was that they were just shy of the frosh-soph indoor school record of 1:37.73 that won last year’s indoor Silver Meet at York.
“I did baseball last year. I was pretty fast so I thought I might as well do track,” Licata said. “We were all pumped up. We were going for the school record. The start, that’s all that counts really. When you get a good start, the rest of the way is just perfect from there.”
Conte won the 55 high hurdles by 0.05 after having the third-fastest time in the preliminaries (8.85). This was just his third meet back after being away from track for two weeks because of a vacation and trying unsuccessfully to make the sophomore baseball team after playing on the freshman level in 2010.
“I think it was the start. It’s all the start because once you get the momentum, you just keep going,” Conte said.
“I felt coming into the high hurdles that I wasn’t going to do too well. I don’t know what got into me. I thought I was going to take third or fourth in both so I’m actually real excited (to win).”
Still, the fifth-place 55 low hurdles finish snapped his streak of seven straight victories in the two hurdles races over the past four meets. Pielet also made the 55 low finals and was seventh (8.63).
“The low hurdles, a little upsetting but what are you going to do? I got a decent start, but overall I thought I did pretty well,” Conte said.
“On Monday and Tuesday, we went outdoors (for practice) and it’s a lot different. The wind, the footing’s a lot different and you’ve got to run two times as much (in the 110 and 300 hurdles). I need endurance now so I’ve got to work on that as well.”
Piker also is looking forward to a strong spring after just two weeks back from playing basketball.
He earned the No. 1 seed for Friday with his 44-6 March 11 at Hinsdale South but then went home that night and experienced food poisoning, which kept him home from school Monday. LT sophomore Jimmy Mitchell won Friday with a 46-7 after a 43-11 seed.
“I was kind of iffy coming in. I wasn’t really feeling well, but in warmups I felt OK,” Piker said. “During the meet I was still feeling off-balanced, the shot was coming out of my hand kind of awkward.”
Piker is encouraged about the outdoor season as he gains more consistent practice and advice from varsity throwers Ryan Callen and Bill Monat, who took first and second in varsity shot Friday. Piker said he hopes to improve his footwork and keeping the shot consistent high enough through his release.
“Sometimes when I glide, I bring the shot down. If I can keep the shot at my neck and probably go a little faster, I’ll probably throw a lot farther,” Piker said.
“I think there’s a lot of room for improvement. It’s only my second week back. I still have the whole outdoor season so I don’t know. I’m definitely going to throw a lot farther than I have been. It’s good to get encouragement from the older guys, too.”
DEVIL'S COMPETE AT HINSDALE SOUTH - Bill Stone - March, 11, 2011
The Hinsdale Central varsity indoor boys track team finished second at Friday’s Hinsdale South Quad. The Red Devils’ 38 points finished behind the host Hornets (124) while edging Downers Grove North (36) and Downers Grove South (34).
The Red Devils went 1-2-3 in the 3,200 as Bill Grimm won in 10:23.9, followed by Jeff Somerfield (10:51.1) and Matt Kane (10:51.6). Tom Lyons was second in the 1,600 (4:49.1) with Arjun Reddy fifth (4:54.3).
Shot put went well as usual with Ryan Callen taking first (51-0) and Bill Monat third (49-0).
Ryan Callen was second in the 55 high hurdles (8.2) and third in the
55 low hurdles (7.74). Reed Wigley was fourth in the 55 high hurdles (8.4). Roy Billey was fourth in the 400 (1:01.0).
Several Red Devils did not compete in preparation for the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet Friday, March 18, at Proviso West. The Red Devils did not enter any of the three relays.
On the frosh-soph level, the Red Devils were fourth with 50 points but just one point behind Downers South. Downers North (80.3) and Hinsdale South (61.7) took first and second.
Alex Conte swept the hurdles races, winning the 55 highs (9.1) and 55 lows (8.35). Paul Ramos was second in the 55 highs (9.8), and Phil Pielet (8.95) and Ramos (9.10) were third and fourth in the 55 lows.
The first-place 3,200 relay prevailed in 9:36.6 with the lineup of Ryan Somerfield (2:17.3 split), Alec Wohlever (2:22.4), Forrester Evertsen (2:22.5) and Mike Denos (2:34.2). Evertsen (1:44) and Wohlever (1:45) later finished second and third in the 600.
Nick Piker won shot put (44-8), Michael Korompilas was second in the 800 (2:14.4), James Benak was third in long jump (17-7 ½), and Victor Ciardelli (1:04.8) and Ryan Kenney (1:08.1) were fourth and fifth in the 400. Benak, Anthony Block, Gideon Ticho and Tom Young were fourth in the 4-lap relay (1:28.2) and 1,600 relay (4:08.2).
HINSDALE HOSTS 5-TEAM HOME MEET - Bill Stone - March 4, 2011
The Hinsdale Central varsity indoor boys track team won its five-team meet March 4 in Hinsdale by scoring 98 points to top Benet Academy (80), Roosevelt (51), Grayslake Central (18) and Marmion Academy (6).
Ryan Daleen swept first place in the 55-meter high hurdles (8.2
seconds) and 55 low hurdles (7.8). Also taking first place were K.C.
Akuba (5-10 in high jump), Bill Monat (53-10 in shot put), the 3,200 relay of Jeff Somerfield, Brad Somerfield, Matt Kane and Tom Lyons
(8:58.2) and the 1,600 relay of Billy Fayette, Jack Feldman, Ted Owens and Azad Darbandi (3:47.9). Kane (2:15) and Jeff Somerfield (2:13.8) had personal-best 800 splits for their relay.
The Red Devils’ four individual titles were accompanied by more success. They also took second and third in the 55 low hurdles with Reed Wigley (8.2) and Zane Ziesmer (8.3) and second and third in shot with Ryan Callen (50-4) and Sam DiJohn (39-3). They also earned second in high jump with Ryan Mulc (5-4) and second in the 55 high hurdles with Ziesmer (9.1).
Hinsdale Central also finished 2-3 in the 1,600 with Bill Grimm
(4:52.1) and Jeff Somerfield (5:07.3), the 55 with Andre Nelson and Akuba (both 7.1 seconds) and the long jump with Dakota Limjuco (19-1
¾) and Dan Hinspeter (18-5). Ben Cherry was (800 in 2:09.2), David Moran (400 in 1:00.2) and Nelson (200 in 26.2) also took second.
Hinsdale Central’s frosh-soph team also took first place, collecting
103 points to top Marmion (69), Benet (53), Grayslake Central (24) and Roosevelt (4).
The Red Devils took first place in nine events with three individual victories by freshman James Benak in the long jump (17-2 ½), 400
(1:01.0) and the 200 (26.3) and two by Paul Ramos in the 55 high hurdles (9.0) and 55 low hurdles (8.7).
