By Michael Newman

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Naperville, Ill – You could sense that the times were going to be fast in the Res-Rec Center on the campus of North Central College on Monday evening. In the second section of the Girls 4 x 800 Meter Relay, Minooka established the then third fastest time in the state in the event improving on their seed time by close to twenty seconds. We had not yet seen the final section of that event.

When all was said and done at the end of the Mustang Relays, the state leaderboards were redefined. Many teams found out what they had and were happy walking out of the center. Perhaps the two schools that were pleased with what had happened were Lincoln-Way East and Lane Tech.

The Lady Griffins set a meet record in the Girls 4 x 200 Meter Relay beating the time that their state record team from a year ago established. Lane Tech ran one of the top twenty times in the country in winning the 4 x 800 Meter Relay.

Let’s take a look event by event of what happened in this three relay meet.

Girls 4 x 800 Meter Relay

Minooka set the table of what to watch in this event by running 9:44.46 in the second section holding off Sandburg by a tenth of a second for the win.

It is fun to watch this event to see what the coaches have in mind to get their teams in a good position early in the race. Such was the case in Section 3. Prospect led off with their star runner Christina Santiago. Yorkville had Skyler Bollinger taking care of the opening leg chores for the Lady Foxes. Lane Tech had Alex Martel, who was coming off of a 2:21 run at Rockton Hononegah Saturday, pushing the Indians to the front.

Santiago grabbed control of the first leg for the Lady Knights giving her team a one second lead over Yorkville and Lane Tech. Downers Grove North was just off the pace in fourth.

The lead went back and forth in the second leg with the first four teams trading off positions. Yorkville’s Alexis Grandys kicked in the last fifty meters to give her team more than a second lead over Lane Tech. Downers Grove North was in third two seconds back. This race was gaining more definition as we headed to the final two legs.

Downers Grove North’s Zayna Jan got her team back in the race catching Yorkville’s Julia Schultz in the third leg. Schultz held on to the lead as she passed the baton to Kelsey Leedy, but Jan had put North anchor Stephanie Urbanick in position to win. Urbancik did just that. Her 2:20 anchor gave her the win. North’s 9:24.48 time is the fastest in the state. They just missed the meet record by two seconds.

This might not be their line up for state in May. The team at this meet had the final say in the lineup according to Downers Grove North Coach Tim McDonald. “They wanted to run by class level,” McDonald said with a smile. “Freshman Emma Moravec handed off to Sophomore Kaitlyn Bonifield to Junior Zayna Jan to Senior Stephanie Urbancik.”

Loyola Academy moved from sixth in the final leg led by the 2:18.9 anchor of Sarah Kelly to finish second. Yorkville finished third.

Boys 4 x 800 Meter Relay

Lane Tech had dominated at the Proviso West Invitational more than two weeks ago winning this event by close to ten seconds. The third section in the Boys relay had the same flavor towards the end of the first leg. It was a close battle with Lyons Township’s Ed McCarter, Downers Grove North’s Tony Zea, and Downers Grove South’s Jacob Amiri all on the shoulder of Lane Tech’s Pavlo Hutsalyuk. With 1 lap left in the first leg, Hutsalyuk moved away from the pack. His 1:56.6 opening leg gave the Indians almost a two second lead over Lyons Township and Downers Grove North.

The trend continued for Lane Tech’s Jon Vara on the second leg as he extended their lead. Vara’s 1:57.9 split gave his team close to a four second lead. Downers Grove North, Lyons Township, and Yorkville were battling in a pack for the next position. It was the half-way point but it looked like the race was over.

Through most of the third leg, Lane Tech’s Christian Badillo maintained his teams lead. In the final 200 meters of this leg, Downers Grove North’s Jack Diamond made a move putting his team less than two tenths of a second behind Lane Tech. What was thought that the race was over was in fact not. Yorkville was a close third.

The final leg pitted Lane Tech’s David Schmieg against Downers Grove North’s Ryan Clevenger. The Downers North junior is a gutty runner that has good leg speed, but not the same speed that Schmieg has. He had run 1:57 two days ago at the University of Illinois.  The Lane Tech senior pulled away slightly from Clevenger to give his team a new indoor school record and meet record of 7:54.21. Schmieg's anchor split was an impressive 1:56.7. Clevenger was close behind giving Downers North also a school indoor record and also under the meet record. His split was 1:56.8.

Lyons Township’s Alex Lima ran a 1:59.8 anchor bringing his team from fourth to a third final place. Yorkville was less than a second behind in fourth. The anchor leg that caught everyone’s attention was that from Neuqua Valley’s Ty Moss. He brought his team from eleventh when he got the baton all the way to fifth. His anchor leg was 1:56.7.

