Photo: Brandon Adams leads his team to the win in the 4x400 Meter Relay (Laura Duffy Photo)

Results

By Michael Newman

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Naperville – The 2018 edition of the Downers Grove South Mustang Relays was all about the comeback and the chase. There were teams that were putting up fast times early in the section of a relay daring teams in later sections to come and catch them. It was about athletes coming from behind to bring their team to victory.

Minooka’s Brandon Adams had the final word in his team’s come from behind win in the 1600 Meter Relay Monday night at North Central College’s Res-Rec Center.

Glenbrook North laid down the challenge in that event running a 3:27.75 in the third section to give other teams a second thought as they entered their blocks for the final three sections of the event. It came down to the concluding section where Proviso East had the second fastest time in the state and wanting to lower that even more.

It looked like they would be in control early in the last section. But Batavia made a charge. The two teams challenged for the lead until the final 400-meters of the race.

Then came Adams.

The Minooka senior took the baton for his nearly three seconds behind Proviso East and Batavia. That margin shrunk with every step that Adams took. It was down to under one second entering the final lap of the race. First, he passed Proviso East on the back stretch. Then, it was Batavia that had the mis-fortune of an Adams pass coming off the final curve.

Adams screamed in elation as he crossed the finish line. His 2017 season did not go as planned as injuries slowed him down that campaign. This year, it appears to be a different story. His sizzling 48.3 anchor leg gave Minooka the win with the state’s fastest time (3:24.62) ahead of Batavia (3:25.20) and Proviso East (3:26.11). The time run by Glenbrook North in the earlier section earned them fourth overall.

“It felt amazing,” Adams said about his relay leg. “That was my best 4x4 endings ever. I’m proud of what I did. I am proud of what my teammates did.”

It was the same scenario in the Boys 800 Meter Relay. Bolingbrook shocked the crowd in the Res-Rec Center by throwing down 1:32.96 time in the opening of six section in the events. It appeared no team would get close to them. That was until the fourth section. Neuqua Valley grabbed the lead on the first exchange of the race and never relinquished it. The lead time in the event was lowered by their 1:32.06 performance. All the Wildcats could do was to wait and see if any team could catch them.

Lockport made a game effort in the fifth section. Their quartet ran 1:33.04 for the win but it was less than a second behind that of Neuqua Valley. The story in the closing section was like that of the 1600 Meter Relay regarding the teams involved. It was Adams that gave Minooka the lead with a strong opening leg that his team never relinquished. The Indians’ crossed the line in 1:32.88 but it was not enough. The Neuqua team of Ife Oketona, Kai Larson, Myles Gascon, and Donovan Turner celebrated knowing that their time held up in winning the event. Their winning time put them second fastest in the state in 2018…so far.

THE GIRLS SPRINT RELAYS HADE THE SAME EFFECT

West Aurora tried to be the spoiler in the two sprint relays. Their seed times did not put themselves in the last section in each of the 800 and 1600 Meter Relays. It was their efforts that made the other teams sweat.

That kind of helps when you have one of the top sprinters in the state their to help you out.

In last Saturday’s Hononegah Invitational, Dajour Miles won three events along with helping West Aurora win the 1600 Meter Relay. Monday was all about the relay stick for this talented junior. The Blackhawks were in the fourth section of the 800 Meter Relay and were challenging Wheaton North and Glenbard East for the lead when Miles received the baton. 12 steps into her leg and she was gone from the pack. She ran a fast 24.3 third leg to break the race wide-open and secure the win for West Aurora (1:46.58). All they could od was sit and wait for the final two sections to be run.

The fifth section belonged to Downers Grove North, but their 1:47.66 time was not enough to take the lead. The concluding section of the event had a little more drama. Batavia had the lead entering the final exchange and had their ace Tori Ortiz anchoring. She held off a charging Whitney Young and their state champion anchor Amira Young. Batavia winning time of 1:46.56 was just enough to surpass West Aurora and win by two hundredths of a second.

West Aurora put the pressure on the last section of the 1600 Meter Relay. Miles brought her team from behind in the fifth section running a 57.8 anchor leg giving her team the win (4:06.31) ahead of Lyons Township (4:07.57). Again, West Aurora would have to wait to see if their time would hold up.

It was Whitney Young’s quartet that would have the final word. Amira Young anchored the Dolphins to the win of the section and the event (4:05.60) holding off Downers Grove South (4:07.15) in the process.

TWO GREAT 3200 METER RELAY RACES SET THE STAGE FOR THE NIGHT

It always seems to be that the 3200 Meter Relays in this meet set the excitement meter at 100 for the rest of the night. There was no exception to the rule in this year’s meet.

