Traditionally, the third weekend of the February is considered “The Super Weekend” of track and field in Illinois because it’s when teams really get to strut their stuff for the first time. So it should not be a surprise to hear coaches saying their athletes have been scratching and kicking on the barn doors all winter in anticipation of competing in some top notch invitationals.
RACE VIDEOS/INTERVIEWS
Proviso West Invite greeted fans with some sweeping changes-
The Proviso West Invitational has been widely considered the key invitational in the state on this weekend despite some lag and abandonment from a year ago. Not to bash the previous tenants over at Proviso West who had their hands tied at times in producing the best entertainment value they could, but the 2013 edition was a tough one to take.
New Panther coaches Johnny Jenkins and Victor Dubose under the direction of their athletic director Calvin Davis were given the red light to make sweeping changes to their track program and the meet. One of the new looks was a schedule change. The freshman-sophomore pole vault was axed as was the 200m hurdles. The vault it was determined became an all day event and the long hurdles indoors was just an unnecessarily dangerous event and had no place in an invitational format.
Speaking of changes the event format was altered a bit. The mile and 3200m was switched to the National Federation order which placed the mile near the top of the event log and the 3200 was located right before the 4x400m relay. There are plus and minuses to everything in the sport of track and field, but the general consensus appeared to be very high in terms of meet efficiently, performances, and energy.
There were some fine track performances to go along with go with solid field efforts-
Lane's Pavlo Hutsalyuk anchors 4x8 relay
• The Chicago Lane Tech middle-distance corps was excited to hear that they were invited to compete in the PW Invite and wanted to make a big statement. As a coach it’s sometimes hard to keep energy as well as emotions reigned in. This particular winter had been tough to get in the necessary sustained base training that was crucial in the general preparation phase. But somehow the work was able to be achieved. The first event on the track to kick off the finals was the 4x800m relay. The Indians quartet did not waste too much time and burned the track in 8:01.96. David Schmieg (1:58.1), Jon Vara (2:01.8), Oswaldo Lorenzana (2:04.6), Pavlo Hutsalyuk (1:57.4). Schmieg sat on Lyons Township lead ace senior Ed McCarter among others for about 500m before bolting away for the lead. The team goal wasn’t so much about achieving the top mark in the state but rather getting in a solid effort and removing some of the winter blues.
• Last year at this time Antonio Shenault (Roselle Lake Park) was busy making his name in the frosh-soph division as he won the 55HH. He would go on to emerge out of the shadows of some fine teammates and earn all-state accolades in the 110HH. Could it be that he may be a double threat contender at the state level when May arrives? The February 22 performance that he put in defeating the likes of a renowned sprinter like Terry McGee (Sr., Chicago North Lawndale) 6.56-6.57 speaks volumes. One has to consider the fact that Shenault had won the 55HH just five minutes prior in a state best 7.59. So at this point it would be wise to throw the junior standout’s name in the hurdles/sprints bag for now.
• You are probably wondering where Anthony “Tony” Zea came from as he circled around the Proviso West oval very four times very fast in a spirited 800m win vs. crosstown rival Jacob Amiri (Sr., Downers Grove South) 1:56.28-1:58.15. Well, the senior Zea has been around the Downers North Trojans program for awhile via the soccer field. He was an outstanding mid-fielder for his team. In order words he has speed and stamina that s distance coach loves. Zea and Amiri took charge of the race that produced an aggressive pace through the first 400m in approximately 56.4. It wasn’t until the final lap that Zea was able secure victory. Zea indicated that this was his first race on a standard track. He provided himself and his teammates with a school record… Matt Plowman (Sr., York) collected a third place medal in 2:00.06 as a nice consolation prize.
• Marcus Jegede (Sr., Lake Park) easily wins long jump with 22-10.25 effort on his third attempt. Jegede was not entirely pleased with his performance as he took all four jumps that contained a 22-4 effort mixed in. He indicated that he is more of a technician than a speedster when it comes to the horizontal jumps. He did not contest the triple jump because he needed to concentrate and work on some things in the LJ.
• Before Reid Smith (Sr., York) solidified himself as a top state contender with a personal best 6-7 win in the high jump as he took a moment to acknowledge that he comes from an athletic family. “My dad was a high jumper in high school and he graduated from York in 1973,” he said ahead of his own feats. Smith indicated that he wants to get up near the elusive 7-foot mark this season. Smith also grabbed silver medals in the long jump (21-1.25) and pole vault (13-0).
• Curtwan Evans (Sr., Lake Park) wins the shot put by ten feet with IL#1 56-10 over Nate Teske of Naperville Central.
• The mile featured a solid field led by all-state cross country runners Billy Magnesen (Sr., Hinsdale Central), Ryan Clevenger (Jr., Downers Grove North), Nick Bushelle (Sr., Naperville Neuqua Valley), and TJ Caveney (Sr., Hinsdale Central). The opening metric splits were not lightening fast as the field stayed bunched up for several laps. Clevenger and Magnesen took charge from the 800m on that went through in 2:10.7. Clevenger forged ahead with at 1200m in 3:17.9. But it was very brief as Magnesen moved ahead prior the penultimate lap and won in a fashionable 4:24.02. Clevenger took second in 4:25.87 ahead of the bronze winning Bushelle’s 4:30.47. Some kid named Grayson Jenkins grabbed a very surprising fourth place in 4:35.34. He is a junior from Neuqua Valley and maybe someone to watch for in the future.
• Zack Smith (Sr., Downers Grove North) opened his season in the 3200m. Smith, who is set to attend the University of Illinois in the fall, has been enjoying a fine senior season on the track and off of it. He spent most of the meet cheering on his teammates before preparing for his own feats. Smith took charge right away ahead of the big 19 runner field that contained Kyle Mattes (Sr., York), Dan Weiss (Jr., Neuqua Valley), and several other notables in 1:10 and 2:21 for the first two metric splits. It would be smooth sailing after that for Smith who led coast to coast in winning comfortably in 9:35.60 [4:45/4:50]. Mattes applied some resistance during the middle laps before falling back and maintaining second place in 9:40.86. Weiss edged out teammate Michael Widmann 9:45.12-9:45.80.
