Lincoln-Way East’s two wins lead way at Mustang Relays

Prospect Girls, Hinsdale Central Boys runs state leading 4x8’s in wins; Minooka, Batavia claim other Boys Relay wins

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Naperville, Ill – The last major indoor meet that took place in Illinois before the year was halted due to the Pandemic in 2020 was the Downers Grove South Mustang Relays.

The event did not take place last year. It was good to feel the electricity of the event returning Monday Night to North Central College’s Res-Rec Center.

Lincoln-Way East was one of the big winners of the evening with two relay event wins out of the tree that took place.

When all was said and done, five of the six events in the meet finished with the top times in Illinois. What else can be expected from this high powered meet.

Here is a look at each of the six relays that took place Monday evening.

GIRLS 4x800m RELAY

A malfunction in the timing system delayed the meet 25 minutes before the start of the final section of this event. Runners for that race were stuck on the line for about 10 minutes before being allowed stride outs.

The fastest time going int that race was from section #2 winner Sandburg. A strong anchor leg from Ava Giblin gave the Eagles a 10:01.4 winning time. 10 teams in the final section would surpass that time.

The wait did not affect those teams as soon as the gun went off. Prospect was the favorite considering they won the 3A state title last June in this race and returned all runners from that team.

Downers Grove South had the advantage early in this race with a strong opening leg from freshman Holly Johnson. Prospect’s Cameron Galway moved up to second in the final lap to get her team in position. Hailey Erickson put Prospect in front for good although Downers Grove South was still hanging around the lead.

Erickson handed off the baton for the third leg to Audrey Ginsberg. The race was over at that point. Her 2:18.6 leg broke the race wide open. Hinsdale Central made a charge on that third leg as Catie McCabe brought her team from seventh up to second when she handed off the baton to Sarah Fischer.

Lily Ginsberg had the anchor leg for Prospect and continued to grow that lead. Her 2:16.8 anchor brought her team to a state leading time of 9:21.2 and a US #12 time.  

Two other teas dipped under the time that Glenbard West set (9:43.29) on the same track last week. Sarah Fischer brought Hinsdale Central home in 9:35.6 with Minooka running 9:40.5 to finish third. The next four teams came in within a second of each other with Downers Grove North (9:44.2), Yorkville (9:44.4), Naperville Central (9:44.8), and Naperville Central (9:45.2) finishing fourth through seventh.

BOYS 4x800m RELAY

There was no question who was going to win the final section of this event. All Hinsdale Central had to do was stay close to the front in their race and let Daniel Watcke bring the baton home. Fortunately for the Red Devils is that they did not have to find that out.

Glenbrook North had set the standard in the second section coming from behind to win their race in 8:28.6. York had the fastest time in the state (8:07.96) leading into this meet. That lead would not last for long.

Hinsdale Central led from wire to wire to claim the relays title. They did get pushed hard in this race especially from Lane Tech. Central’s Colby Revord claimed the lead with 200-meters to go in the first leg and had the lead at the exchange with Lane Tech close at hand. Both teams ran 1:56 for that opener.

The lead did change much the next two legs. Hinsdale Central, with Aden Bandukwala and Kyle Doorhy, ran 1:58 and 2:05 splits staying just one step ahead of a persistent and good Lane Tech team. The second pack of Downers Grove North, Naperville Central, and Sandburg stayed within 30-meters of the leaders entering the final exchange hoping to catch the two teams.

Not with Daniel Watcke anchoring for the Red Devils. The defending 3A 800 Meter Run champion had Lane Tech’s Jack Klein with him the first lap. The Hinsdale junior grinded away the price pulling away from Lane Tech and the rest of the race. Watcke’s 1:54.9 anchor leg secured the win for his team with the state leading time of 7:53.3 ranking them #3 in the United States.

The top six teams in this race finished ahead of York’s previous state leading time. Lane Tech ran 8:00.0 to finish second ahead of Sandburg (8:01.6). Naperville Central (8:05.7), Minooka (8:06.1), and Downers Grove South (8:06.9).

GIRLS 4x200m RELAY

The story of this event may not have been Lincoln-Way East’s dominance in the final section, but what happened in the section before. Neuqua Valley was in fourth-place entering the final 200-meters of the race when their star sophomore Zawadi Brown took the baton. Brown came from behind with a amazing 24.5 anchor to give her team the section win in 1:48.22 (IL #10). The Wildcats finished fourth overall in the event.

The name of the game in the 4x200m Relay is take the lead and then hold off the rest of the competition. That is what Lincoln-Way East did on their way to the event win in the final section. The defending champion in the 100 Meter Dash Mariam Azeez led off for the Griffins and gave the lead for good. Plainfield East challenged throughout but could never get ahead of Lincoln-Way East. The Griffins winning time of 1:45.55 (IL #2) was less than half a second ahead of Plainfield East’s time of 1:45.93 (IL #3). Whitney Young ran 1:46.31 (IL #5) to finish third.

BOYS 4x200m RELAY

The first three of the six sections of this event all had winning sections in the 1:36 range with Yorkville at 1:36.81 in Section 1 leading the way halfway through. Bradley-Bourbonnais dropped the hammer to 1:34.48 to win Section 4 to take the lead. Andrew set the standard in Section 5 running 1:33.00 (IL #8) to take the lead. They finished fourth overall.

Minooka has been the team to watch all season in the sprints and they showed it again in this final section. Tyler Colwell, who has the fastest time in the state at 60-meters, gave his team a slight lead at the first exchange with the race just getting started.

Minooka barely had the edge at the break on the back stretch with Downers Grove South Downers Grove North, and Batavia pushing the issue in the front. Cael Hiser extended the lead on that second leg giving the Indians the lead for good. Samuel Drey and Malik Armstrong brough it home as Minooka ran the fastest time in the state (1:30.81) for the win. Batavia ran 1:31.44 (IL #3) to finish second ahead of Downers Grove South who ran 1:32.90 (IL #7).

GIRLS 4X400m RELAY

The sixth section provided some drama for the Girls event of the night. Prospect held on to the lead entering the final 400-meters as Lincoln-Way East was two seconds behind in second. One of these two teams was going to win their second event of the night. Lily Ginsberg held the lead for Prospect on that first lap of the final leg. Lincoln-Way East had Mariam Azeez move up a distance to anchor for their team. Azeez caught Ginsberg in the first 150-meters of that anchor leg but waited to make the pass. That happened in the final 100-meters of the race as Azeez took the lead entering the final curve.

Azeez held on to give her team the win and the fastest time of the state (4:04.38). Prospect, who had a good overall night in this meet, ran 4:04.84 (IL #2) to finish second. Whitney Young ran 4:10.40 (IL #4) to finish third.

Zawadi Brown was at it again for Neuqua Valley in Section 4 of this event bringing her team from fifth to win her section. Her split was 58.8 for the Wildcats.

BOYS 4x400m RELAY

Plainfield North’s 3:33.12 (IL #7) won Section 5 and set the goal for the teams in Section 6 to go after. They finished fifth overall in the event. Pre-race favorites were Minooka and Batavia were supposed to battle it out for the relay title, but a bobbled baton on the second exchange for Minooka took them out of contention for the win.  Batavia, Downers Grove South, and Downers Grove North were in contention for the win entering the final leg of the race. A strong anchor leg from Batavia’s Jonah Fallon gave his team the lead for good.

Batavia finished with the win and the fastest time in the state so far this season (3:27.21). Downers Grove South (3:30.13, IL #2), Downers Grove North (3:32.17, IL #4), and Naperville Central (3:32.69, IL #6) finished second through fourth.