Girls 4 x 200 Meter Relay

The pre-race prediction that this race would come down to a battle between Lincoln-Way East and Homewood-Flossmoor held true. In an indoor race where getting the baton from runner to runner is an adventure, the two teams were smooth in getting the baton to their teammates.

It was close until Lincoln-Way East’s Alexis Hyshaw got the baton. She extended her team’s lead for the win. What was impressive is their time broke the meet record set by the Aaliyah Brown led team from last year. Their 1:41.36 time is currently the fifth fastest time in the nation. This was the first race of the year that this quartet has run in this event. Their chances look great for a top finish as they head to The Armory in New York City for this weekend’s New Balance Indoor Nationals.

Homewood Flossmoor was second (1:43.86) running the fourth fastest time so far this season in the state. A surprising West Aurora was third recording the state’s fifth fastest time. Minooka’s 1:46.36 sixth section winning time nipped Bolingbrook by a hundredth of a second for fourth place.

Boys 4 x 200 Meter Relay

Looking at this race before the start of the meet, you could talk to five neutral fans would give you five different teams that could win this race. That showed when Lyons Township ran 1:32.85 to win Section 3 of this relay. Their time held up until the sixth and final section.

It was a close battle through most of the race with Bloom holding a slight lead over Plainfield East and Minooka. On the final exchange, Plainfield East took advantage of Bloom’s trouble of handing off within the exchange zone. The Bengals went on to run 1:31.29 for an IL #3 win. Bloom was disqualified for the bad exchange.

Lyons Township’s time held up for second place. Minooka looked revitalized with the addition of Jake Smith, out from basketball, to place third.

Girls 4 x 400 Meter Relay

St. Charles East had turned in a seed time of 3:54 which looked realistic. The Lady Saints were hampered by normal relay runner Elizabeth Chmilek who suffered an injury at the Saturday Hononegah meet. Lincoln-Way East, the defending champion in this event looked to repeat.

The first five teams in the final section were closely matched as the lead changed five time within the first 600 meters. Minooka had a slight lead at the first baton exchange. Lincoln-Way East was close behind. St. Charles East handed off the baton in fifth almost three seconds back.

Lincoln-Way East’s Sydney Barrera gave her team the lead at the half way point of the relay. Allison Chmilek brought St. Charles East from fifth and was within three tenths of a second from Lincoln-Way East. That lead stayed the same on third leg. Lane Tech did get a little closer in third when the final batons were passed.

Lincoln-Way East’s Alexis Pierre-Antoinne was able to hold her team’s lead for the first half of the final leg. But sitting on her shoulder was St. Charles East’s Jordan Shead. The senior had a 58.7 final split to bring the title for the Lady Saints. Their time (4:01.92) is currently the best at state. Minooka caught Lincoln-Way East at the line for second.

Splits:

St. Charles East – 63.7 / 59.7 / 59.9 / 58.7 = 4:01.9

Minooka – 60.7 / 63.4 / 61.8 / 59.9 = 4:05.8

Lincoln-Way East – 61.6 / 61.4 / 59.8 / 63.1 = 4:05.9

Boys 4 x 400 Meter Relay

The final section was going to be a fast one. The winning times in each section kept dropping. Glenbard West captured Section 3 (3:30.86). Lane Tech dropped that time winning Section 4 (3:29.25). Minooka looked great winning Section 5 (3:27.59).

Plainfield East’s Kenny Lewis gave his team the lead at the first exchange with a 51.5 opening leg. After that, it was all Neuqua Valley.

Ty Moss is having a great breakout junior season and that showed in this relay. He came back after running a 1:56.7 800 leg giving his team the lead for good in this race. His 50.7 second leg gave his team a three tenths of a second lead over Batavia. In reality, the race was over. Lyons Township did not think it was.

Zac Espinosa extended Neuqua’s lead over to now second place Lyons Township by over a second. Lyons’s Alex Lima kept his team close with a 50.3 leg. Nick Rafacz anchor brought home the win for Neuqua just holding off Lyons Township's Jimmy Rhode by two hundredths of a second for the win.

Splits:

Neuqua Valley – 52.6 / 50.7 / 50.6 / 51.1 = 3:25.0

Lyons Township – 52.1 / 52.6 / 50.3 / 50.1 = 3:25.0

Batavia – 52.6 / 51.0 / 51.9 / 52.0 = 3:27.4