It’s great to be back after the first major weekend of track and field in Illinois! As always, the Proviso West Classic this past Saturday was loaded with competition in every event from 14 of the top teams in the state.
Despite the many outstanding performances throughout the course of the meet, the one that topped them all for me was Tony Zea's performance in the 800m. He battled Jacob Amiri [Downers Grove South], another fantastic runner, from start to finish, and was able to surge past him on the final lap. Tony dropped a ridiculous 1:56.2, a new indoor school record at DGN in the 800 by over a second! The work he put in this winter is paying off big time for him.
Ryan Clevenger and Jack Diamond also had some pretty gutsy performances in their events, placing 2nd and 4th in the mile and 600m, respectively. I also opened up my season in the 3200 on Saturday with a 9:35. York’s Kyle Mattes really gave me a good race and pushed me the entire way, but I was luckily able to hold him off over the last few laps. I am very excited to be racing again, and am looking forward to improving on my fitness even more over the next few weeks.
In the field, Eric Wisz placed 3rd in the pole vault with a vault of 12'6, and Nick Janicki was 4th in the shot put. Outside of the few outstanding performances that I mentioned, there is a long list of other great performances by DGN athletes that I could list. All of these performances resulted in a 4th place finish for the varsity team. This was a very good finish for us, and we plan on improving even more from here.
Tony Prepster posing with standout Trojan bosses Tony Zea, Ryan Clevenger, and Zack Smith
Obviously Saturday was a very big day for me as I was able to race for the first time this season, but I also received very good news the day before on Friday. A few weeks earlier, I was nominated by my school to apply for the IHSA All-State Academic Team. I found out on Friday that I was among those chosen for the prestigious award, and I am very honored to have been selected for it. I owe a big thanks to my coaches, who both wrote me fantastic letters of recommendation for the application. They are a big part of where I am today as a runner and as a person for many reasons outside of this one.
I also want to give a big congratulations to the 25 other athletes selected for team, especially the many runners who were chosen. Patrick Perrier (O’Fallon), Kevin Huang (Hinsdale Central), Nick Bushelle (Neuqua Valley), and Dan O'Keefe (Chicago Mt. Carmel) were all selected, as well as Madeline Perez (Glenbard West) and Steph Urbancik (Downers Grove North). I think that so many runners being chosen for the team really reflects well on the sport and shows the kind of people that are involved in it. Again, congrats to everyone! Thanks for the read. I'll be back next week!