Oak Park-River Forest turns lemons into lemonade in winning at Minooka

#SmithStrong Invitational produces strong performances; Homewood-Flossmoor sets Illinois leads in 4x1, 4x2 wins; Granjean under 14 seconds in hurdles win; 3200m run gives meet fans an exciting finish

By Michael Newman

Minooka, Ill – It sometimes takes a misfortunate incident to turn something bad into something special. Such was the case for Oak Park-River Forest at the beginning of Saturday’s #SmithStrong Invitational held at Minooka High School.

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The Huskies were among the leaders in the Varsity 4x800m Relay until third runner Michael Michelotti got the baton. Despite the winds that gusted up to 30 miles per hour at times during this meet, Michelotti ran a sterling 1:55.9 split on his portion of the relay handing off the baton to teammate Daniel Johnson to begin the final two laps. Johnson ran a 1:56.0 anchor to bring his team for the apparent win in a state leading 7:56.23.

Johnson crossed the line in jubilation seeing his teammates waiting for him. He pulled his jersey out to signify the OPRF that was across it.

One of the officials differently and called the other officials together. In one instance, their state leading time had disappeared. Oak Park was disqualified giving Sandburg the win (8:00.09) and a new state leading time.

The officials explained to Oak Park Coach Tim Hasso that his runner made a throat slashing motion after he crossed the finish line and that his team was disqualified. People at the finish line disagreed about what the official had described. There is video showing shot by a parent at the finish line disputing the official. However, what was done was done. The meet moved ahead.

Hasso told his team just that. The Huskies scored in every event except one on their winning this invitational against some of the top teams in the state. Oak Park scored 126 points for the team championship. Plainfield South (83 points) and Minooka (81 points) finished second and third. Defending 3A State Champion Batavia finished fourth (70.25 points) ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor (70 points) and Neuqua Valley (65 points).

“This was our biggest meet and win for our team since I have been here,” said senior Liam Newhart. “Coach Hasso motivates us in so many different ways from individually to our team. Motivation is a factor and why he is such a good coach.”

Let’s look at the running and field competitions event by event:

4x100m Relay – Homewood-Flossmoor came in as the team to beat after running a state leading time at Belleville West last Friday. It was more of the same for the Vikings in this meet. Their handoffs were crisp throughout the three exchanges that they made. The first exchange between Olusoga Adeyiga to Robert Scott III stretched the exchange zone but they got the handoff in before the end of the exchange zone. That gave HF the advantage for the remainder of the race. John Gore and Jeremiah Turner extended their lead even more as they won with the state’s fastest time (41.62) this season. Two more teams were under 43 seconds as Oak Park-River Forest was almost a full second behind (42.61, IL #9) to finish second with Evanston running 42.78 to finish third ahead of Batavia (43.13) and Plainfield South (43.36).

3200m Run – This was the most anticipated distance races in this meet especially with two of the top distance runners in the state Liam Newhart of Oak Park-River Forest and Camyn Viger of Plainfield South. The high winds that pummeled the runners down the front straightaway would be a factor. It showed through the first four laps of the race as Quintin Lowe of Batavia led the pack of six runners. The pace slowed to going by the first 1600-meters in a 4:44. The question was at that point if this race would finish under 9:20. Nick Parrell of Oak Park-River Forest took the lead at that point as the pack started to string out. Viger stuck right on the Oak Park runner with Newhart and Ethan Reynoso of Plainfield North five meters back. 2000m was passed in 5:54 as the pace began to pick up. It slowed the next lap to 72 seconds passing with two laps to go in 7:06. Viger began to pick the pace up in the penultimate lap with Newhart on his side. The bell rang at 8:15.3 as the two runners were side-by side. Newhart tried to make surges on the outside of the Plainfield South runner going down the back stretch with the wind at his back. Viger refused to let the Oak Park runner past. Both were in an all out sprint coming off the final curve. Viger just had a little more in the tank heading into the wind. Viger crossed the line with a 9:13.18 (IL #2) personal best and the win. Newhart ran a personal best of 9:14.05 to finish as both collapsed to the track in a 58 second final lap. Reynoso ran 9:25.86 to finish third ahead of Parrell (9:28.51) and Matt Padilla of Oswego (9:31.91).

