Hard work pays off for St. Charles East

Nick Devor remembered his false start leading off a relay at St. Charles East’s last indoor meet of the season. How disappointed he felt denying his teammates the chance to run.

The senior wouldn’t allow that Saturday at the Saints’ own Elmore McCornack Invitational. The nonscoring, all-relays format places a premium on team success — and responsibility. Devor kept up his end of the bargain, twice, as he and juniors Jesus Galvan and Matt Allen and freshman Kyle Decker won both the 110-meter hurdle shuttle and returned to win the 300s.

“There’s a lot of pressure added when you do a team event like this,” said Devor, his heart and grit unquestioned as a 180-pound nose tackle on the football team.

“Even this (300) I was feeling it,” he said. “All my guys did so well. I wasn’t sure how they were going to do. I knew they were going to do well but they did so much better than I thought. I was so proud of them. I was just thinking, like, it’s my turn, I’ve got to do it for them now, I’ve got to step up.”

While Saints ace 800-meter man Jake Mazanke ran an atypical 1,200 meters (in 3 minutes, 12 seconds) as part of a third-place distance medley finish, St. Charles East got a good turn in the pole vault competition. Jeremy Hultquist, Jake Mende, Andrew Michelotti and Jack Cozzi rang up a cumulative height of 42 feet, nearly 12 feet higher than runner-up Fenton.

“The guys have been putting in hard work and it’s good to see it starting to pay off,” said Saints coach and meet host Chris Bosworth.

Field events are a strong suit for West Aurora, which took second in the shot put, saw Anthony Powell match the best high jump of the day at 5 feet, 10 inches, and won both triple jump and long jump events. Greg Roache enjoyed the best individual efforts in each — 19-1 in long jump, 39-1½ in triple.

The Blackhawks speedsters a little banged up — Benny Prunty and friends took second in the 400 relay but West had to pull out of the 800 relay — they emphasized the longer distances.

Calvin Robinson, Zach Truckenbrod, Vontrell Hawkins and Omar Gomez won the distance medley by some 25 seconds over Benet, and closed the meet again beating the Redwings in the 1,600 relay. That was Prunty, Mike Graham, Graham Isaacson and Hawkins.

Gomez had once been clocked at 4:31 in the 1,600 as part of a cross country time trial, but his time of 4:35 in the four-by-1,600 relay was an official personal best. Gomez and his lightweight neon spikes returned to run a 4:38 in the 1,600 portion of the distance relay.

“My day today was pretty all right,” said Gomez, a junior. “After I ran the first four-by-mile I was so dead at the end and I didn’t want to do it again. So I got my mind set to work it out, and I felt pretty good.”

Les Hodge Meet:

The wind was strong at Batavia’s nonscoring boys meet. So were the results.

St. Charles North’s Oshay Hodges broke his own school triple jump mark, going 45 feet, ¼ inch to eclipse his 2011 record three-quarters of an inch. Hodges then anchored the North Stars’ winning 1,600 relay, with Zach Kirby, Jack Feeney and Connor Larson.

Showing speed with a flash of distance, St. Charles North ran the fastest three times in the 100 — led by Greg DePace at 11.31 — went 1-2 in the 400 with Kirby and Feeney, and Zach Heuer took the 3,200. Kirby, Feeney, Larson and Phelan won the 400 relay in 43.35 seconds.

“I asked the group how many PRs we had and I can’t tell you how many hands went up,” said St. Charles North coach Don Spencer, who also got a discus win by Ben MacKay-Zacker. “That’s good to see as a coach.”

Geneva’s Peter Archibald continued where he left off in the indoor season, winning the 800 in 1:54.68. The Vikings’ Zac Miller won the 110 hurdles, handily, and finished second in the 300 hurdles. Senior Ben Rogers was the sole 20-foot long jumper, winning at 21 feet, 5½ inches, and Geneva secured the top three shot put marks, by Kyle McNeil, Jason D’Amico and Nathan Balettie.

Batavia’s Brandon Clabough nearly pulled off a double win, taking pole vault at 13-6 and finishing second in the 110 hurdles behind Geneva’s Miller. Showing more field event strength, the Bulldogs placed five of the top seven high jumpers including second-place Brian Rudelich, at 6-3 behind Oshay Hodges’ 6-5.

“Overall I thought it was a good, quality meet and I thought all the kids competed well,” said Batavia coach Dennis Piron. “I think there’s going to be some good numbers and some quality teams in Kane County this year.”

Charger Nation Invitational:

At this inaugural coed track meet, Aurora Central Catholic’s Joe Fese was a four-time winner. The junior sprinter won the 100 and 200 and then paired with Zack Flint to help the host Chargers take both the 400 and 800 relays.

Marmion’s 2011 Class 2A runner-up in high jump, Pete Stefanski, went 6-foot-6 to claim that title, while the Cadets’ Tyler Boyd won both shot put and discus.

On the girls’ side, Aurora Central’s Lisa Rodriguez matched Fese by also winning her two open sprints.