By Michael Newman

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Here are some of the highlights from last week’s 3A Boys Sectional Meets.

Homewood-Flossmoor

Host Homewood-Flossmoor put themselves in position for a state title qualifying 14 to Charleston by winning the sectional title with 121 points. Minooka finished second with 109 points. Five athletes qualified in the Long Jump led by the 23-1 leap by Crete-Monee’s Stefan Baldwin. Homewood-Flossmoor’s Quentin Stringfellow jumped 45-11.25 to win the Triple Jump. Minooka’s Dominic Ruettiger cleared 15-0 to win the Pole Vault. Antonio Hayden of Minooka cleared 6-6 to win the High Jump.

Homewood-Flossmoor showed their relay strength by running the state’s fastest time in winning the 400 Meter Relay (41.62) ahead of Bloom Township (41.86) and TF South (42.11). Bloom Township came back to win the 800 Meter Relay (1:28.63) ahead of TF South (1:28.91) and then the 1600 Meter Relay (3:21.40). Brandon Adams of Minooka looked strong after injuring his hamstring the week before at his conference meet. Adams ran 48.69 to win the 400 Meter Dash. Matthew Lewis-Banks of Homewood-Flossmoor was a double winner running 14.22 to win the 110 Hurdles and 38.90 to win the 300 Hurdles. Homewood-Flossmoor took the top two spots in the 100 Meter Dash with Joshua Bridges winning (10.74) ahead of teammate Jesuseun Adeyiga (10.76).

Editor’s Note – There was a timing issue in the final two sections of the 200 Meter Dash. The race was re-run on Saturday morning. The IHSA made a ruling that the top two on Thursday and top two on Saturday’s re-run all would qualify for the state meet.

Grayslake North

Fremd’s win in the 1600 Meter Relay (3:23.83) ahead of Barrington (3:24.01) was the difference maker in the team competition in this sectional. Fremd won the team title (104 points) ahead of Barrington. Nine runners qualified to state in the 3200 Meter Run led by the 9:11.97 run by Waukegan’s Marcos Garcia. He won by almost seven seconds ahead of Barrington’s Nick Laning. Alex Tam of Libertyville ran 4:18.34 to just edge Laning (4:18.86) to win the 1600 Meter Run. Fremd’s Jaden Jackson was a double qualifier in the hurdles. Jackson edged Barrington’s Kevin Curet by just one hundredth of a second (14.64-14.65) to win the 110 Highs. Ben Konopka of Fremd also qualified by finishing third. Konopka came back to run 38.75 to win the 300 Intermediates ahead of teammate Jackson (38.81).

Mundelein’s Bobby Nuzzo was a double winner running 10.56 to win the 100 Meter Dash and 21.61 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Barrington’s Luis Cossio is set to defend his 3A title in the 400 Meter Dash winning the sectional crown running 49.30.

Barrington’s Brad Warman led five other athletes to Charleston in the Shot Put winning with his 61-1.75 winning put. Barrington also put up a dynamite time in the 800 Meter Relay running 1:27.83 for the win by just five hundredths of a second ahead of Stevenson (1:27.83).

Proviso East

Oak Park-River Forest qualified 21 (18 Individuals, 3 Relays) in easily winning this sectional Thursday night at Triton College scoring 198 points. Lane Tech was the closest team finishing second with 65 points. Clayton Mendez of Whitney Young tuned up for state with a pair of wins in the distances. Mendez was alone running 9:03.84 to win the 3200 Meter Run by 25 seconds. Mendez came back to win the 1600 Meter Run (4:17.51) ahead of Oak Park’s Matt Vietzen (4:19.81). The best relay performance of the meet belonged to Oak Park as they ran 42.35 to win the 400 Meter Relay ahead of Proviso West (43.06).

Moses Bioash of Proviso East was the meet’s other double winner as he ran 11.28 to win the 100 Meter Dash and 50.43 to win the 400 Meter Dash.

Plainfield South

The winds were a consistent 13 MPH down the home straightaway meaning some impressive horizontal jumps and even more impressive sprint races Thursday night. The showdown between the two of the top sprinters in the state failed to disappoint. Courtney Lindsay of Rock Island got off to a great start in the 100 Meter Dash. Plainfield North’s Marcellus Moore passed Lindsay with 40-meters left in the race winning in 10.33 ahead of Lindsey’s fast 10.44 times. The two faced off again in the 200 Meter Dash as Moore had the lead coming out of the curve. Lindsay was not done as he pulled up along side with 50-meters left in the race. Moore held off Lindsay for the win with a spectacular 20.88 time. Lindsay was just six hundredths of a second back (20.94). There were 11 races run in the 100m/110H/200m. Only three were wind legal in the meet. Two were the final sections of the 100 and the 200.

