Justin Wolz donned the shades for swag and powered past Proviso West to assist in his team's thrilling 4x2 relay win (Mark Capapas photo)
There was a #trackscandal before the meet even started. The Second Annual Proviso West Valentine's Relays start was delayed by 45 minutes due a major accident on Interstate 290 a few miles west of the Chicago Loop. The accident forced IDOT officials to shut down a portion of the highway which unfortunately had snarled a few schools enroute. The boys session would finally start at 9:45a. The girls portion of the meet was slated for 1p and it was business as usual.
There was a little confusion as to what event would start the competition. Some coaches thought it would have been more prudent to go with the 4x200 to buffer rest periods for faster 4x400s. However, it was determined that the traditional order of 4x8, 4x2, 4x4 would stay on the menu.
4x800: Lyons Township 8:10.23, Chicago Whitney Young 8:11.19, Aurora (Metea Valley) 8:32.00
The first section got underway well and successful as Niles (Notre Dame) led most of the race and won by two seconds over Metea Valley "B" in 9:09.14.
The second section was a little more complicated as race officials fumbled the number of laps runners were running. Several legs ran three instead of four and a few others logged five instead of four. There was a delay in action for 17 minutes. It was still inclusive as to who was the official winner of the section was. Luckily the overall prize winners would come in the forthcoming stage.
The third section was billed as the "championship race." However, there wasn't much hype surrounding the race despite perennial power Lyons Township among the fray. The Lions are coming off of a great cross country season in which they placed in the top ten at the Nike Cross Nationals. The program itself placed second in the state last year running a national top ten mark of 7:43.08. It is early but a rust duster is good for several reasons. Great programs know it's hard to keep stallions from kicking off the barn door without a little activity between training sessions. The second is the impending potential of facing two loaded defending state champions Orland Park Sandburg (3A) and Cahokia (2A) in a few weeks at the Proviso West Boys Indoor Classic.
Lyons traded blows with Whitney Young for three legs. It appeared as though Whitney Young was going to open a little daylight on the anchor leg with sophomore Clayton Mendez taking the stick and aggressively putting pressure on Lyons. Junior Vince Zona stayed within himself and gathered strength and as soon as Mendez calmed down and slowed up, he made a strong move on the gun lap. It was curtains for the Dolphins as Zona moved ahead on the backstretch and powered home for the win. He polished things off with a 1:57.8 split. Whether or not the Lions and Dolphins load their relays in two weekends remains to be seen.
4x200: Minooka 1:32.41, Proviso West 1:33.96, South Elgin 1:35.19
Once again no pre-meet predictions or hype to support how well or fast things would turn out. However, Minooka head man Nick Lundin indicated at the ITCCCA Clinic a month earlier that his relays would be much improved from a season before. If memory serves correct the Indians just missed out on making the final with a solid 1:28.19. In most years such a time would be a shoe in for the Saturday championship. Insert senior emerging star Justin Wolz and things change. The host Proviso West team had a few ideas of their own. The Panthers are savvy to the tight turns of their home oval. But past seasons have proven them wrong with undisciplined stick play and transitions that have resulted in dropped batons and lane violations.
The previous five sections proved the usual thoughts as teams could not negotiate turns or transitions well enough to break the watermark 1:35.00. The Panthers looked sharp and crisp for the first two legs until Wolz took flight with a slight deficit. He hit the backstretch with colorful shades and all chasing down sophomore Justin Bruns. Wolz overpowered Bruns before the top of the turn and motored home to give teammate Brandon Adams the necessary room to run free and he did in coasting home to victory in a state best time.
4x400: Minooka 3:27.8, Lyons Twp. 3:32.08, Proviso West 3:34.14
It was a repeat performance for Minooka as the Indians closed things out with a IL#2 winning performance in section 7. A steady diet of 52-second legs for the first three legs kept Lyons and Proviso West in check. The final blow was a 50.8 tote that back the field. The top four times were from the final section.