45th Prospect Wanner Knight Invitational Preview
Fi-Nal-ly!
It appears as though Mother Nature will spare the faithful track and field community a decent weekend of warm weather for top-notched competition. The projected mid to upper 60s should be more than good enough to break the seal on lackluster leaderboards and individual personal best stat sheets.
The 4x800m relay will be the show starter-
No matter what event is designated as the “hot event” of the Wanner Knight Invite, the 4x800m relay always seems to get the fans and competition perked up for the remaining program log. This year’s grouping appears to be another strong one. Despite no team under 8:00 this late in the season, a slew of quartets are primed and ready to bust loose. The message may be sent ahead of what the Penn Relays and other supreme meets have lined up. The winning time could be in the low 7:50 range.
The 2012 3A state champion Chicago Lane Tech has full intentions of winning the Wanner title for the first time in school history. It was the one event that last year’s group targeted besides the state meet. The Indians return only Marcelo Burbano (Sr.) from the quartet that ran 7:46.92 last May. However, the team refueled with new legs that ran 2:02-2:05 last season on the junior varsity circuit. The foursome will be out to prove their runner-up Illinois Top Times medals (8:00.48) were no fluke.
There are a ton of dangerous teams to consider here. Elmhurst York has won more Wanner Titles than any team in meet history as well as the inconceivable meet record of 7:34.1 set in 2000. The Dukes come in with a solid 8:04.70 mark against no competition. This historical team will be seeing red after not making last year’s state final for the first time since 1987. LaGrange Lyons Township does not need any introduction to the competition. The Lions will look to their front runners Ed McCarter (Jr.) and Alex Lima (So.) in breaking away from the competition. The host Prospect lost all four starters from a team that placed third at state. It doesn’t matter because Coach Mike Stokes always seems to find a way to reload. He will use his top long distance runner Quentin Shaffer (Sr.) on the relay. Shaffer may be more equipped to run the 3200m by the end of the year, but he has missed quite a bit of training and racing due to injury.
The list goes on and on with the likes of Chicago (St. Ignatius), Barrington, Hinsdale Central, and more. The last seeded team is Naperville Central at 8:12. If all goes well, those in attendance could be witnessing a preview of next month’s state championship final.
The distance events are absolutely loaded-
The 3200m has been the premier individual event over the years drawing top at-large talent from Colorado to Virginia. There are no such runners that fit the bill of inter-state status, but this event still should be strong. York will roll with their senior duo Chris May and Alex Mimlitz in an attempt to go under 9:20 and show their depth without fellow senior and ace Scott Milling. There will be some sleeping giants choose from in Mike Matusiak (Sr., Lyons Twp.), Zach Dale (So., Hoffman Estates Conant), Luke O’Connor (Sr., Jones), and Ryan Speir (Sr., Lyons Twp.). Matusiak and Speir stepped up big time last fall in the 3A cross country championship that propelled their team to a third place trophy. Watch for them both to step up in their biggest races of the season.
Will the 1600m be Jack Keelan (Sr., Chicago St. Ignatius) vs. Jamison Dale (Sr., Chicago Jones Prep) part deux? If you recall, they raced in an impromptu mini-meet on April 19 at St. Ignatius. Keelan strutted the final 400m in under 60-seconds to dust Dale 4:15.1-4:21.4. There is no doubt that Dale, who has a 4:17.34 clocking on his resume, has not forgot what happened to him. He and Keelan are entered as at-large runners, so they don’t have any pressure of team implications. They will be out to race mano to mano.
A slew of low to mid 4:25 runners are going to make the field so interesting. It would be tremendously unfair to say who else has a chance to challenge for the victory should Keelan or Dale fold. Micah Beller (Sr., Skokie Niles North), Evan Prizy (Jr., Schaumburg), Robert Somary (Sr., Arlington Heights Hersey), and Joe Sulentic (Sr., Hoffman Estates Conant) will have the freshest legs with no double duties on hand. They all could go under 4:20 if they pick their race spots wisely.
Malik Harrison is ready to step on the big stage-
Malik Harrison (Sr., Springfield) has the state’s co-#1 400m time of 49.31- sharing it with Paul Ifianayi (So., Elk Grove). But let’s make things clear, Harrison is on a dead aim mission to prove that he is the undisputed champion in the one-lap dash. The defending champion is primed and ready to challenge his 48.50 personal best. His legs should be warm and ready after using the 4x1 relay to get the nerves out and blood circulating. After that, there will be no one in his kingdom to oppose him.
Other event offerings-
Prospect has more to offer the palate than sprints and distance events. A key athlete to watch for is senior Dave Kendziera of Prospect. He is the latest in fast Knight hurdlers. The 110H (14.1) time is questionable because it was hand-timed and no wind gauge was present to insure its authenticity. However, the 300H mark of 37.9 is legit and converts into the state’s best time. Regardless if electronic recording devices were present or not, Kendziera is someone to watch out for and should be considered armed and dangerous when it comes to barrier events.
The throws should be a quality watch for the fans. The Prospect stadium is field event friendly in which the throws can be seen from the stands. The discus throw will feature IL#9 James Torgerson (Sr., Springfield) and Matt Dziedzic (Sr., Libertyville). Both throwers have marks over 155’ and have the potential to really do some damage with some weather. Torgerson popped 167-10 at the Lanphier Invite in decent but not perfect climes. He could challenge the 170’ mark if the temps stay in the 60s and the wind pushing away from the southwest as predicted.
The shot put will feature Torgerson and Dziedzic as the top entrants. Dziedzic putted 59-1.5 during the indoor season. So he certainly has enough strength to join the 60’ club with six potential throws. Torgerson has produced a good 55-2 so far this campaign. His camp feels that more is in the tank and he will be out to sweep the throws.
There will be a day when wind gauges will be as prevalent at meets like FAT is now. It is really hard to read NWI (no wind info) marks- especially in wind torn Illinois this season. But let’s be fair to last year’s state runner-up in the 3A long Matt Harris (Sr., Lyons Twp). Harris jumped 23-8.5 (+2.0) last year. He has backed it up during this indoor season with a US#9 23-8.5. The talented all-around athlete has signed to play football at Northwestern University next year. But before he leaves track and field, the goal is to get over the 24’ mark wind or no wind. That effort could occur this evening.
The always exciting Wanner Invite will close with the 4x400. It should be a tight tilt with Whitney Young, York, Lane Tech, and Lyons Twp vying for the top spot. All four schools have run under 3:30 this season. The winning team will probably need to go under 3:26 to win the title.