#SmithStrong Invitational rewrites the 2021 Illinois Track Season

Minooka claims team title in classic “post” pandemic meet

By Michael Newman

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Minooka, Ill – Minooka Boys Head Track Coach Nick Lundin had a dream that came true on Friday night on his home track. He wanted to bring all the top Boys Track & Field teams in the state of Illinois to his facility and see what would happen after that.

What happened was all four relays produced top state times in this meet. 17 performances overall found their way into the state top five when this meet finished. Track is back in Illinois. This meet was a testament to that.

RESULTS | RACE VIDEOS

Minooka claimed the team title in this high-powered meet with 109.5 points. State powers Neuqua Valley (96 points), Homewood-Flossmoor (83 points), and Batavia (82.5 points) finished second through fourth. The meet signaled a change back to what we were used to instead of the silence we had to go through the past year. Fans were in the stands and electricity was in the air. The performances were fantastic. One coach said afterwards this is what we needed.

How true.

There was not one single performance that stood out in this meet. One event blended into the next with the excitement growing after each first-place runner crossed the line.

There was one individual event that produced a state leading best performance in this meet. Nicolas Dovalovsky of Neuqua Valley was the top seed in the 1600 Meter Run. He had not run this event this season but had a seed time of 4:15. Was this wishful thinking by the coaches or knowing that he was capable of bettering that with a 2021 resume of fast times to his credit.

The Neuqua senior was positioned at the end of the waterfall line for the start. As soon as the gun fired to start the race, Dovalovsky charged across all eight lanes to get to Lane 1. He had the lead at 50-meters into the race. It was a lead he would not relinquish.

He passed 400-meters in 62.7. The rest of the pack, led by Ryan Maseman of Plainfield North, went through that point at 65 seconds. For some reason, the distance between Dovalovsky and the rest of the pack seemed larger. Dovalovsky kept pushing the pace passing 800-meters in 2:07.2. The pack was at 2:10.5 with now Colin Hill of York leading the group.

It seemed that Dovalovsky was untouchable at this point. Meanwhile in the pack, Daniel Watcke of Hinsdale Central was content to stay in the back of the pack for the first two laps. The 800 Meter Run champ at Distance Night in Palatine two weeks ago started to make his move moving up to Hill and Maseman on the back stretch of the third lap. Dovalovsky passed 1200-meters with one lap to go in 3:12.8.

The race was not over yet. Hill and Watcke moved not the final lap at 3:16.8. Watcke took over second-place entering the back stretch with his eyes on the Neuqua runner in front.

Dovalovsky has great finishing speed. He would come back in the 4x400m Relay 25 minutes later to run a 49.8 split. Watcke’s speed was comparably as he ran a 50.5 split for his team the week before. Watcke was closing the gap but the finishing line came before the Hinsdale Central sophomore could get closer.

Dovalovsky broke the meet record of Soren Knudsen and the school record of Chris Derrick in his state leading 4:13.02 winning time. Watcke was next lowering his personal best by almost 10 seconds in running 4:15.84 (IL #6). Hill also smashed his personal best going under 4:20 for the first time in 4:18.49 to finish third.

The next six runners came across the line within a second of each other led by Maseman’s 4:21.26 fourth-place time. Griffin Lehnhardt of Sandburg was next in 4:21.80 edging Austin Burke of Neuqua Valley (4:21.82). Trent Anderson of Sandburg (4:22.10), Mickey Vreeland of York (4:22.10), and Quintin Lowe of Batavia (4:22.58) followed. Nine runners in this race finished below 4:23.

If it was not for that 1600 Meter Run race, then it was the relay events that were the stars of the night. Minooka took the lead in the 4x800m Relay after a strong opening leg by Adam Shaw that gave the Indians a three second lead. Zachary Balzer, Emerson Fayman, and Vincent Van Eck maintained that lead the rest of the way as they ran the state’s best time of 2021 (7:52.56) for the win. York and Sandburg battled for second throughout the second half of the race. Mickey Vreeland’s 1:58 and Colin Hill’s 1:56 final two legs helped give York second (7:55.17) and IL #2. Ismail Tineh kept close to Hill until the final 150-meters to get Sandburg third (7:57.09) and IL #3. Lyons Township was the only other team under 8-minutes as they ran 7:59.81 (IL #6) behind a strong anchor leg by Joaquel Thorpe.

Two of the top three times in the state in the 4x100m Relay came from the final section of this event. Minooka had strong first two exchanges to get the advantage and the race lead. Tyler Colwell anchored of Minooka and had to hold off a swift anchor leg from Homewood-Flossmoor’s Marshall Ellis to garner the top time in the state winning in 42.28. Homewood-Flossmoor was next in 42.63 (IL #2 tie). Batavia in 42.90 (IL #7), Plainfield North in 42.96 (IL #8), and Normal West in 43.05 (IL #9) finished next.