Also taking first place were Rich Licata (600 in 1:34.5), Nick Piker (40-10 in shot), the 3,200 relay of Dylan Palo, Ryan Somerfield, Otto Zhen and Jack Rogers (9:37.2) and the 1,600 relay of Victor Ciardelli, Palo, Kevin Huang and Derek Roberts (4:05.2). Palo (2:21.2), Zhen
(2:27.9) and Rogers (2:33.3) had personal-best splits in their 3,200 relay legs.
DEVIL'S TAKE ON STATES' BEST AT PROVISO WEST INVITE - Bill Stone - February 26, 2011
Hinsdale Central senior Billy Fayette had the lead for most of the 3,200-meter run during Saturday’s 46th annual Proviso West Invitational against a talented field that included York senior Jack Driggs, the event’s runner-up at the 2010 Class 3A state meet.
“I was looking to be second or third right away, hoping Jack Driggs would take the pace, but he was instructed to save as much energy as possible,” Fayette said. “I just took the pace and tried to push it from there. I didn’t know when (Driggs) was going to try and make his move, but when he did with two laps to go, I just tried to hang on for as long as possible.”
Driggs ended up winning the race, but Fayette’s second-place time of 9 minutes, 25.33 seconds fully-automatic time set an indoor school record and was among several strong performances by the Red Devils in one of the most prestigious invites of the indoor season.
The Red Devils had seven top-six individual finishes and scored 35 points to finish eighth. West Suburban Conference Silver Division rival Lyons Township (114 points) won the invite for the first time with Lake Park (79) and Downers Grove South (63) second and third.
Among other Silver teams, York (52.5) was fourth, Proviso West (37) seventh and Downers Grove North (18) ninth.
The Red Devils will return to Proviso West to compete at the indoor Silver Meet Friday, March 18.
“The guys, especially the juniors, seniors that we expected to run well, they ran well,” Hinsdale Central coach Jim Kupres said.
Besides Fayette, senior Ben Cherry finished second in his second time running the 600 (1:27.83) and was only 0.13 shy of first place.
Senior Bill Monat was third in shot put (53 feet-2 ½ inches), just one-half inch short of his personal best, and junior Ryan Callen was fifth with a personal-best 51-5 -- his first meet beyond 50 feet.
Junior Connor Furlong was third in the 400 (52.63) and senior Zach Withall was fourth in the 3,200 (9:35.34) both with personal bests.
Junior Jack Feldman was sixth in the 1-mile run (4:38.68) with a personal-best 4:36.9 for 1,600 meters.
On the frosh-soph level, the Red Devils (4 points) were 11th with their points coming from the relay teams of sophomores Keenan Ary, Rich Licata and Marc Roszkowski and freshman Patrick Callahan. They were fifth in the 800 relay (1:40.73), 0.25 from third place, and fifth in the 1,600 relay (3:46.77).
“It’s the Proviso West Invite, really quality competition,” Withall said. “You already know you’re running against some of the best kids in the state. I’m happy about that because I know I’m going to run fast, too, so that’s good.”
Fayette edged the indoor 3,200 school record of 9:26.80 set by Jon Thanos back in 1983 and just missed his lifetime-best 9:22.8 run outdoors at last year’s sectional.
In his last race for the Red Devils Feb. 18 in a quad at Proviso West, Fayette ran a first-place 4:21.3 in the 1,600 that broke the indoor school record. Withall’s third-place 4:25.6 that race also was a personal best. That field included strong competition from Downers North senior Brian Llamas (2nd, 4:25.0) and Rockford Christian senior Justin Rehfeldt (4th, 4:29.7), the 2009 Class 1A state cross country champion and runner-up at the 2010 state meet Nov. 6.
“I was looking to run 4:27 and I know Zach was looking to run 4:30.
When we ran the times that we ran, we were shocked,” Fayette said. “I actually was more nervous this week because I wanted to break that
(3,200) record pretty badly. I wasn’t as nervous for the race. I was more nervous with breaking the record this week. I guess it was more of a focus.”
That was part of what prompted Fayette to go out front. He led most of the race, except for a brief surge by LT senior Sam Telfer (3rd, 9:32.99), and held it until Driggs (9:20.71) made a powerful kick with about 300 meters left to win by 4.62 seconds.
“He’s such a great runner. I give (Driggs) the utmost respect,”
Fayette said. “Last week, I kicked pretty well (in the 1,600) but today was just decent. I’ve just got to improve my kick overall.
That’s the biggest thing I took from today. I’m happy with it overall.
I broke open the race. We want to run fast. We’re not going to run for points (places) right now. We’re going to run for time.”
After also taking second at the Class 3A state cross country meet to Sandburg’s Lukas Verzbicas, Driggs is a state-title favorite in the 3,200 and 1,600. Driggs also was third in the 1,600 at state last year behind two seniors.
Fayette has top-five state aspirations after reaching state the past two seasons in the 3,200 finishing as high as 25th last year. Fayette earned his first all-state honors by taking 16th at the state cross country meet Nov. 6 as part of the Red Devils’ 14th-place state-qualifying team.
Withall also got his first taste of state competition in Nov. 6 by taking 73rd at state as the Red Devils’ No. 2 finisher. Even though he felt he got trapped early in Saturday’s race, he easily beat the 9:44 he ran during a time trial for cross country.
“I wish I got out fast. I wish we all got out a little faster, but I still can’t complain,” Withall said. “I’m definitely looking to get to state this year because that’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while.”
After winning his 600 debut, Cherry said he eagerly took over the lead too early Saturday. Pushing up front right after the gun fired to signal the final lap, Cherry shot into the lead going around the next curve. He led the rest of the way until LT senior Tim Pollard
(1:27.70) edged him right before the finish.
“My coach said he thought I ran an extra five meters because I was passing on the turn. I made (my move) too soon. I ran extra so I didn’t have enough left in me,” Cherry said. “It was frustrating but again, you’ve got to look positive. It’s a learning experience. We’re coming right back here for conference. I know exactly where I’m going to make my kick. It’s not going to be at the 200-meter mark (left).”
Since the 600 is not an event in outdoor track, Cherry will go back to focusing on 400s and the 1,600 relay, which qualified for state last year. Furlong hopes to be part of that lineup after being on the 800 relay that just missed a state berth at the 2010 sectional by 0.5 of a second.
Sharing the last seed in his heat Saturday and running outside in Lane 6, Furlong still beat his previous best of 52.9 that won the 2010 outdoor Silver Meet on the frosh-soph level.
“This race actually did gangbusters for my confidence level,” Furlong said. “I was a little worried but finishing as well as I did, I was actually a little disappointed that I couldn’t pull it out there and get second (52.52), but now I guess I’m just kind of realizing that I can actually run with these kids.
“I think definitely the level of competition here (made a difference).
I typically run as fast as the kids around me so I enjoyed having kids faster than me out there. I came out really slow because I had no idea how fast to be going. Coming into this first curve, I was in last so I had to turn it up the last 300 meters. I recovered but just barely.”