110m Hurdles – The next two events switch to the back stretch of the track so that the athletes could take advantage of the wind and run with it at their back. Three of the four sections of this event were run over the allowable 2.0 meters per second wind speed. Only the final race with the top athletes in the event got a wind speed of 1.5 m/s and took advantage of it. Miles Granjean of Evanston Township took his hurdling in this race to another level. Granjean had the lead after the hurdle just ahead of Jake Lansdowne of Neuqua Valley. Granjean exploded from there almost flawless over the final hurdles. His winning time was wind legal at 13.99 as the fastest time in the state in 2023. Lansdowne ran 15.06 to finish second ahead of Minooka’s Darvell Smith (15.27). Granjean’s winning time is ranked #18 in the United States regardless of wind conditions. He is ranked #8 nationally with times that were timed with a wind gauge under the legal wind reading.

100m Dash – The winds picked up during this race, especially in the final section. Some of the top runners in the state were in this race and met expectations. Caleb Schulz, just a sophomore from Oak Park-River Forest, started to take a step up to the next level during the indoor season especially at the end of indoor season when he dominated the short sprints at the WSC-Silver Meet. The top four finishers all ran top six times in the state but were not wind legal. Schulz got off to a great start in this race as did Olusoga Adeyiga of Homewood-Flossmoor and Cael Hiser of Minooka. The three were even with 10-meters left. Schulz got to the line first with a state leading time of 10.60 just one hundredth of a second ahead of Adeyiga (10.61, IL #2). Hiser was right there running 10.67 (IL #4) to finish third. Miles Granjean came back after his hurdle win to run 10.74 (IL #6) to finish fourth. Seven runners in this event ran under 11-seconds. The wind reading in the championship race was 4.0 m/s.

800m Run – The wind was the star of this event as a small storm started to enter the area. Grant Giblin of Sandburg had anchored his team to the win in the 4x800m Relay took command from the start leading for most of the race. There was a huge pack coming down the front straight passing 400-meters in a wind prevented 59 seconds. Giblin took control from that point charging away from the pack and looked like he had the race won. On came Gavin Borger of Plainfield South who started making his move with 200-meters left catching Giblin in the final 60 meters. Borger won the race in 1:59.23 just ahead of Giblin’s 1:59.59 time. They were the only two runners in the event under two minutes.

4x200m Relay – Storms passed through the area during the Frosh/Soph section of this event giving the fans some light showers. It had seemed to clear up by the two Varsity races, but the wind was still evident. Oswego set the standard in the first section running 1:32.08 for that section win. The Panthers finished sixth overall. The top two times came from the next section. Homewood-Flossmoor ran 1:28.45 to improve on their seasonal best and the state lead in winning the event. Oak Park-River Forest ran 1:28.90 to finish second as the two teams appeared to freight train the rest of the field. Batavia (1:30.43), Plainfield South (1:31.07), and Neuqua Valley (1:31.98) all finished in the top five.

400m Dash – Cael Hiser of Minooka had a busy day at this meet running three events finishing no worse than fifth in any of those events. This was only Hiser’s fourth time ever running this distance in a meet. Nelson Speaks of Homewood-Flossmoor came off the curve with the lead with Hiser the closest runner to him. Hiser made the pass with less than 30-meters and then held off Speaks for the win timed in 49.58 (IL #6). It lowered his personal best by three seconds. Speaks was also under 50 seconds running 49.78 (IL #9) to finish second.

300m Hurdles – The top two finishers in the shorter hurdle race were the two athletes to watch in this event. This time, it was Jake Lansdowne who was in control of this event. The Neuqua Valley senior came off the curve with lead running a 39.71 personal best to claim the win. Miles Granjean, in his fourth event of the meet, was fourth with three hurdles left. He made a charge moving up to second running a 40.36 personal best, his third of the meet. Eric Evans of Oak Park-River Forest ran a great race running 41.58 to finish third.

1600m Run – This was the most loaded distance race in this meet with so much talent in each of the three sections. It looked like Zach Self of Waubonsie Valley might win this event from Section 1 when the leaders of the final and supposedly fastest section passed 800-meters in 2:18. Self let his teammate Zach Hayden push the pace the first two laps of the opening section, then pulled away to run a big personal best of 4:27.76 to win his section. Cillian Henning of Lyons Township pulled away from the field to win his section with a 4:30.16 still with Self’s time the one to beat. Liam Newhart was back after his great 3200 Meter Run race. He was very reluctant take the lead as the first lap passed in 71 seconds. Newhart had seen enough when they passed 800-meters in 2:18. The pace had picked up, but not enough to catch the pace that Self had set. Nick Strayer of Lyons Township followed that move as the pack started to thin out. Zac Close of Neuqua Valley, Plainfield South’s Dylan Maloney and BJ Sorg, Strayer, Tommy Nitz of Huntley, and Zach Balzer of Minooka all took after Newhart as the Oak Park runner threw in a 63 second third lap passing in 3:21. Newhart would not be denied this time. Newhart ran 62 seconds in the final lap, and 2:05 for the final 800-meters to run 4:23.81 to claim the win. The next six runners in the section were all within two seconds of each other as pass after pass was made in the final 200-meters. Maloney moved from fifth in the final straightaway finding a spot in the crowded pack to move into second (4:25.25). Balzer was close behind in third (4:25.45) followed by Sorg (4:25.77) and Nitz (4:25.96) all under 4:26. Close (4:26.37) and Trent Anderson of Sandburg (4:26.56) were sixth and seventh with Self’s first section win placing him eighth overall.