Batavia had the final say in the other two relay events. The 4x200m Relay was the closest finish of the meet. Batavia had a sizable lead entering the final 200-meters of the race. Reese Wheatley came in strong but started to fade it seemed in the final 30-meters of the race. Then came Minooka’s Colwell who was closing the gap. A final lean by Wheatley gave Batavia the win with a state best 1:29.41. Minooka was just eight hundredths of a second back (1:29.49, IL #2) finishing second. Homewood-Flossmoor (1:31.22), Lockport (1:31.52), and Oswego (1:32.10) rounded out the top five in that relay.

The 4x400m Relay brought the most excitement of the night and closed the meet in style with four of the top six times in the state produced in the final section. Again, it was Batavia that had the final word.

Jacob Hohmann and Tyler Piron kept the Bulldogs up front in the first two legs of the race. Anthony Bradley opened the gap on Neuqua Valley and Plainfield South on the third leg. Jonah Fallon brought the baton home for Batavia with the win and a state leading time of 3:21.82. Neuqua Valley’s Max Mitchell ended off a great night for him with a sub-49 second anchor to give his team second in 3:22.97 (IL #2). Plainfield South in 3:23.97 (IL #3), and Plainfield North in 3:26.07 (IL #6) finished third and fourth.

On The Track Highlights

There were so many great performances on the track on this night. Max Mitchell of Neuqua Valley and his win in the 400 Meter Dash was the most definitive of them all. Mitchell had made up the stagger in the fourth section of the event by 250-meters. He stormed down the homestretch to run a personal best of 48.81 (IL #2) to win the race. Evan Gronewold of Huntley ran 50.06 (IL #6) to finish second with Plainfield South’s Niko Schultz in third (50.84).

Schultz about 30 minutes earlier ran in the 800 Meter Run which makes his 400 race even more remarkable. The South senior took command down the homestretch to run 1:56.95 for the win. Jonah Fallon of Batavia, who led for most of the race, finished second (1:57.44) ahead of personal best efforts from Nick Rohlwing of Neuqua Valley in third (1:58.22), Garrett Schwan of York in fourth (1:58.50), and Ismail Tineh of Sandburg in fifth (1:58.58).

There were two double wins on the track in this meet. Gabe Czako of Lockport got out of the blocks great in the final section of the 110 High Hurdles. He was not threatened as he ran 14.51 (IL #4) for the win with prevailing 2.2 m/s wind at his back. Sean Kirkwood of Waubonsie Valley made a strong charge in the second half of the race to finish second in 15.03 (IL #10). Czako again got out strong in the 300 Meter Hurdles. He had company in the final three sets of the hurdles as Davonte Crawford of Normal West had the lead with two hurdles left. Czako surged off the final hurdle to catch and out lean Crawford by four hundredths of a second. The two athletes ran the second and third fastest time in the state with Czako (39.12) ahead of Crawford (39.16).

Marshall Ellis of Homewood-Flossmoor was the other double winner of the night. Minooka’s Tyler Colwell got off to a great start in the final section of the 100 Meter Dash leading at 50-meters. Ellis was accelerating from 60-meters out and caught Colwell earning the win in 10.83 (IL #4). Colwell ran a personal best of 10.90 (IL #9) in finishing second. It was different in the 200 Meter Dash as Ellis had the lead coming off the curve. Jamir Harris of Waubonsie Valley, who false-started in his section of the 100 Meter Dash, ran down Ellis in the final 50-meters. Ellis held on for the win in 22.16 (IL #7) with Harris in second with a personal best time of 22.20 (IL #8).

Andy Niser of Jones Prep and Declan Tunney of Sandburg led the pack through the first mile of the 3200 Meter Run. The two runners traded the lead in the next three laps before Tunney pulled away with the win. His time of 9:21.55 was a personal best ahead of Niser (9:26.17) and Brock Rice of Sandburg (9:28.36).

In the Field Highlights

Kaneland’s pole vault juggernaut of Ted Allen of Aiden Gatz still flying higher as we enter the final month of the Boys season. Allen cleared a personal best of 15’ 2.25 (4.63m) to win the event. His mark is currently #5 in the state. Gatz finished second clearing 14’ 9.5”. Oswego’s Christian Sobecki was next with a 14’ 2.5” height clearance.

Normal West’s Jonovan Findley and Charlie Nolan along with Kaneland’s Porter Conroy all cleared 6’ 4.75” in the High Jump. Findley won the event on fewer misses.

Sam Mika of Waubonsie Valley achieved a personal best of 50’ 11.75” to win the Shot Put. Dylan Meyer of Minooka had a put of 50’ 6.75” to finish second. Martin Kiefer of Neuqua Valley threw 146’ 3” to win the Discus ahead of Meyer (141’ 7”) and Neuqua Valley’s Elijah Darden (139’ 3”).

Jalen Buckley of Batavia won the Long Jump with a personal best of 22’ 2.75”. Oswego’s Caleb Wright jumped 21’ 9.75” to finish second just ahead of Normal West’s Leslie Frazier (21’ 8.75”). Frazier came back to jump a personal best of 47’ 5.25” (IL #2) to win the Triple Jump. Wright (44’ 4.75”) and Buckley (44’ 0”) finished second and third in that event.