Monat and Callen knew they had little chance of winning Saturday but still rose to the occasion. Monat just missed his personal-best 53-0 from the Feb. 11 season opener and had all six of his throws in the lower 50s with no scratches. Callen, whose previous best was 49-1 Feb.
11, went beyond 50 feet on three of his six attempts.
“That was a goal. That’s always been in the back of my head, kind of what I’ve been waiting for, breaking that 50 mark,” Callen said.
“(Monat and I) were both throwing over 50 (in practice this week) so I kind of came out here expecting to hopefully break the 50 mark. Now that I’ve got that under my belt, I can kind of move on, kind of over that plateau now, and work towards that 53, state qualifying (52-11).”
Lake Park seniors Jeremy Kline (64-0) and Jermaine Kline (63-0) easily finished 1-2, both breaking Jeremy’s invite record of 62-0 from last year. Jermaine and Jeremy finished 1-3 at the 2010 state meet to help the Lancers win the team title.
“I know I’m not going to beat them. I’m not delusional. But the other guys especially, it’s motivating to see them throw that far because you want to,” Monat said. “It heightens your focus because if I screw up, I’m not going to be able to win.”
“It really drives you throw that much better but at the same time it almost takes all of the pressure off you because everyone’s watching them,” Callen said.
When Monat had his personal best in the opener, his other three throws were scratches. He’s been focusing on not fouling in practice and accomplished that Saturday. He’s been working on finding a balance between having strong technique while not totally being out of control.
Monat spent plenty of time after the competition studying replays of the Klines’ technique and finding ways to do even better.
“I had my most consistent day (Saturday). I’ve never been this consistent before, which was nice,” Monat said. “Anytime somebody’s that good, you’ve got to try to emulate what they do. I was a little rough today, a little slower than I could have been. That’s what I was looking at, trying to see how fluid they are compared to me. I need to try to get more on that level.”
Hinsdale Central throws coach Brian Griffin said a little change in Callen’s technique helped him get past the 50-foot barrier.
“Instead of finishing his throw out and up, he was holding back at the end of his throw. We just worked all week on finishing strong and long and he did,” Griffin said. “(Callen and Monat are) coming along well.
They’re making small changes and corrections and getting better every week, which is what we want.”
Monat also passed a mental barrier with success at Proviso West, which conducts indoor shot put competition in a confined corner above the track and just past bleachers and a doorway.
“You’ve got the narrow sector, the walls. You’ve got to focus on not hitting the walls. I’ve never thrown well here,” Monat said. “It gives me a lot of confidence. When I come into conference, I’ll know what I need to do.”
DEVIL'S COMPETE AT LITTLE FOUR - Bill Stone - February 12, 2011
Hinsdale Central senior Bill Monat realized his potential in shot put during last year’s West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet.
Not seeded for even a top-eight finish, Monat took second place with a distance of 50-5 – a personal-best by more than 3 ½ feet.
“That really helped my confidence,” Monat said. “It kind of got the ball rolling. Once I saw I could throw that far, I wanted to throw farther. I knew I could be good so I thought if I work hard this offseason, it’ll pay off.”
Monat already has come out even stronger. In the Red Devils’ indoor track season opener Friday, Feb. 11, Monat threw a career-best 53-3 as one of three Hinsdale Central victors at the Little Four Invitational in Hinsdale. The Red Devils’ 54 points finished second to Downers Grove South (119 points), followed by Downers Grove North (49.5) and Oak Lawn (25.5).
Senior Ben Cherry (600-meter dash in 1:29.9) and the 3,200 relay (seniors Billy Fayette and Zach Withall and juniors Jack Feldman and Ted Owens in 8:40.09) also took first place with strong splits by Fayette (2:05) and Withall (2:09).
The Red Devils finished 1-2 in shot with Monat and junior Ryan Callen (49-1), who also had a personal-best throw by three feet. Junior David Livesey did not place but also posted a personal best of 37-1.
“I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to do. I think both had a pretty good idea of how Bill would,” Callen said. “We both did a lot of productive work in the offseason so we came in this first meet kind of expecting better things than last year.”
Monat and Callen both attended track camp during the summer at Denison University (Granville, Ohio) for shot and discus, which they both plan on throwing outdoors. The two also were offensive linemen for the football team in the fall and took advantage of the offseason strength training program.
With Friday’s throw, Monat already is past the 52-11 qualifying standard that would automatically advance him to the Class 3A state meet -- if he can achieve that at sectionals. Still, Monat is hoping to reach 57 feet by the end of the indoor season and 60 outdoors. Last year’s indoor Silver shot champion on the frosh-soph level, Callen is hoping to reach 55 feet after first breaking that 50-foot barrier as Monat did at the 2010 conference meet.
“If I wouldn’t have had that breakthrough at the conference meet, I don’t know if I would have been able to improve as much. It was really encouraging,” Monat said. “I’ve gotten a lot stronger, mostly. This is really the first offseason that I actually threw the shot in the offseason. I’d never done that before and it really helped a lot.”
Junior Tom Mulc (5-6) and senior K.C. Akuba (5-6) finished second and third in high jump. Junior Ryan Daleen was third in the 55 high hurdles (8.3) and 55 low hurdles (8.0) with junior Reed Wigley fourth in 8.4 and 8.1 seconds, respectively.
Other third-place finishers were junior Tom Lyons (1,600 in 4:51.7) behind an aggressive first half of his race, Wigley (200 in 25.9) and the 1,600 relay (Daleen, junior Chandler Hawkins, Wigley, junior Max Von Mallinckrodt in 4:02.1). Junior Luke Chen (3,200 in 11:09.9) and Arjun Reddy (1,600 in 4:55.7), Von Mallinckrodt (800 in 2:13.8) and the 4-lap relay (Akuba, Hawkins, juniors Daniel Hinspeter and Dakota Limjuco 1:24.8) were fourth and senior Bill Grimm (1,600 in 4:56.4), junior Connor Furlong (600 in 1:34.9) and Limjuco (200 in 26.3) were fifth.
Cherry is the only returnee from last year’s state-qualifying 1,600 relay. He won his only race Friday by 2.8 seconds after working off a distance runner from another school and outkicking him.
“I didn’t want to go out too quickly and not have anything left. I’m in a lot better shape than I was at this point last year,” Cherry said. “It was kind of a laid back meet. (But) I got really nervous for some reason. I ran in it last year and it didn’t go as well as I liked.”
Cherry is motivated by trying to return to state and improve on last year’s 23rd-place finish by the relay. This season, he could contribute as more of a sprinter or middle-distance runner. He and several Red Devils already have a stronger base after participating in the offseason conditioning program following the fall sports season.
