Who won the DVC?
It's a first.
West Aurora used a huge head start in the field events to win its first DuPage Valley Conference boys track and field meet on Friday at the Glenbard East field house in Lombard.
The Blackhawks scored a whopping 18 points in the triple jump on a 1-2 finish by Joel Vincent and Colton Winston.
That senior duo added 14 points in long jump, with Winston the winner, and the twosome of Aviance King and Marshall Precht went second and third for 14 more points in high jump.
All told, West Aurora scored 92 points to 83 for Wheaton North. After the five field events West Aurora held a 54-0 margin lead over the Falcons.
Naperville North placed third with 68 points, Wheaton Warrenville South fourth with 62.
"We scored points where we didn't think we were going to score points," West Aurora coach Courtney Lamb said, citing lower-seeded athletes Dan Newhouse in pole vault and Aaron Taylor in shot put for stepping up.
"It kind of reinforces the hard work that these guys do during the week, the work the coaches put in," Lamb said. "It's great, I kind of don't have the words right now. It's great -- it's unexpected, but it's great."
West Aurora, which placed third at the 2007 outdoor DVC meet, still has room to improve.
State-qualifying senior shot putter Juan Perez did not compete due to an injured shoulder from the wrestling season. Likewise, junior sprinter Josh Zinzer was feeling the effects of an ankle injury from wrestling season, Lamb said.
They had plenty of support.
"In every event we had somebody who went above and beyond what they'd done all season. It was awesome," Lamb said.
Awesome was the word as Vincent went 22 feet, 2½ inches to win the long jump and Winston pulled in fourth at 20-3½.
"We both are in the long jump and triple," Vincent said, "so we both kind of feed off each other, feed off each other's intensity."
That was apparent when Winston improved his No. 1 seeded distance in triple jump by a foot, going 44-8¼. Vincent followed at 42-10.
"That's some good points right there for us," Winston said. "And hopefully our 4-by-2 (800-meter) relay team will score some points. Hopefully that helps in the long run to try to win this meet."
The 800-meter relay of Zinzer, Leon Spears, Winston and Vincent did in fact earn the Blackhawks' third first-place ribbon.
Zinzer took third in a very tight 55-meter final, then he took fourth to Spears' third in the 200 dash.
Senior Tony Knight, who aided a fourth-place finish in the 1,600 relay, also was in fast company in the open 400, his time of 52.54 seconds taking second behind Wheaton North state qualifier Kenny Collier.
Knight had no use for flowery jargon in describing West Aurora's first ascent to the top of the DVC.
"We just had our head in the meet," Knight said.