Rogers goes out with records
CHARLESTON — Coming off basketball season as a junior, Geneva’s Ben Rogers was approached by the Vikings’ former jumps coach, Larry Streeter.
Give track and field a try, the coach said.
“He said, ‘I think we have something to work with here,’” Rogers recalled.
Truer words were never spoken. Saturday at the 118th running of the boys track and field state finals at Eastern Illinois University the Geneva senior and future Cornell wide receiver capped his prep track career with a pair of program record-setting, Class 3A all-state honors in both long jump and triple jump.
Each executed to screams of approval by parents Tom and Mary, sisters Dori and Kate and grandfather Dave, Rogers went 22 feet, 10 inches to place sixth in long jump, and 46-9 for fourth in triple jump. Both marks came on his last jump. St. Charles North’s Oshay Hodges broke the North Stars’ triple jump record a third time this year, at 45-5½, and placed sixth in high jump at 6-8.
“I came into this season without any expectations, to be honest, just have fun,” Rogers said. “I knew that I could do pretty well if I worked hard at it, and coach (Kari) Butler and coach (Susie) Browning did a great job this season, and it finished well. I don’t really know what to say, I never expected this to happen. I’ve enjoyed it, for sure. I feel extremely blessed.
“At the beginning of the season I knew that I wanted to try to break those records. That was really the only goal I had. Obviously, win conference and get to state and stuff like that, but I really had my eye set on those records.”
Marmion’s Pete Stefanski was among the last standing in the 3A high jump. The senior repeated his Class 2A runner-up status of 2011 with second place in 3A at 6-10, trailing only 7-foot jumper Carl Heinz of Oak Park.
“I was happy when I found out we were moving up to 3A,” Stefanski said. “Placing second in 2A, it was a great feeling. But doing it again in 3A, it’s surreal to be around all these awesome jumpers. There’s way more competition and it was an awesome experience. Wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
The 800-meter run featuring Geneva’s Peter Archibald and St. Charles East’s Jake Mazanke was a dandy. Archibald maintained contact throughout with winner Michal Filipczak of Maine South, finishing second at 1 minute, 52.60 seconds. Mazanke claimed third at 1:54.25.
These rivals are good friends who already call themselves teammates. They’ll run at Loyola, and room together.
“We had a great field today,” Archibald said, sitting on a bench in the O’Brien Stadium infield next to Mazanke.
“I think it was the best I’ve seen,” Mazanke said.
Yep, it’s getting to the point where they’re finishing each other’s thoughts.
“Having him there with me, it’s just another bonus to being down here,” Archibald said. “Being out in this field, knowing no one, you definitely want your teammate with you, and you want to bring him through with you and you want them to succeed because overall, next year, it’s going to be us, too.”
“Peter’s a great friend of mine and I think our chemistry is already good when we’re competitors,” said Mazanke, who anchored the Saints’ sixth-place 1,600 relay with Danny Newman, Carter Reading and Nick Devor. “Once we’re teammates it’ll be amazing.”
Lake Park continued its amazing run in 3A, winning a third straight title. Cahokia won Class 2A and Leo 1A, both as expected.
Kaneland set the stage for future success in Charleston. Senior Sean Carter ran seventh in the 200-meter dash and junior Dylan Nauert took sixth in the 300 hurdles, and Carter helped the aggregate returning group of Nauert, Dylan Pennington, Brandon Bishop and Brandon Cottier to third in the 800 relay and sixth in the 400 relay.
Kaneland’s Conor Johnson, Nathan Kucera, Clayton Brundige and Kyle Carter earned an all-state ninth-place finish in the 3,20 relay.
“Sean was a really big part,” Pennington said of the elder Carter, who is considering running track at Eastern. “We either need to step it up or get some really nice talent. but I think we’ll come back here.”
Aurora Central Catholic placed fourth in that 3,200 relay. Alex Duncan, Matt Marter, Zack Flint and Matt Meyers ran what coach Troy Kerber called, “a near-perfect race.”
And after losing 1,600 relay anchor Johnathan Harrell to a leg injury earlier in the week, Aurora Christian surpassed even last year’s third-place with a championship run. Dillon Howorth filled in at anchor to join brother Billy Howorth, Jake Gehman and Nate Jensen, who lifted Dillon Howorth off the ground when he came back from his leg of a 3:24.15 effort.
“They prayed for me before the prelims and this race, they were just great,” said Dillon Howorth, who’d run a grand total of two 400-meter races before Friday.
Billy Howorth dedicated the win to Harrell, up in the stands. He said: “We had two seniors (Billy Howorth and Jensen), this is our last high school race ever. We just wanted to lay all that we possibly had on the track and we did that. And it paid off.”