“We’re really far ahead of where we were last year. We had a time trial (Feb. 7) and our (individual) times have significantly improved across the board,” Cherry said. “With it as a predominantly young team, we don’t want to use this as a turnover year. We really want to get some state qualifiers and hopefully some state finalists.”
Hinsdale Central freshman Manny Lopez was a little late getting the news about his high-school track debut on the frosh-soph level at the Little Four Invitational Friday, Feb. 11, in Hinsdale.
“I thought I didn’t do that well, but apparently I did so I was really excited when I found out (Tuesday) morning,” Lopez said.
Lopez was told that his 16-8 in long jump was among three individual winners for the Red Devils (45.5 points), who finished third behind Downers South (101) and Downers North (74.5) with Oak Lawn (27) fourth.
Sophomores Marc Roszkowski (400 in 1:01.1) and Alex Conte (55 high hurdles in 9.3) also took first place.
Lopez, who won long jump won by one-half of an inch, was making his high-school sports debut after competing in track at Hinsdale Middle School. Lopez also competed in the 55 and 200 Friday.
“I’m actually going to set that (16-8) as my goal level right now. I’m hoping next time I can maybe get a little bit further,” Lopez said.
“It was pretty exciting. I didn’t think I would take first place considering it was the sophomore level. Especially the races were a little scary at first because I had never really used the (starting) blocks. That was a new experience.”
Philip Pielet and Conte tied for second in the 55 low hurdles (8.8) and Pielet also was third in the 55 high hurdles (9.9). The Red Devils collected 18 of their team points over the two hurdles races.
The 3,200 relay (Dylan Palo, Mark Gesior, Ryan Somerfield, Forrester Evertsen in 9:22.7) was second, and the 1,600 relay (Ben Herbst, Keenan Ary, Derek Roberts, James Benak in 4:07.8) was third. Taking fourth were Paul Ramos (55 high hurdles in 10.8), Patrick Callahan (400 in 1:02.2), Matt Strand-Jordan (33-5 in shot put), Gesior (1,600 in 5:13.9) and the 4-lap relay (Ary, Herbst, Roszkowski, Rich Licata in 1:32.6). Evertsen (600 in 1:43.4), Conor Awick (55 low hurdles in 9.3), Palo (1,600 in 5:15.1) and Callahan (200 in 27.1) were fifth and Derek Roberts tied for fifth in the 55 (7.3).
Conte was a member of the team last year, but he mostly ran exhibition races. Conte certainly looks much different this season. He said he has grown nine inches, now up to 5-9, and the added height has had a positive effect.
“It’s a lot easier to get over the 39-inches than last year, and I’m a lot more flexible,” Conte said. “Last year was like the first time ever doing hurdles other than middle school. This year, I’ve improved my time by a lot so I’m excited. This ranks pretty high for me. I’m extremely excited that I ran that fast.”
Like some indoor track athletes, Conte will have to decide whether he will compete outdoors. Last spring sports season, he was part of the highly successful freshman baseball team, which won 39 games.
“(Friday’s meet) makes me continue what I’m doing, even though I’m going to try out for baseball,” Conte said. “It’s kind of convincing me and saying to me that I can do this. I just want to compete for the team.”
The Red Devils return to action Friday, Feb. 18, at the Proviso West Quad with the host Panthers, Downers North and Conant.
Hinsdale Central senior Azad Darbandi is having a good track season, even when the results don't show it. Such as the time he ran well in the 800-meter run and was a placewinner at the indoor West Suburban Conference Silver Division March 18. “I got fifth in conference, except they messed up the results and put me down as seventh,” Darbandi said. On Saturday, there was no problem figuring out that Darbandi and his teammates were the best distance medley relay at the 13th Hinsdale Relays at Hinsdale South. The lineup of seniors Zach Withall, Darbandi, Ben Cherry and Billy Fayette led from the outset and crushed the meet record in the process. The Red Devils finished third in the nine-team field with 66 points. Hinsdale Central’s other event champion, the shot put relay of senior Bill Monat, junior Ryan Callen and sophomore Nick Piker, also set a meet record with a combined distance of 145 feet-4 1/2 inches, breaking the former mark by 1 ½ inches. The distance medley relay, which covered 4,000 meters, had Withall (1,200 meters), Darbandi (800), Cherry (400) and Fayette (1,600) finish in 10 minutes, 18.9 seconds manual time, dusting the invite record of 10:42.9. “I was telling Zach beforehand, joking around telling him, ‘Don’t give it to me in a big lead,’ and he did so then I just tried to extend the lead so I went out fast,” Darbandi said. “I felt great. I went out really fast. I slowed down the last 200 because no one was around me, but I still think that I had a good race. “I had a few good indoor meets. So far, I think this is good race for me.” Indoor Silver champion Lyons Township (154 points) and Oak Park-River Forest (109) finished first and second at the invite for the third year in a row. Bartlett (56) was fourth, followed by Hinsdale South (55), Downers Grove South (52), Lane Tech (46), Morton (38) and Plainfield Central (38). The meet was moved to Hinsdale South because construction at Hinsdale Central is not completed and not all field events could be held there. The meet also started later to accommodate athletes taking the American College Test. A beautiful, warm day with little wind resulted in several meet records falling. Before the distance medley relay, Withall said the Red Devils put together their personal-record times and it combined to 10:19. “Our biggest goal today was definitely the win,” Fayette said. “We thought it was a good record but we didn’t think it was untouchable by any means so we just went after it and said, ‘We’re going to run as hard as we could and just try to outrun everybody.’ It worked out well pretty well for us.” Withall, who shaved his head earlier in the week, opened with a 3:11 split, followed by Darbandi (2:00.6), Cherry (50.6) and Fayette (4:16.6). “We knew we wanted to break the record but that was by a lot, a good race for all of us,” Withall said. “I’ve never actually done a 1,200 and generally Billy leads off for most of our relays. I felt good. I felt strong. I took control when I wanted to and I didn’t look back.” Cherry was the only relay member who competed earlier, running a 200 leg for the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay with junior Max Von Mallinckrodt (400), sophomore Marc Roszkowski (200) and junior Neil Pedersen (800), which took second (3:41.6) to LT’s 3:40.1. Pedersen ran a personal-best 2:04 anchor split. “(Also in the distance medley relay) I thought we were going to be neck and neck with LT," Cherry said. "It wasn’t even a question. The record was going to be broken. It was just going to be a question of who was going to hold it. These three guys have such a winner’s mentality so I knew the pressure was on me that I had to step up and perform. It was tough because I got the baton with a pretty good lead so I was running by myself.” In the shot put relay, Monat (49-11) and Callen (49-3 ½) had the second and third-best individual distances behind Bartlett’s Brian Polubinski (50-8) and Piker was sixth (46-2). The Red Devils edged the invite record of 145-3 by Downers South that stood since 2003. “(A record by) an inch and a half. Wow. It feels good,” Callen said. “Based on how we threw, I didn’t think a record was tangible right now. It’s nice to know that can come out here and not throw our best and break a meet record. I wish we would have broken it by a little more.” Monat and Callen threw in the 50s during the indoor season but this was their first outdoor meet. The Red Devils had a meet with Glenbard West Wednesday, but distances were not kept in the throws. The key to the record was Piker, who threw a personal-best by four inches. His previous best throw also came at Hinsdale South. “I just think I throw good at South, I guess. I like throwing at South,” Piker said. “I’m really proud of the guys because it’s exciting to break meet records,” Hinsdale Central throws coach Brian Griffin said. “In order to do that in a relay meet, all three kids have to put together and compete and do something good. If one kid has a bad day, you’re never going to break the record. We can do better.” Also taking second Saturday were the frosh-soph 3,200 relay (Michael Korompilas, Dylan Palo, Mark Gesior, Forrester Evertsen in 8:50.3) and the frosh-soph 1,600 relay (Rich Licata, Derek Roberts, Keenan Ary, Roszkowski in 3:38.0). LT won both races in 8:43.1 and a meet-record 3:35.6, respectively. Hurdlers took third in the 300 intermediate relay (Alex Conte, Ryan Daleen, Reed Wigley in combined 2:12.2) and the 110 high hurdles shuttle relay (Conte, Daleen, Wigley, Zane Ziesmer in 1:07.5). The high jump relay (combined 17-6 by K.C. Akuba, Uchena Akuba, Tom Mulc) and discus relay (combined 342-6 by Monat, Callen, Achilles Bezanis) were fourth and the 4-by-1,600 relay (Pete Stubbings, Ryan Somerfield, Matt Kane, Ted Owens in 19:16.4) and the frosh-soph 800 relay (Licata, James Benak, Ary, Victor Ciardelli in 1:39.4) were sixth. Individually, Monat’s personal-best 125-7 was fifth among discus
throwers and K.C. Akuba tied for sixth in high jump by clearing 6-0. The Red Devils are stepping up in discus even though they currently have no ring to use at the school. They can’t throw on the artificial
grass surface where the ring used to be, but they have managed to find areas to practice. They used extra time after Saturday’s competition to throw in the ring at Hinsdale South, whose coaches are allowing the Red Devils to practice there occasionally. “Last year, disc was not our thing. We’ve had a huge improvement,” Monat said. “We throw off the sidewalk across the street into the baseball fields
and throw off the black pavement next to the shot ring, not hit the turf. We still can throw but the feel of being in a ring, it’s probably more psychological. I don’t think it affects us that much. We do a pretty good job of working through it.”
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Bud Mohn's Invite - Write up by Bill Stone
4/16/11
Varsity
On a lousy day for running, Hinsdale Central junior Neil Pedersen had
the kind of race he’s been waiting for all track season.
The No. 6 seed in the 3,200-meter run, Pedersen ran a personal-best 9
minutes, 48.51 seconds to win the race at the eight-team Bud Mohns
Invitational Saturday at Downers Grove South. Hinsdale Central junior
Jack Feldman, the No. 4 seed, was a close second in 9:51.23, his
personal best.
“I was very excited. I needed to have a breakout race. I hadn’t run
well the whole track season so it’s really a confidence booster for
later races,” said Pedersen, whose seed time was 10:10.
“I felt like I was concentrating better and Jack Feldman, who I do
workouts with, pulled me along. He helped to break out the second mile
to be as fast as it was.”
Hinsdale Central (75 points) finished fourth behind York (131), Lake
Park (116) and Hinsdale South (84 points). Lake Park is the defending
Class 3A state team champion with York the state runner-up.
The 3,200 was among several strong distance performances by the Red
Devils. Seniors Billy Fayette, Ben Cherry, Zach Withall and Azad
Darbandi won the 3,200 relay (8:07.05), Withall won the 1,600
(4:32.12) and Cherry later won the 400 (50.94).
The track was cold and windy all day. Rain fell intermittently. By the
time of the 1,600 relay, there was snow.
“The first lap (of the 3,200) was kind of cold. I was kind of getting
battered by the wind on the backstretch,” Pedersen said. “Besides
that, it wasn’t too bad. It was something to occupy your mind. Really
my arms were cold, nothing else.”
The 3,200 was a tactical race. Feldman made the first significant move
at the outset of the second mile and the top group followed. Pedersen
said after “surges all over the place” he was able to pass his way
into the lead to stay. Feldman edged third-place York junior Carlos
Vega by 0.72.
“I haven’t really won a race since freshman year, now that I run on
the varsity level. Especially to go 1 and 2, we thought it was a
really big deal,” Pedersen said.
“(Feldman has) been running well all year. He’s solid, a really
reliable competitor. I was kind of worried about not being able to
sustain it, but it’s like our coaches say, ‘When you have a negative
feeling, replace it with a positive affirmation.’ I kind of lost (the
leaders) with about a half a mile but I thought if I hang in there, it
could go way better than I thought.”
So did the 3,200 relay, which finished 8.13 seconds ahead of
second-place York. At the Hinsdale Relays April 9, Withall, Darbandi,
Cherry and Fayette combined to crush the record in the distance medley
relay, which covered 4,000 meters.
Cherry, who ran a 400-meter leg at the Hinsdale Relays, competed in
the 3,200 relay for the first time Saturday.
Fayette opened with a personal-best 1:58 split and Withall and
Darbandi followed with 2:01s. Cherry had roughly an 11-second lead by
the time he began the anchor leg, but York’s final runner was senior
and North Carolina-bound Jack Driggs, a 2010 all-stater in the 3,200
and 1,600.
“That (victory) was more on the other guys than me. I was a little
nervous on it,” said Cherry, whose split was a personal-best 2:05.
“It was good to finally put a good (3,200) relay team together and
hopefully be one of our state-qualifying teams. By the end of the
season, I want to get sub-2:00 with decent conditions and not running
by myself. Coach told me just to come out quick and put the dagger in
and really by the time I passed the 200-meter mark, I knew I wasn’t
going to blow that big of a lead.”
The state-qualifying standard in the 3,200 relay is 8:00.04 fully
automatic time. Cherry is the lone returnee from last year’s
state-qualifying 1,600 relay. This season, it looks as though his
events will be the 3,200 relay, the 400 and the 1,600 relay. He won
Saturday’s 400 with York seniors Kevin Adamik (51.22) and Mo Watkins
(51.60) within a second of him.
“As for now, that’s what the plan is, but it’s extremely tentative,”
Cherry said.
“The times weren’t there, but it was my first open 400 in a long time.
It was good to finally run an open 400, especially to get the victory
because I kind of have an idea of what I’ll run at sectionals.
Hopefully things can progress throughout the season, hit state
qualifying (49.94 FAT) in early May and taper for the state finals –
hopefully.”
Hinsdale Central and York experimented with its distance runners.