200m Dash – There would be no meet records in this event especially running into a rough headwind. The final section wind speed was -3.8 m/s. Caleb Schulz got another great start forgetting he was just a sophomore. He had the lead coming off the curve. Robert Scott III of Homewood-Flossmoor ran a strong final 100-meters catching Schulz just before the finish line winning by a tenth of a second. The times were good considering the strong winds with Scott III at 22.33 just ahead of Schulz (22.42). Weston White of Batavia (22.64) and Elijah Mowatt of Oak Park-River Forest (22.82) finished third and fourth. Cael Hiser finished off a great meet running 22.94 to finish fifth.

4x400m Relay – The excitement of this race always seems to come down to the final 100-meters of this race. This time Nelson Speaks of Homewood-Flossmoor held off Neuqua Valley’s Austin Belle to claim the win with a 3:25.06 time with Neuqua Valley at 3:26.16 to finish second. Batavia (3:26.31) was a close third. Oak Park-River Forest ran 3:28.99 to win the first section. The Huskies finished fifth overall. Lyons Township (3:29.34) and Plainfield South (3:29.74) finished fifth and sixth.

FIELD EVENTS

Pole Vault – This field event had to deal with the wind but did not seem to affect the athletes with three going higher than 14-6. Andrew Undesser of Minooka came in at 14-1.25 and almost did not survive clearing on his third attempt at the height. He went on to clear 14-7.25 on his second event, then cleared 15-1 (IL #7) to win the event. Pre-meet favorite Josh Meister of Oak Park-River Forest did not have his best day opening with a 14-7.25 clearance on his first attempt. He then missed on all three tries at 15-1 to finish second. Kyle Eppenstein of Plainfield South cleared 14-7.25 on his final attempt to finish third.

High Jump – The big performance in the field events may have come from McHale Hood of Huntley in this event. Hood came into this meet with a 6-4.75 best. He moved to a different level in this competition  He started out in a rocky manner clearing 6-0.75 on his third attempt. His jitters settled down after that clearing his next two heights on his opening attempt. He won the event clearing a then personal best of 6-6.75 and his second attempt. He bettered that personal best clearing 6-8 on his first attempt. Alec Crum of Batavia (6-4.75) finished second ahead of Frederick Hassan of Kaneland and Oliver Hassard of Evanston both cleared 6-2.75 finishing third and fourth.

Long Jump – The wind played a part in this event with none of the competition passing 22-0. Brody Squires of Waubonsie Valley was aggressive in his jumping taking the lead in the first round and never letting up. His best attempt was 21-10 for the win. Myles Kye of Evanston jumped 21-4 to finish second ahead of Kwabena Osei-Yeboah of Oak Park-River Forest who jumped 21-2 to finish third.

Triple Jump – Three top 10 state performances in this event came from this meet. James Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley had his first three jumps all over 45-feet. His third round attempt of 45-8 (IL #3) won the event. The same held true for Alec Crum as he also was over 45-feet three times jumping 45-6.25 to finish second. Will DeSessa of Lyons Township jumped 44-11.50 (IL #8) in placing third.

Shot Put – Kaden Garland of Oak Park-River Forest was dominant in winning both throwing events in the varsity potion of the meet. Garland had five of the top six marks in this event with his final round put of 53-3 winning the event. Cayden Garcia of Minooka had a best of 50-9.25 to finish second. They were the class of this event with no other athlete within four feet of Garcia.

Discus – The same held true in this event with no other athlete within 15 feet of second-place. Kaden Garland was plagued by three fouls in his six attempts in this competition. His opening round throw of 157-6 was good enough to win the event. Josh Cygan of Plainfield South threw 149-5 in his fifth attempt to improve his series by eight feet in finishing second.