Meet records fall at Batavia

In a boys track meet in which T-shirts replaced traditional medals and trophies, a total of 10 meet records were broken at the Les Hodge Invitational in Batavia Saturday afternoon.

Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles North broke eight records between the three schools in the first outdoor invitational of the season.

Vikings sophomore Frank Boenzi shattered the previous shot put record by over four feet, with a 54-2½ effort. Boenzi also added a first place in the discuss (138-4½).

Boenzi has been throwing over 50 feet during the indoor season, so he had his sights set on the previous record (50-02) entering the meet.

"I set a new PR (personal record) by two feet today," Boenzi said. "I haven't thrown under 50 feet this year, so I was pretty confident that I could beat the old record. I'm hoping to get up to 55-56 by the end of the season."

Fellow Viking Joe Augustine established a record in the 400 in a time of 50.58 seconds, and took first in the triple jump with a distance of 41-4½.

St. Charles North also benefited from many outstanding individual efforts, winning four events and breaking meet records in three of those. Senior Chris DeSilva won the 3,200 in a record time of 9:28.81, and earned family bragging rights as well. DeSilva broke the previous record of 9:34.10 that was set by his brother Matt in 2005.

"I was hoping to run 9:30 today, so it worked out and I was able to beat my brother's record," DeSilva said with a slight grin. "I don't get a chance to run the 3,200 too much, so it was nice to get a chance to mix things up a bit."

North Star senior Mike Strasser set a record in the 1,600, recording a time of 4:30.02 that broke the previous record set by Geneva's Matt Bowman (4:37.2) in 2006.

Like DeSilva, Strasser also comes from a family of runners, as he is the older brother of sophomore Stephanie Strasser.

"I set a new PR by three seconds, so we had all sorts of good times today," Strasser said. "We (Stephanie) run together and I did workouts with her over spring break. I try to help her out as much as I can. I'm hoping to break 4:20 by the end of the year, but I also might run the 3,200 at the end of the year."

Junior Matt Miller took a break from running the 400, only to win the 800 in a record time of 2:00.

"I've been running since I was a freshman, but I've always been running behind guys like Chris (DeSilva) and Max (Clink)," Miller said. "But I think I'm starting to get to the point where I'm getting better. I've always thought that the 400 was my best race, but this was the race where they needed me today, so I guess I'm starting to get better in the 800 too."

Kyle Barker also won the 200 in a time of 23.19 for the North Stars.

Coaches often worry about their athletes peaking too early, but North Stars coach Kevin Harrington was surprised to see the records fall because he's been working the distance runners extra hard in practices lately.

"Most of the kids I spoke to today thought that they were running a little heavy, which is appropriate for how they're training," Harrington said. "I was pretty surprised that they broke three records because we've brought some good distance runners here over the years. I'm hoping this really builds their confidence on where they're at and that they can even get better."

J.R. Kabba (100), Javaris Covington (high jump), and Matt Brace (pole vault) placed first for the Bulldogs, but it was the team effort of their relays teams that stole the show.

Both the 400 and 800 relays set records, while the 3,200 relay team placed first and the 1,600 relay team was second. Kabba, Andy Thomas, Kenny Herrmann and Brad Wloszczynski all played key roles in the success of those relay teams.

"I think it was a great meet because everyone was able to get some events in," Thomas said. "Everyone got a chance to run. Nobody really needs trophies and medals, and a T-shirt is great because you can show everyone that you competed."

Kabba battled through asthma during the indoor season, but felt in top form on his first outdoor meet of the season.

"I was very, very happy with how I ran today," Kabba said. "I think this is the best I've ran, and I really liked the weather, and the meet offers a lot of great competition. We had a great performance by our team today, and that's exactly what we needed."

Herrmann was second in the 800, and he's setting his sights on qualifying for the state meet in both events.

"I'm running a bit more of the 1,600 relay now, but I'd really like to make it to the state finals this year in the 800," Herrmann said.

Wloszczynski was sixth in the 1,600, and was a key contributor to the relay teams.

"As a team, it was great to see a lot of people set PRs today," Wloszczynski said. "It was a great day for our team, and the weather was just fantastic."

Batavia coach Dennis Piron enjoys the tradition of the Les Hodge meet, and indicated that it's important that there are meets scheduled that give more than just the top 20 athletes a chance to compete.

"Something I think that's real important, is that this is the first outdoor meet of the season," Piron said. "You come outdoors and you want to get all of your kids in a meet. We've got 120 boys out for track this year and it would sure be unfair to tell only 20 of them that they're running this week."

Not having an indoor facility at Geneva, Vikings coach Gale Gross agreed with Piron about the importance of giving everyone a chance to get out and run the first outdoor meet of the season.

"It's important that all of the kids, especially the younger ones, get a chance to come out here and run on the bigger track and compete," Gross said.