There was no clear favorite entering the Girls race. Yorkville was loading up this event for the first time. Hinsdale Central would be running in this race, but without three of their top runners Reilly Revord, Grace McCabe, and Kayla Byrne. The Red Devilettes are deep squad that in who ever they put on the line, they would challenge for the win. There was also Downers Grove South that had run 9:44 on this track five nights before at the Cardinal Girls HS Classic. In this race, they would load up going for the win.

The opening leg was all about the lead that Neuqua Valley’s MiKenna Robinson would put on the rest of the field. She charged out to the lead at the gun and held it for the first four laps running a 2:19.0 split. Glenbard East, Yorkville, Downers Grove South, and Hinsdale Central were two seconds behind entering the second part of the race.

Neuqua Valley held on to the lead for the entire second leg until Hinsdale Central and Downers Grove South made the pass just before the second exchange. Hinsdale Central’s Taylor Wagner took the lead with Downers Grove South’s Alisha Macas close behind. Hinsdale Central held the lead the entire third leg. It was close as the baton was exchanged for the final time as only two seconds separated the first six teams.

Hinsdale Central, with Bella Pisani anchoring, had the slight lead. Lyons Township, Glenbard East, and Yorkville were all within an eyelash of Hinsdale Central. Downers Grove South took the baton in fifth with Erin Reidy anchoring. The position did not matter. She was only a second behind.

Reidy did not have the kind of meet that she would want in last Thursday’s meet on this track. She was part of her team’s relay, but the 1600 Meter Run did not turn out as she wanted as she struggled in a 5:30.35 effort. This 800-meter final leg would serve as her redemption.

Pisani stretched out the pack opening open a ten-meter lead. Reidy moved up to second with her eyes set on the Hinsdale Central runner.

The Downers Grove South sophomore took the lead with 300-meters to go. When the gun sounded, she found another gear that no one else in this race had.

She was gone. The finish line was hers.

Reidy had the fastest split of the night (2:13.9) in leading her teammates Alisha Macas, Brenna Cohoon, and Becky Versaskas to the win (9:25.32) and the fastest time in the state for the event. Hinsdale Central was next nearly five seconds back (9:30.05) followed by Yorkville (9:30.89) and Lyons Township (9:32.51).

“This is amazing,” Reidy said after the race. “I can’t believe this just happened.”

Unofficial Section 3 Race Splits

The last section of the Boys 3200 Meter Relay took off quickly. Naperville Central’s Thomas Shilgalis stretched the pack out early running an opening 55 second 400-meters. Lyons Township’s Charles Harders charged in the final 150-meters to take the lead as the two runners split 1:55 on their respective legs. Whitney Young, Glenbrook North, and Downers Grove North were two seconds back waiting to make their move.

The second leg was crazy. Lyons Township, Naperville Central, and Whitney Young had opened a 10-meter lead in the first 400-meters ahead of a pack led by Glenbard West. It changed the final 250-meters of the leg as Glenbard West’s Rory Cavan took command and the lead. Downers Grove North’s Jacob Ridderhoff moved from seventh to second to get his team less than a second behind their WSC-Silver rival.

The lead changed again on the third leg. Miles Christensen put Downers Grove North into the lead in the first 100-meters of the leg. Neuqua Valley was making a charge. They stood in seventh after the first exchange. Now, Zach Kinne was making a move wanting to make the lead his own.

Downers Grove North had the lead into the final 800 meters of the race. Ryan Birkmeier showed perseverance in that anchor leg refusing to let Neuqua Valley’s Tyler Bombacino by. Glenbard West was also in the mix ten meters back but all the attention was on the Trojans and the Wildcats. Birkmeier made one final move coming off the curve entering the final lap.

Poof! He was gone.

Birkmeier snuck a peak with 15-meters left and knew the race was his. Downers Grove North finished in a state leading 7:55.79 with Birkmeier, Christensen, Ridderhoff, and Brendan Lockerby leading off. Neuqua Valley made a charge at the end but finished second with a fast 7:57.74 time. Glenbrook North, off a 1:56.8 anchor leg from Kyle Foley, passed Glenbard West in the final 50-meters to finish third (7:58.79, 7:59.84 for Glenbard West).

“We just wanted to get the school record tonight and the win,” Lockerby said. “We knew we had the talent and just wanted to give it our all tonight.”

The fastest split of the night belonged to Sandburg’s Dylan Jacobs. The Foot Locker National Champion took the baton for Sandburg in tenth-place entering the anchor leg. Four laps later, he brought his team up to sixth overall with a 1:53.8 split.

Unofficial Section 3 Race Splits