Driggs and Fayette had numerous great races indoors in the 3,200 and
1,600, but on Saturday they competed in the 800. Driggs edged Fayette
for the 800 title (1:58.23 to 1:58.82) and later anchored the Dukes’
victorious 1,600 relay.
In shot put, the Red Devils’ Bill Monat (48 feet-7 ½ inches) and Ryan
Callen (47-6) finished third and fourth behind Lake Park seniors
Jeremy Kline (61-9) and Greg Block (51-7). Jeremy Kline, third at last
year’s state meet, surpassed his 2010 invite record by 15 inches.
The 1,600 relay was fourth (Darbandi, Feldman, Elliot Wilm, Ted Owens
in 3:40.10). Ryan Daleen (15.94) and Reed Wigley (15.941) were fifth
and sixth in the 110 high hurdles and Max Von Mallinckrodt (400 in
53.8), who was battling illness, and the 800 relay (1:42.89) were
sixth.
Frosh-Soph
Hinsdale Central sophomore Keenan Ary grabbed the baton for the third
leg of the 800-meter relay Saturday in a difficult position.
“From my viewpoint, when Derek (Roberts) was running and handing off,
we were losing to everyone but one team,” Ary said. “I got it and ran
pretty hard, my fastest. I tried. I handed it to Marc (Roszkowski) and
he did the rest.”
The lineup of Rich Licata, Roberts, Ary and Roszkowski pulled out the
victory in the 800 relay in 1 minute, 38.40 seconds just ahead of York
by 0.32 of a second, at the eight-team Bud Mohns Invitational at
Downers Grove South.
The Red Devils were fifth with 56 points, just two behind fourth-place
Andrew, at a cold and windy meet with rain and snow along the way.
York won with 169 points.
Sophomore Nick Piker also took first in shot put with a distance of 45
feet-8 ¼ inches, just shy of his lifetime-best 46-2 that helped the
Red Devils win the shot relay at the Hinsdale Relays April 9.
At the indoor West Suburban Conference Meet March 18, Licata, Ary,
Mike Krohn and Roszkowski won the 800 relay in 1:38.09, just shy of
the 1:37.73 frosh-soph indoor school record set in 2010.
The outdoor frosh-soph school record is 1:27.84 from 2004. In
Saturday’s 800 relay, Ary contributed a personal-best split of 23.5
seconds.
“I wanted to win so my teammates were pushing me. I just ran as fast
as I could. I just couldn’t stop,” Ary said. “We’re hoping to go to
conference and going to try and get first. We’re going to be working
pretty hard at track practice.”
Alex Conte was second in the 110 high hurdles (17.07) and fourth in
the 300 intermediate hurdles (45.44) and Philip Pielet was fourth in
the 110 hurdles (17.62).
The 3,200 relay of Michael Korompilas, Alec Wohlever, Jake Hall and
Ryan Somerfield (8:56.26) was second to York (8:29.53) with Somerfield
running a team-best 2:10 split as the anchor. Somerfield later was
fifth in the 1,600 (4:57.70) and Dylan Palo was fifth in the 3,200
(personal-best 10:37.48).
The 1,600 relay (Licata, James Benak, Ary, Roberts in 3:47.13) was
third (3:47.13). The 400 relay (Victor Ciardelli, Benak, Tom Young,
Gideon Ticha) was fifth (50.20).
“It was a little difficult (weather for the 1,600 relay),” Ary said.
“It was hailing, raining, a hard day. We could do way better than
that.”
Hinsdale Relays
4/9/11
Meet Review
by
Bill Stone
DEVIL'S COMPETE AT LT RELAYS - By Bill Stone
Hinsdale Central senior Zach Withall has been on the run lately.
Right after competing at the Bud Mohns Invitational at Downers Grove
South, Withall was on his way to the University of California-San
Diego for a college visit.
Withall probably will make his decision this week, and the NCAA
Division II program is high on Withall’s list of where he wants to
compete in cross country and track.
“I loved it there immediately. Nothing else compares with there. It’s
something else. I loved it,” Withall said. “They’re generally top
three in conference and one of the teams in their conference (Chico
State) is one of the strongest in the nation.”
Returning in mid-week, Withall ran the most of any of the Red Devils
at the 28th annual Lyons Township Relays Thursday in Western Springs.
The Red Devils (47 points) finished seventh of 10 teams that combines
results from 20 relays on the varsity and frosh-soph levels.
The Red Devils’ lone victory came from the 4-by-1,600-meter relay of
junior Jack Feldman, Withall, junior Tom Lyons and senior Billy
Fayette, whose time of 18 minutes, 0.30 of one second easily bested
second-place Maine South by 21.8 seconds.
“We were pretty happy about that. It was expected but it was still a
good race for us,” Withall said. “It would have been nice to be under
18 minutes but we didn’t go in with a goal, except to get first
place.”
Feldman ran a personal-best 4:29.3 on the first leg, but strong
frontrunners kept the Red Devils from first before Withall’s 4:25.3
put them in front for good. Lyons had a personal-best 4:39.2 split on
the third leg with Fayette adding a 4:26.5 uncontested.
Still, the Red Devils still were far from the invite record of
17:43.42 from 2006 by St. Charles North. Feldman, Withall and Fayette
helped the Red Devils take ninth in the race last season (18:09.3).
“It was good conditions, but if I had quality competition in front of
me the whole time, I think I would have run 4:21, 4:22, but I’m still
happy,” Withall said.
Fayette and Withall came back later with seniors Azad Darbandi and Ben
Cherry to take second in the 4,000 distance medley (10:32.5) to LT’s
10:30.6.
Also taking second was the shot put relay of senior Bill Monat, junior
Ryan Callen and sophomores Nick Piker and Matt Strand-Jordan, who had
a combined 180 feet behind Deerfield’s 195-8, and the varsity 3,200
relay (Cherry, Darbandi, Ted Owens, Max Von Mallinckrodt in 8:08.10)
was third.
Top individual throws came from Monat (52 feet-6 inches) and Piker
(46-6), Callen (44-0) and Strand-Jordan (36-7) had the team’s top
throws. Piker’s was a personal best by four inches. In the 3,200
relay, Cherry (1:58.9), Darbandi (1:59.5) and Von Mallinckrodt
(2:06.1) had personal-best splits.
The distance medley breakdowns were Fayette (1,200), Darbandi (800),
Cherry (400) and Withall (1,600). The same group had won the Hinsdale
Relays April 9 in an invite-record 10:18.9. On Thursday, the Red
Devils had the lead going into the final leg but Withall was unable to
hold off LT senior anchor Sam Telfer, a three-time all-stater in cross
country who previously only had run 800 meters in the varsity 3,200
relay.
Withall’s second 1,600 of the night was 4:27.9, only slightly slower
than in the 4-by-1,600 relay. He said he ran his first 400 in 1:02,
hoping to discourage Telfer into settling for second, but he never
relented and finally passed Withall down the stretch.
