Meet Records fall at Minooka #SmithStrong Invitational

Schulz leads Oak Park-River Forest to team title with sprint double; Homewood-Flossmoor 4x2, Lamoureux, and Nitz run IL #1’s along with meet records

By Michael Newman

Meet Results | Race Video | Photos

Minooka, Ill – The evidence was there at the beginning of this meet when Kaneland’s 4x8 quartet broke the Frosh/Soph meet record by 10 seconds (8:14.01) and winning by 32 seconds. The first three finishers in the Frosh/Soph 3200 Meter Run ran under the 9:49 six-year-old meet record with Plainfield South’s Ethan Ensign running 9:42.59 for the win ahead of teammate Kellan Hernandez (9:44.18) and Sandburg’s Brayden Gaffud (9:45.20). It showed that this would be a distance paradise with hardly any winds and temperatures near 60 degrees at this meet held at Minooka’s Central campus.

This meet normally has adverse weather conditions like high winds in this meet. The calmness in the air provided high energy on the track with numerous Frosh/Soph Meet records falling and three top Illinois state performances occurring on the Varsity level.

Oak Park-River Forest displayed their depth in this meet winning five events in scoring 112.5 points for the meet team championship. Batavia scored 93 points in finishing second. Homewood-Flossmoor finished third (70 points) followed by Neuqua Valley (66 points) and Evanston (61.5 points) in the Varsity Top five. Homewood-Flossmoor scored 111.5 points in winning the Frosh/Soph team title ahead of host Minooka (98.5 points).

Caleb Schulz led Oak Park in winning both the 100 and 200 Meter Dashes. There was no help from the wind in both sprint wins for Schulz but that did not even matter for the Huskies’ senior. The flag laid limp on the flag pool on the south end of the track as the gun went off for the final section. Schulz did not get a great start out of the blocks, but he had broken away from the field at 50 meters. Schultz ran 10.74 for the overall win. This was the third year in a row that he won this event at this meet. It was close for second with the next five runners separated by eight hundredths of a second. Justin Johnson of Evanston Township led that group with an 11.00 time. Daniel Robinson of Neuqua Valley, Joaquin Jordan of Homewood-Flossmoor, and Damir Harris of Normal West all ran 11.02 placing from third to fifth. Cody Muhlbauer of Normal West ran 11.08 to place sixth.

Three runners were under 22 seconds in the 200 Meter Dash led by Schulz who ran a 21.72 seasonal best to win this race for the second year in a row. Dontrell Young of Oswego held on for second (21.94) just ahead of Zion Morrison from Homewood-Flossmoor (21.96).

Oak Park’s three other event wins came in field events. Lucas Brauc entered the competition in the Pole Vault at 14-1.75 and cleared three consecutive heights on his first attempt his highest height of the meet 15-1.5 to win. Jason Waddell of Minooka cleared a personal best of 14-1.75 in finishing second. Malik Griffee of Oak Park and Jeremiah Cain of Oswego cleared 6-2.75 in the High Jump with Griffee winning on fewer misses. Jonathan Sibley-Diggs of Oak Park threw 158-8 to win the Discus ahead of Plainfield South’s Brennan Culpepper (154-2) and Nickolas Grigsby (152-6). Gavin Pecor of Batavia had a personal best of 59-7.5 (IL #4) on his second attempt to win in the Shot Put. Sibley-Diggs achieved a personal best of 56-9.25 (IL #8) in finishing in second.

Daniel Robinson jumped 21-10 to win the Long Jump with Isaiah Brown of Batavia jumping 21-7.5 in finishing second. Brown came back to jump 44-9 to win the Triple Jump. David Taiwo of Neuqua Valley jumped 44-0.5 to place second.

