Josh Prescher (12.0) looked strong in the 100, as did Luis Zazueta (11.9) and Tobi Ijose (12.0)  Mac Kiley (2:21.2) and Omar Mehio (2:28.0) battled the winds to successful times.  Alex Stowers was even able to crack the 5:00 barrier in the 1600, running 4:59.0.  While most marks were not of the “personal best” variety,  Tim Heinz stepped up tremendously by smashing the Frosh / Soph high jump record, leaping a massive 6-4, six inches over the old record!  Congratulations Tim!

On the varsity level, Eric Metoyer ran 11.0 in the 100, followed by Gbenga Okubadejo in 11.2 and Brandon Richardson in 11.3.  Vincenzo Dal Pozzo and Alekh Meka battled it out in the 1600, with Vincenzo getting the slight edge at the line, 4:36.7 to 4:37.5.  Austin Li jumped 17-2 in the long jump followed by Zach Karlinski with a leap of 16-5.  And Brad Jones was over 40 feet once again in the shot put, throwing 40-5.

It has been a decade since we have had a guy win a weight event at an invitational, or place in the top five for that matter.  Mark Gaido made history for us by winning the discus with a modest throw of 140’01″.  The only other significant performance from the field came from sophomore Brad Mikulecky, who jumped 42’00″ in the triple jump, creeping him ever closer to establishing himself as the best f/s jumper in our program’s short existence. 

We put an all-senior 4 x 800m relay together to see what personnel could possibly be used 4 weeks from now to try and qualify for the State meet.  Some of our guys are still getting used to our recent inclusion of speed work, but overall we ran competitively and showed some promise to run well under 8:00.0 later on.  Vincenzo Dal Pozzo led us off with a solid 1:57.4 leg and it was senior Joel Lynn’s job to keep us in the race.  Joel did just that by running a hard first lap (57.7) and held on to run 2:02.7.  Josh Antonson ran a more strategic race and handed off to Josh Ferguson who ran 2:01 to bring us home in 3rd in 8:05.4.  We were excited to see Mark Derrick and Taylor Soltys race in a 3200m together for the first time this year.  Taylor is making great progress after some significant time missed due to an achilles injury and finished 8th in 9:35.  Mark continued his tradtion of running with one shoe and somehow mustered a 9:19 while running this way for 7 laps.  He continues to get stronger and even though his first attempt at a 3200m/1600m double was not what he envisioned, he gained some valuable experience.  Possibly the performance of the night on the track came from sophomore Alekh Meka in the open 800m (2:01.7).  Alekh is known for his distance stamina but also showed he has some speed by running 62/59.7 splits to easily win the 2nd heat and finish 4th overall.  He definitely showed he deserves consideration for our 4x800m relay and is now a candidate for a spot in the 1600m at Sectionals.  Based on this performance, he has a good chance of being the fastest sophomore 1600m runner in our history.  Jake Bender continued his consistent, high level performance in the 400m (49.5).  I am looking forward to seeing him being challenged by someone down the stretch to see how fast he can really go.   Our sprinters had a tough night due to being a little leg dead from working very hard this past week.  However, our 4x400m relay continued to run well by winning in 3:24.3.  Ryan Tomasi showed some promise by running a 50.9 lead off in less than ideal conditions. 

We look forward to running some different events this Tuesday at dual meet with WV and getting some more guys a chance to prove themselves at the Red Ribbon Invitational next Saturday at WV.  Onward!

Our F/S sprint squad really had some solid performances come out of the 100m, 200m, and 400m runs. James Sampson and Dennis Thurow went 11.4 and 11.5 respectively in the 100m dash. Our squad had three freshmen run low 24 in the 200m, they were James Sampson (24.0), Nick Rafacz (24.1) and Roland Dewgard (24.2). In the 400m Dennis Thurow (54.6) and Roland Dewgard (54.8) both run sub 55. Our distance crew was lead by Brendan O’Connor running 4:39.6 in the 1600m run. There were four other F/S runners under five minutes in the race, Robbie Hohlman (4:51.6), Mike Baker (4.53.0), Mike Whaley (4:57.2) and Sean Meehan (4:58.9). In the 3200m run Freshman Nick Bushelle cruised to a 10:09.1 while Sophomores Alex Stowers (10:44.1) and Riley Morrison (10:45.8) also posted respectable marks. In the field Carlos Varela-Hernandez continued his hot-streak throwing 120-0 in the discus. Tim Heinz jumped a respectable 5-8 in the High Jump, and Noah Heupel (17-3) and Brad Mikulecky (18-0) did a great job jumping uphill for the long jump. We finally got to see Josh Prescher back in action after taking some time off, he jumped 11-6 in the pole vault.