“He’s really fast and he was in a good position the whole time. He was
chasing me,” Withall said. “He’s a very, very good runner. I’m not
happy that I got caught, but it’s not like I didn’t kick hard. He’s
just naturally more talented.”
Rich Licata, Derek Roberts, Keenan Ary and Marc Roszkowski were fourth
in the frosh-soph 1,600 relay (3:40.52) and fifth in the frosh-soph
800 relay (1:36.60).
The frosh-soph 3,200 relay (Ryan Somerfield, Alec Wohlever, Dylan
Palo, Mike Korompilas in 8:40.50) was second and the 4-by-110 high hurdles
shuttle relay (Reed Wigley, Zane Ziesmer, Alex Conte, Ryan Daleen in
1:07.70) was fourth. The sixth-place 1,600 sprint medley (3:57.30)
consisted of Robert Liss and Andre Nelson (200 each), Elliot Wilm
(400) and Pete Stubbings (800).
The frosh-soph 3,200 relay received personal-best splits from
Somerfield (2:08.7), Wohlever (2:09.5) and Palo (2:12.4) and was only a second off first place.
“We were kind of hoping to go a little faster. Some of us wanted to
hit some faster PRs but it was a nice race and I think if we have a
better day, we’ll be able to hit even faster times,” Somerfield said.
“I think that (3,200 relay) is a really good foresight into what we
can do next year and even senior year. We're just trying to work hard
and get our time down so we can compete against York in conference."
It’s a fairly consistent lineup along with Mark Gesior, who ran
earlier in the non-scored 1,500 race. Somerfield and Korompilas have
been switching off leading off and anchoring the relay.
“We want to start it off with a bang and end it with bang,” Somerfield said.
“Looking back at the race, it was pretty stacked competition in the
opening leg so I’m pretty sure if any other guy (on our team) had run
that, he would have gotten a big PR. For most of my other events, I’m
having small PRs so hopefully I’ll be looking for a big breakthrough
race.”
The Red Devils finished ahead of St. Charles East (29 points), Conant
(20) and Nazareth (2). LT scored 122.50 to win for an invite-record
fifth year in a row. Plainfield South (112), Thornton (77), St.
Charles North (75), Deerfield (68) and Maine South (67.5) were second
through seventh.
Hinsdale Central competes Friday at the Lincoln-Way West Invitational.
To take advantage of great distance competition at Prospect's Wanner
Invite, Fayette and Withall will compete there Friday as open entries
in the 3,200 and 1,600, respectively.
DEVIL'S SECOND AT LINCOLN-WAY WEST INVITE - By Bill Stone
Senior and three-sport athlete Elliot Wilm is making up for lost time
after not competing for the Hinsdale Central boys track team last
season.
“I had to get work. This year, I’ve started out slow but worked my way
up,” Wilm said. “I’ve always been into track. When I did football and
wrestling, I liked it, good times, but ultimately no future.”
Wilm’s track future with the Red Devils very well could conclude with
a trip to the Class 3A state meet. On Friday, he was part of the
1,600-meter relay team that took another step toward returning
downstate in winning the race at Lincoln-Way West’s Warrior Invite in
New Lenox.
The Red Devils (133 points) finished second to Thornton (215) in their
first appearance at the eight-team invite. The invite included four
frosh-soph relays, allowed three entries in individual events rather
than two and awarded teams points for top-seven finishers, rather than
the usual top six.
Nice weather and little wind at the spacious track complex contributed
to many strong performances. The 1,600 relay of junior Max Von
Mallinckrodt and seniors Azad Darbandi, Wilm and Ben Cherry ran a
season-best 3 minutes, 26.8 seconds. Cherry took the lead for good
over second-place Thornton (3:28.6) with 200 meters left.
“I’m not going to lie. Knowing we got the win is incredible,” Wilm
said. “This is a good one. We all kind of found our place, found who
is good at what. Max is obviously a great leadoff. Ben’s a good
anchor. It’s like we have a good lineup now. We know what we have to
work on.”
Darbandi earlier won the 800 (2:08.70). Other champions were junior
Neil Pedersen in the 1,600 (4:34.90) and the frosh-soph 3,200 relay of
Mike Korompilas, Dylan Palo, Mark Gesior and Alec Wohlever (8:42.0).
Warrior Invite winners received an added perk -- championship
T-shirts. Wilm and Cherry were still recovering as Von Mallinckrodt
came out of the stands with the 1,600 relay’s stack.
“I’m not good at running by myself. Winning or losing, I like to be in
competition,” Wilm said. “That (race) was great, the whole
backstretch, had him right there and that was a fight. That’s what I
like.”
Cherry is the lone returnee from the Red Devils’ 1,600 relay that
reached state in 2010. He was a bit disappointed about earlier
finishing second in the 400 to Homewood-Flossmoor’s Josh Nance (49.20
to 50.00) and was physically sick after the race, but the Red Devils
did time him with his first sub-50 race ever for an open 400.
In the 1,600 relay, Cherry received the baton a close second to
Thornton and held that spot until making a surge coming around the
curve en route to a 49.8 split. Von Mallinckrodt (51.9), Wilm (52.3)
and Darbandi (52.8) were all sub-53.
It’s a big step from the indoor conference meet, where two key
injuries had the Red Devils at least briefly consider to not even
enter a 1,600 relay.
“To have guys like Elliot and Azad come in and fill those roles
without losing a step, all we can ask for is gold,” Cherry said. “That
was one of the fastest 400s I’ve ever been in my life. I knew if I
came out quicker, I would have won the race. (And) it would have been
sub-49, which was my goal coming into the season.
“It was a good finish to the day. The open 400 is a little bit
frustrating, but the (1,600 relay) definitely ended well. To have two
sub-50 times, within like a half an hour of each other, that’s really
promising for what we’re going to do at sectionals.”
Darbandi was among the Red Devils battling shin splints, but he still
had enough in him for two solid races. He was a bit conservative for
the first lap of the 800.
Darbandi still was among the top five or six when he made his move
with 250 meters left and took the lead with 100 to go. Jack Feldman
(2:03.1) and Dan Chan (2:08.7) were fifth and sixth.
“I kind of feel bad that I didn’t get a good week of training. I
thought it would hurt me more than it did but I still feel I’m in good
shape,” Darbandi said. “I’ve won dual meets and small home meets but I
think this is my first big invite (victory) so it feels good,
especially the fact that it’s prom weekend, so it’s a good start.”
Distance runners enjoyed plenty of success even with senior standouts
Billy Fayette and Zach Withall competing simultaneously at Prospect’s
Wanner Invite against some of the state’s best.