All four distance varsity races exceeded expectations in this meet including two state-top performances. Nolan Lamoureux of Lockport Township ran one 800 race last spring on his way to finishing third in the state meet in the 400 Meter Dash. Lamoureux and Aidan Swanlund of Normal West passed the first half of the race in 55.5. Swanlund tried taking the lead, but the Lockport senior would not allow it. He pulled away on the final curve to run away for the win. His time of 1:52.97 ties him for the state lead with Phillip Cupial for the state lead. Edward Polaski passed Swanlund on the final straight to run 1:56.31 (IL #9) with Swanlund running 1:56.40 (IL #10) to finish third.

The 1600 Meter Run came down to Francesco Benelli of Batavia and Tommy Nitz of Huntley pushing for the win. Benelli and Nitz broke away from the field passing the halfway point in 2:09.4. The pace picked up considerably on the third lap as the two ran 64 seconds on the third lap. Benelli had the lead on the final lap with Nitz content to wait until he was comfortable to take the win. Nitz moved with 150-meters left in the race running the final lap in 59.05, the final 100 in 12 seconds to capture the win. The top two times were produced in this race with Nitz running a state leading 4:13.05. Benelli had a time of 4:16.23 to finish second. Liam O’Connor of Oak Park-River Forest ran a personal best of 4:20.86 to finish third ahead of Austin Cory of Plainfield South (4:22.42) and Oak Park’s Finn Kelly who ran 4:23.91.

There was not much drama in the 4x800 Meter Relay where Sandburg had the race won when Mateo Ramiro-Garcia ran a 159.0 opening leg ahead of Neuqua Valley followed by a 2:00 second leg from Matthew Miller gave them a second lead ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor. Hunter Covolo broke the race open for the Eagles running a 1:58.80 third leg to open a nine second lead. Damain Martinez secured his team’s win running a 1:58.12 closing leg. Sandburg ran 7:56.72 (IL #3) to claim the win with Homewood-Flossmoor 13 seconds back timed at 8:09.15 to place second. Lyons Township (8:11.24)

 Braden Hoff of Lincoln-Way Central took the lead in the 3200 Meter Run entering the second 400 of the race after the first 400 went by the first split in an uncomfortably slow 75 seconds. Hoff picked up the pace by running a 69.6 second lap reviving the pace of the race. Hoff and Evan Nosek of Kaneland were even entering the final bell lap before Hoff took off running a 64.3 final lap. Hoff ran a personal best of 9:26.00 to win with Nosek running 9:29.47 placing second. Plainfield South’s Dylan Buturusis (9:31.98) and Alex Batsala (9:33.95) finished third and fourth ahead of Sandburg’s Luke Atzman (9:35.77).

Dallas Amos of Evanston Township exploded down the final 100 meters to clinch the win in 48.74 (IL #4) ahead of Dontrell Young of Oswego who ran 48.92 (IL #6) in finishing second. Both hurdle events were fantastic. Zion Morrison of Homewood-Flossmoor had the lead throughout in the 110 Highs holding off Cooper McGinnis of Neuqua Valley for the win. Morrison was timed at 14:56 (IL #4) with McGinnis running 14.64 (IL #7). Thomas Woodard of Batavia caught McGinnis at the final two hurdles of the 300 Meter Intermediates. The two runners came across the line together with Woodard winning in 39.29 (IL #7) just ahead of McGinnis at 39.30 (IL #8).

The relay passes from the quartet from Homewood-Flossmoor did the trick in the 4x200 Meter Relay breaking the meet record and running a new Illinois state best. The team of Nolan Lewis, Kourtney Smith, Jordan, and Morrison ran 1:27.47 for the win. Batavia (1:29.39) and Kaneland (1:30.35) finished second and third. Normal West ran 42.26 to win the 4x100 Meter Relay (42.26) finishing ahead of Batavia (42.79) and Neuqua Valley (42.95) placed second and third. Dallas Amos held off the rest of the field to give Evanston Township with the win in the 4x400 Meter Relay (3:25.80). Nolan Lamoureux ran a 48.12 anchor split to take his team from fifth to finish second (3:26.81). Thomas Woodard ran a 49.1 anchor split for Batavia to run 3:27.10 in finishing third