In the Varsity competition our sprint squad was highlighted by performances in the 200m and 400m by Jake Bender, who ran 22.1 and 49.0 respectively in the two events. Two of our 300m IH runners posted a respectable time each running 43.2, they were Mark Stocker and Matt Feliciano. Our distance squad ran well in the mile and two mile with two sub 4:45 1600m runs and three sub 10:00 3200m runs. Joel Lynn (4:41.3) Hirsh Gaikwad (4:44.3) and Matt Hill (4:47.1) all ran well in the 1600m. Vincenzo Dal Pozzo (9:47.9) showed some speed at the end of his race to run down teammate Taylor Soltys (9:49.9) on the last straight into the finish. The throws where highlighted by Mark Gaido throwing 131-9 in the discus, and sophomore Zach McKibbin throwing 41-8 in the shot put. In our Relays Ryan Tomasi really shined running a 51.9 in the 4x400m and 2:07.8 in the 4x800m. Junior Mark Derrick also ran well in his 4×800 relay which was running against Tomasi collecting a 2:03.6.

Since the weather didn’t cooperate for our invite at Metea Valley our next meet will be at Dowers Grove South High School this Thursday night. That will be a varsity only meet, so the next time we will see our F/S in competition will be on Tuesday 4/26.

Noah Heupel hands off to Julius Garcia during the 4x100m Relay

What an absolutely tremendous day for Neuqua Valley Track and Field!  It was a beautiful spring day with even better performances from both our Frosh / Soph and Varsity competitors.  We finished in 2nd place on both levels to a very competitive Minooka, but the true highlight of the day was, although we were only competing at our first outdoor invitational, there were 4 State qualifying marks already attained from the Varsity crew.

The Frosh / Soph team was not at full strength due to illness and injury in some of our key guys, but they persisted and achieved some great personal best performances.  The 4 x 800 squad of Nick Doty (2:11.2), Mike Baker (2:07.4), Mac Kiley (2:13.8), and Robbie Hohlman (2:08.5) got the day off to an incredible start with a runaway victory.  The 4 x 100 team of James Sampson (11.3), Julius Garcia (11.0), Noah Heupel (11.0), and Dennis Thurow (11.3) posted a near school record-breaking time of 44.6 and gained our second straight victory of the day.  Alekh Meka exchanged some elbows with another runner, was thankfully not disqualified, and ran his personal best time of 4:39.0 in his win in the 1600.  Over in the field events, Brad Mikulecky won the triple jump with a leap of 41-4, and Noah Heupel finished 2nd in the long jump with 18-11.5.  Finally, congratulations to Danny Loughery for finishing 2nd in the discus with a toss of 113-4.  It’s great to see these athletes turning into a well-rounded team!

As mentioned earlier, there were 4 State qualifying marks achieved at this meet.  Mark Derrick

Jake Bender earns a victory with a 49.11 in the 400m Run

got the ball rolling in the 3200.  He cruised through the first mile and then hammered the next one, eventually taking the victory with a 9:28.1 in his first 3200 of the season.  Vincenzo Dal Pozzo posted a personal best in the 800 with a 1:57.1, good for 2nd place.  Next, Jacob Bender ran away with the 400 and broke the 49-second barrier, posting a 48.9.  Then, the 4 x 400 team of Matt Wytiaz (52.9), Kevin Skrip (50.7), Vincenzo Dal Pozzo (51.3), and Jacob Bender (48.3) took 2nd and ran

their season best of 3:23.1.  Congratulations also go out to Markieze Mitchell for his performance in the long jump.  He finished in 2nd place with a leap of 20-11.  And Mark Gaido scored the team some points in the throws with a toss or 132-4 in the discus, good for 4th place.

We next travel to Plainfield South to face their team along with Minooka and Oswego on Tuesday.  Then, on Saturday, we are headed to our sister school, Metea Valley, for their brand new invitational.  Here’s hoping you can all make it out there and that the weather holds!