The frosh-soph 3,200 relay was coming off taking second at the Lyons
Township Relays April 21. On Friday, Gesior joined the lineup in place
of Ryan Somerfield, who ran on the varsity 3,200 relay with older
brothers Brad and Jeff and Matt Kane that finished third (8:39.2). All
eight runners had personal-best splits with the fastest by leadoff
legs Ryan Somerfield (2:07.9) and Korompilas (2:08.4).
Pedersen and Ted Owens (4:38.3) finished 1-2 in the 1,600 with Arjun
Reddy sixth (4:48.6). Tom Lyons (9:43.9), Pete Stubbings (10:05.6) and
Bill Grimm (10:27.9) were second through fourth in the 3,200.
Lyons, a junior who finished behind Lincoln-Way Central’s Kyle Counter
(9:40.90), ran a personal-best time by roughly 24 seconds.
“I’ve been waiting to do something like that for a while and it just
felt really good,” Lyons said. “I think just consistent training,
higher mileage these last few weeks (has helped) and really a lot of
it is just my teammates and confidence that’s kind of helped me push
through and know that I can run faster now.“
In the throws, senior Bill Monat was second in shot put (52 feet-2 ¾
inches) to Thornton senior Nathaniel Whittington (60-1/4) with
sophomore Nick Piker with a lifetime-best 46-7 ¾. In discus, Ryan
Callen with fifth (129-8), a lifetime best by five feet, Monat was
seventh (118-11) and junior Achilles Bezanis threw 105-11, also a
lifetime best by five feet.
In the sprint relays, Keenan Ary, Rich Licata, Derek Roberts and Marc
Roszkowski were second in the frosh-soph 800 relay (1:34.9) and 1,600
(3:37.2) to
Thornton’s 1:34.3 and 3:36.8. On the varsity level, the 400 relay
(Daniel Hinspeter, Robert Liss, Andre Nelson, Anthony Vicino in 44.9)
and 800 relay (Vicino, Nelson, Von Mallinckrodt, Wilm in 1:34.6) both
were third.
Sophomore Alex Conte was sixth in the 300 intermediate hurdles (43.7)
after winning the second of three heats.
Although Piker’s personal best in shot was by fewer than two inches,
he achieved the feat for the third time in this spring’s four major
outdoor invites. He scratched his first two throws but three of his
last four went past 45 feet.
“I’ve been lifting harder so that probably has something to do with it
and just working on my form really, getting some speed, which I was
trying to do,” Piker said.
Monat, who had two throws past 50 feet at the LT Relays, had two
throws past 52 Friday and two others past 50.
“We’re kind of stepping up. We have conference in two weeks so it’s
nice to see everybody getting a PR today in some way, shape or form,”
Monat said.
Before the conference meet, the Red Devils play host to their annual
McCarthy Invitational Friday.
Fayette and 4*800 break meet records at McCarthy Invite!
By Bill Stone
Hinsdale Central senior Billy Fayette might not have been at his best
before the 1,600-meter run at Friday’s 61st annual McCarthy
Invitational, but he sure ran like it.
“My stomach wasn’t feeling very good. I felt fine, but not my best by
any means,” Fayette said. “I was hoping (fresh runners at first) were
going to take the lead. I ended up taking the lead wire to wire.”
All Fayette did was win the 1,600 in an invite-record time of 4
minutes, 14.2 seconds after earlier anchoring the victorious 3,200
relay with seniors Ben Cherry, Azad Darbandi and Zach Withall, which
ran an invite-record time of 7:49.7 and missed the school record by
1.4 seconds.
Senior Bill Monat was Hinsdale Central’s other champion by throwing 51
feet-7 ½ inches in shot put.
In their annual home invitational, the Red Devils finished fifth among
the 10 teams with 45 points. Oak Park-River Forest (118) won the
invite for the fifth year in a row, followed by Lyons Township
(100.33), Downers Grove North (59.33) and Downers Grove South (57).
The final home track meet for the seniors made their success even
sweeter. The distance runners received special support along one side
of the fence from the father of graduated Doug Moore, who qualified
for state as a senior in 2009 in the 3,200 along with Fayette.
“The biggest thing was all of the fans. We had a lot of spectators,
which was more than usual – friends, family, classmates,” Fayette
said. “(The 1,600) was a very good race and I’m happy with that. It
was very nice to win on my home track, the last time I get to race
there.”
Withall also ran well in the blistering 1,600. He ran a personal best
by eight seconds (4:16.3) and tied the previous invite record of
4:16.3 by LT’s Ryan Kuphall in 2005 and finished fifth.
Fayette held off Oak Park senior Jack Stapleton (4:14.6) by .4. Oak
Park junior Malachy Schrobilgen (4:15.5) and Downers North senior
Brian Llamas (4:15.9) were third and fourth.
Fayette shattered the modern-day 1,600 school record of 4:19 shared by
Kyle Somerfield (2005) and Jon Thanos (1983). The all-time school
record is a converted 4:10 set by John Herbert, who was fourth in the
Class AA one-mile run in 1976. The IHSA converted races to meters in
1980.
“I won’t feel like true school record holder until I break the 4:10
barrier. It’s definitely a goal of mine to go after that record,”
Fayette said. “I’m hoping I can run that fast this season. If I can do
that, I’d be very happy.”
The 3,200 relay race was even closer. Down the final straightaway,
Fayette was step by step with LT senior Sam Telfer, a three-time cross
country all-stater and member of the Lions’ 2010 all-state sixth-place
3,200 relay.
The Red Devils won by .3.
“Basically the last 10, 5 meters, I stumbled across the finish and
finished ahead of (Telfer). I don’t really remember,” Fayette said.
Both the Red Devils (7:49.7) and LT (7:50.0) beat the invite record of
7:50.7 set by Naperville North in 1991. Hinsdale Central’s school
record of 7:48.3 is from 1982.
Fayette’s anchor split of 1:54.2 was a personal record by four
seconds. Withall (1:57.5) and Cherry (1:58.0) also had PRs and
Darbandi (1:59.8) came close during a more tactical leg. The Red
Devils are well under the 7:59.8 manual-time state cut.
“It was just an awesome race. We had a lot of confidence and the
coaches knew we could run well so they believed in us and we believed
in ourselves,” Fayette said. “We had the goal for winning the race
going in. (But) we didn’t know which teams were running their best
(lineups). We knew we could run in the mid-to-low 7:50s if we all ran
well. To run 7:49 was a big accomplishment for us. Give credit to LT.
We wouldn’t have run as fast. It was just a phenomenal race between
the two of us.”
Monat won shot by 3-4 ½ over LT senior Tom Callahan (48-3) with
Hinsdale Central junior Ryan Callen fifth (46-3).
Junior Jack Feldman was third in the 3,200 (9:46.8), and juniors Max
Von Mallinckrodt (1:59.3) and Neil Pedersen (2:01.8) are fourth and
sixth in the 800.
The Red Devils compete at the West Suburban Conference Silver Division
Meet Saturday at Glenbard West.