Neuqua Valley is prepared to contend for another trophy in Charleston. The Wildcats qualified 14 (12 individuals, 2 relays) in winning the sectional crown with 127 points. Plainfield North and Yorkville scored 63 points to tie for second.

Neuqua Valley’s Donovan Turner was a double winner in the hurdles. Turner ran a wind-aided state best time of 14.08 to win the 110 Highs ahead of Yorkville’s Peyton Frankenreider (14.76). Two faced off again in the 300 Intermediates with Turner again winning (38.52) ahead of Frankenreider (39.59).

Frankenreider had a great meet qualifying in four individual events. His meet might be remembered by the two major jumps he achieved in the horizontal jumps. The Yorkville senior had never competed in the Long Jump before this season. This sectional meet was the fourth time that he had competed. In his second-round jump, Frankenreider jumped a state leading 24-1.5 for the event win. The wind was a help as six athletes advanced to Charleston in that event. Four of the athletes flew past 23-feet. Frankenreider also won the Triple Jump (47-2) ahead of Neuqua Valley’s McKenzie Mitchell (46-5.25). Eight athletes qualified in the High Jump led by Plainfield East’s Alex Babbington (6-4). Matt Ogilvie of Oswego cleared 15-0 to win the Pole Vault with five other athletes also qualifying.

St. Charles North

You will be hearing a lot about Hoffman Estates and Batavia this weekend in Charleston. Hoffman Estates qualified 11 (8 Individuals, 3 Relays) in winning the sectional with 88 points. Batavia qualified 12 (9 Individuals, 3 Relays) in finishing second with 81 points. The Bulldogs will not be able to defend their 3A state title in the 800 Meter Relay as Hoffman Estates (1:28.71) and St. Charles North (1:29.94) were the two auto-qualifiers.

Hoffman Estates’ Declan Rustay did what he needed to do in preparation for his 3A title defenses in the 100 and 200 Meter Dashes with a pair of sectional wins in both events. Rustay ran 10.61 to win the 100 Meter Dash by four tenths of a second. Rustay came back to run 21.53 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Rustay also anchored Hoffman Estates to a win in the 400 Meter Relay (41.95) ahead of South Elgin (42.08) as well as winning the 800 Meter Relay.

Camron Donatlan of West Aurora is ready to go after his third straight 3A title. He cleared 6-8 to win the High Jump ahead of St. Charles North’s Peter Willis (6-6). Seven athletes qualified in the Long Jump with West Aurora’s Kevin Sylvester winning with a 23-1 jump. Kaneland’s Clayton Hannula was a double winner in the weight events throwing 170-9 to win the Discus and throwing 59-9 to win the Shot Put.

Loyola Academy

Evanston Township qualified 10 (7 Individuals, 3 Relays) for the state meet in winning the sectional title with 110 points. New Trier finished second (59 points). Jonathan Wilburn led the Wildkits jumping 46-7 to win the Triple Jump. Evanston also picked up three relay wins running 7:56.09 to win the 3200 Meter Relay, 43.58 to win the 400 Meter Relay, and 3:27.88 to win the 1600 Meter Relay.

Seven athletes advanced in the 3200 Meter Run. Tommy Brady of Maine South ran 9:09.98 for the win ahead of Hersey’s Josh Methner (9:13.64). New Trier’s Albert Yen won both hurdles races. Yen ran 14.54 to win the 110 Highs and 39.16 to win the 300 Intermediates by almost three seconds.

Berwyn Cicero Morton

Lyons Township won the sectional title (128.50 points) qualifying 9 (7 individuals, 2 Relays) to Charleston. Danny Kilrea will be one of the favorites in the 3200 Meter Run this Saturday. Kilrea ran a solo 9:05.15 to win the sectional title by 42 seconds ahead of teammate Ryan Bonfiglio. Charles Harders stayed tactical running 4:24.75 to win the 1600 Meter Run ahead of Morton’s Guillermo Ibarra.

Oak Lawn’s Patrick Michaels took home two titles with a 53-11.50 effort to win the Shot Put. He also threw 154-0 to win the Discus.

