Miles carries West Aurora to two relay titles; Naperville Central, Plainfield South, and Minooka take home Boys’ relay titles

By Michael Newman

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Naperville, Ill – Downers Grove South made history Monday evening in their own Mustang Relays held at North Central College’s Al B Carius Track in the Res/Rec Center. Their quartet of Olivia Duax, Becky Versaskas, Brenna Cohoon, and Erin Reidy set a new meet record of 9:20.49 to win the Girls 3200 Meter Relay.

RESULTS | RACE VIDEOS | PHOTOS

The time broke the old meet record of 9:22.76 set by Schaumburg in 2011. Their performance is also the second fastest indoor time ever run by an Illinois team. Glenbard West holds that distinction having run 9:18.77 in 2012.

Downers Grove South did not have control of the race until the final 800-meters. The Lady Mustangs were even with Batavia at the end of the first leg of the race. The race broke open during the second leg as Batavia put their star freshman Katrina Schlenker into that position. Schelnker’s 2:14.4 split put Batavia up by six seconds ahead of Downers Grove South, Hinsdale Central, and Lyons Township.

The lead of Batavia narrowed down on that third leg as South’s Cohoon slowly made up the deficit. By the time she handed the baton to Reidy, that lead was down to two seconds. Reidy took the lead with 500-meters left in the race and never gave it back. She crossed the line with the win and a 2:15.2 anchor split.

Batavia finished in second (9:26.39) ahead of Lyons Township (9:27.17), Hinsdale Central (9:28.95), and Yorkville (9:31.27). The top four teams in this race established the top four times in the state this season.

Naperville Central’s Patrick Julian raised his arms in apparent victory after handing off the baton to teammate Seth Klein-Collins in the Boys 3200 Meter Relay. The fact was this was only halfway through the race with two more runners to get the baton to the finish. The Redhawks were so confident and it showed in this race. The quartet, with Thomas Codo leading off and Thomas Shilgalis anchoring, gave Naperville Central the win (7:57.92) with the state’s fastest time this indoor season.

Minooka, Batavia, and St. Charles East traded off the lead in the early goings of this race. It was the second leg charge by Will O’Brien that moved Glenbard West close to the lead. A lead that Naperville Central soon grasped for good. Glenbard West and St. Charles East tried to stay close to Naperville Central but the 1:57.2 anchor leg by Shilgalis shut that door. Glenbard West’s Rory Cavan edged St. Charles East’s Mitch Gansemer for the second spot with the Hilltoppers at 8:01.49, the Saints at 8:01.84.

Meet Highlights

The two Girls sprint relays came down finishes by West Aurora’s Dajour Miles to decide the winner. In both races, Miles came out ahead. In the Girls 800 Meter Relay, Miles received the baton in fourth-place. She proceeded to close the gap on Lincoln-Way East entering the final 50-meters making the pass in the final 3-meters. West Aurora was timed in 1:44.81 just nine hundredths of a second ahead of Lincoln-Way East (1:44.90). Miles’ anchor split was a dazzling 24.3 seconds.

The story was different in the Girls 1600 Meter Relay, but it also involved the West Aurora state champion. Miles took the baton, but it was Lincoln-Way East and their anchor Taylor Wright that had a slight advantage. That changed in the first 50-meters as Miles, the two-time defending 400 Meter Dash state champion, controlled the pace the rest of the way. St. Charles East made a charge at the front followed by Hoffman Estates. It was still Wright and Miles that had command going into the final 150-meters. Each time Wright tried to make a pass, Miles refused to let her by. Both teams ran season’s best with West Aurora (4:05.25) ahead of Lincoln-Way East (4:05.60). Miles’ anchor split was a controlled 59.5 seconds.

The final section of the Boys 800 Meter Relay had some bumping just like most indoor relay exchanges have. Lockport and Plainfield South escaped a tight second exchange. It was not the same for pre-race favorite Batavia and Proviso East who both had problems getting their exchanges off. Proviso East impeded into the area that Batavia was trying to make an exchange with the Batavia runner crashing to the track. Proviso East got away from the zone, but the bumping forced Batavia out of contention. Both teams were disqualified. It was not for the bumping. Batavia was disqualified for throwing the baton from one athlete to the next. Proviso East’s anchor runner lost his baton with less than 50-meters left in the race as it flew into the infield.

Plainfield South made the pass on Lockport in the last five-meters to capture the win (1:32.91) ahead of the Porters (1:33.25).

Minooka ended last year’s Mustang Relays with the win in the Boys 1600 Meter Relay. They wanted a repeat of that feeling as they entered the blocks for the final race of the night.

The Indians did just that taking the lead at the first exchange and never giving that up. Lockport’s Ray Holland made a charge for the lead in the final 200-meters. Minooka’s Jason Hoffman just would not let that lead out of his grasp. Minooka made it two in a row with a 3:28.74 time ahead of Lockport (3:29.14) and Burlington Central (3:30.94).