York Inv. Race Recap: Smoody Runs 1:55.0, York Wins Team Title

For years the York Invitational brings together many of the top track and field athletes in the state, in one of Illinois' best indoor invitationals.  This year, numerous performances highlighted the event, once again proving that the Joe Newton Field House brings out greatness in all that compete under its roof.

York Invitational Meet Wrap-Up (3/1)

  The highlight of any York Invitational are the deep and talented distance events.  The opening event was the 3200m run, which got pushed to a fast pace early as Naperville North teammates Kyle Gibson and Dan Harper led from the gun.  Through 1200m, Gibson, Harper, Chano Bernardo (Palatine), Brian Pollistrini (York) and Jordan Hebert (York) were running in a group of five that cleary distinguished themselves from the rest of the field.  At the mile, Gibson and Harper made a surge to break open the pack and pushed together to break away from the field.  Bernardo swung around both York runners to latch into the third position.  As the final 400m ensued, Gibson was the clear front-runner, pushing the pace, while Bernardo caught up to Harper and the two battled over the final lap.  Gibson closed in on the finish line, winning the race in 9:28.70, while Harper outkicked Bernardo to finish second in 9:34.00.  Bernardo hung on for third in 9:34.70.

  In the 800m dash, a great match-up between '07 800m state champion Mat Smoody (Palatine) and Foot Locker Nationals seventh place finisher Kevin Havel (Hersey) took place.  From the gun it was obvious that Smoody and Havel were the class of the field.  Coming through the quarter in 56, Smoody was leading and Havel was sitting right off his shoulder.  As the end of the third lap approached, Smoody put in a surge that Havel could not match, as both seniors battled to the finish.  Smoody crossed the line in 1:55.00, setting a new field house record, while Havel ran a great race to finish in 1:57.60.  Havel was obviously working on his speed at the meet, running the 4x8, 800 and 4x4.

  While the top two distance events were exciting, the 1600m run was the highlight race of the day.  From two laps in, a group of six broke from the rest of the field and clearly distinguished themselves.  The pace went out incredibly fast, as the top athletes crossed the first 400m in 62-64 seconds.  The pace slowed just a bit in the next half mile (2:06-2:08), only to lag a little more from 800-1200m.  At this point, Mike Herbert (Naperville North), Jon Newman (Naperville North), Mike Rizzo (York), Matt Perez (Hoffman Estates), Chris Hayek (Prospect) and Steve Sulkin (York) were all in contention for the win.  With 400m to go, all six continued to press the pace, as the two York runners worked their way up in the field.  Sulkin, who had been running in sixth for much of the race, swung wide with 300m to go and pushed forward, until with 150m to go he put his head down and sprinted wildly to the finish line.  Sulkin outkicked the rest of the field by two and a half seconds in the final 150m, taking home the top prize in 4:27.70.  Rizzo finished second in 4:30.20, while Herbert finished in 4:30.50 for third.  All six athletes in the lead group ran 4:32.00 or faster, while Bill Wisser ran 4:33.30 in the slow heat for seventh place overall.

  In other distance news, Tom Achtein (York) mentioned that he is training injury free now, but won't be running indoor track.  He is training 30 minutes a day now and is working back gradually with all eyes pointed on the state meet.  Best of luck Tom in your comeback!

  In the sprints, Terence Jones (Hoffman Estates) and Khara Williams (York) placed 1-2 in the 55m dash, both athletes finishing in 6.50.  In the 400m dash, Chris Watts (Proviso West) looked strong overall, winning the event in 51.70.  Meanwhile in the hurdles, George Faber (Palatine) won the 55m high hurdles in 7.90, running the same time as Blake Heyman (Hoffman Estates), but finishing strong in the last few meters.  In the 55m low hurdles, Sal Azam (York) beat a strong field right at the tape, leaning to a win in 7.50, while Kyle Reid (Conant) and Faber finished 2-3 with the same time.

  While the events on the track were ultra competitive, a few field events shined as well.  In the high jump, Nick Busch (Palatine) lept one of the best marks of the Illinois indoor season, winning the event in 6-05, while setting a new field house record.  York also scored some big points , with Neil Deiters winning the shot put in 51-04.  One of the best all-around performances of the day came from Tim "Mookie" Williams (Palatine).  Williams won the long jump in 21-04 and the triple jump in 43-08.  He also placed fifth in the 55m dash and anchored the victorious 4x400m relay squad.

  Speaking of relays, Prospect kicked off the meet with another big-time performance in the 4x800m relay.  This team consistantly places well in this event every year at the conference and state level, and this year the squad is looking mighty strong again.  Prospect held off a few strong squads to win the event in 8:10.50.  Palatine meanwhile won the other two relay races, running 1:36.10 in the 4x200m relay, beating Naperville North by .10, then coming back in the 4x400m relay to beat home-favorite York 3:29.70-3:30.40, in a thrilling closing event of the day, as both teams ran man-for-man nearly the entire race.

  In the team scoring, York won rather easily, coming on with strong finishes in the final few events to pull away from Palatine.  York scored 171 points, while Palatine finished second with 107.  Hoffman Estates placed third with 76.5 points, while Naperville North rounded out the top four with 69 points.