Glenbard North

The conditions were not the best Friday night as a steady mist fell on Carol Stream Friday evening. It did not bother Glenbard West as they won the sectional title with 120 points qualifying 10 (6 Individuals, 4 Relays) to Charleston. It was close for the next three teams as Wheaton-Warrenville South was second (93.50 points) followed by Wheaton North (91 points) and York (85 points).

Glenbard West won three of the four relays starting with a win in the 400 Meter Relay (42.52) ahead of York (42.79). It was the same order in the 800 Meter Relay as Glenbard West (1:27.83) finished ahead of York (1:29.39). The Hilltoppers won the 1600 Meter Relay (3:21.77) edging Wheaton North (3:21.85) and Wheaton-Warrenville South (3:22.22) who both qualified.

York was in control in easily winning the 3200 Meter Relay (7:58.66) ahead of Glenbard West (8:02.46). Charlie Kern, who anchored York’s team in the 3200 Meter Relay came back to run 1:53.25 to win the 800 Meter Run ahead of Wheaton North’s Joey Simon (1:54.75) and Glenbard West’s Cameron Benes (1:54.84). Connor Zydek of Wheaton North pulled away in the final 300-meters to win the 3200 Meter Run (9:22.77) as three other runners qualified in the event.

Cedric Rowzee of Wheaton-Warrenville South was a double winner in the sprints. Rowzee ran 10.79 to win the 100 Meter Dash and 21.87 to take the win in the 200 Meter Dash. Tom Paprocki of Lake Park had the best field event performance clearing 16-3 to win the Pole Vault.

Downers Grove North

The state qualifying flood gates opened in this sectional in the distances. There were so many great performances on the Downers Grove North track. Sandburg, anchored by Dylan Jacobs, ran the state’s fastest time to win the 3200 Meter Relay (7:47.75) ahead of Hinsdale Central (7:53.23). Four teams qualified in that event. Jacobs came back to win the 1600 Meter Run in which eight runners advanced to the state meet. Jacobs’ time of 4:12.24 was four seconds ahead of Downers Grove North’s Jacob Ridderhoff (4:16.28) and Naperville Central’s Thomas Shilgalis (4:17.78). NINE runners qualified in the 3200 Meter Run led by the 1-2 finish from Downers Grove North’s Miles Christensen (9:06.53) and Jack Roberts (9:08.39). Joshua English of Eisenhower led five runners to state in the 800 with his 1:54.51 winning time just four hundredths of a second ahead of Downers Grove North’s Ryan Birkmeier (1:54.45).

John Meyer of Lockport not surprisingly was a double winner in the Shot Put and the Discus.  Meyer threw 68-1 to win the Shot Put and then came back to throw 181-0 to win the Discus by over 32 feet. Romeoville edged Lockport Township for the team title by one point (73-72).

Huntley

Host Huntley qualified 11 (8 Individuals, 3 Relays) in winning the sectional title with 123.50 points. Eric Mooney led the way for Huntley winning both the 100 Meter Dash (10.95) and 200 Meter Dash (22.44). Mooney was also a part of Huntley’s winning 400 Meter Relay (42.29) who won just by a tenth of a second ahead of Grant (42.39) and ran 1:29.70 to win the 800 Meter Relay. Brian Keyes of McHenry picked up a double win in the Shot Put (54-1) and the Discus (184-7).

Belleville West

This sectional was moved from Friday to Saturday due to inclement weather in the St. Louis area. It did not bother Edwardsville as they qualified 10 (9 Individuals, 1 Relay) for the state meet winning this sectional with 97 points. Bloomington finished second with 67 points.

Bloomington’s Zachery Bradford will most likely break his state meet record Saturday in the Pole Vault. The indoor national champion surpassed the 17-4 mark by clearing 17-9 to win the competition. Bradford anchored Bloomington’s 1600 Meter Relay to the win (3:19.82) ahead of Belleville West (3:20.04). Belleville West had a good day on their home track passing the baton as they ran 41.80 to win the 400 Meter Relay and 2:28.27 to win the 800 Meter Relay.

Danville showed why they will be one of the favorites in the 3200 Meter Relay. The Vikings ran 7:49.35 to win by more than 10 seconds ahead of Chatham-Glenwood. Edwardsville’s Franky Romano won the 800 Meter Run (1:54.51) just ahead of Danville’s Phillip Hall (1:54.65). Danville’s Quemarii Williams captured the crown in the 400 Meter Dash running 48.74 for the win.

Jordan Johnson of Quincy showed why he will be one of the favorites in the Discus. The junior threw 194-3 to win the event.