3A-
Chris Torpy anchors home his Sandburg Eagles 4x800 relay in a record time 7:37.36
Immediate team scores: E. St. Louis Sr. 54, Edwardsville 42, Orland Park (Sandburg) 40, West Aurora 35
Orland Park Sandburg opens meet with a big time meet record-
The first race of the day of course is the 4x800 relay and it is the show starter and the top event in all of Illinois. If you don't agree then you need to check your favorite rankings establishment and see that there are regularly a half dozen teams ranked in the top 15 in the nation. The championship race was set up by Friday's preliminary round where Oak Park-River Forest ran the fastest time out of heat 3 burning the track in 7:45.66. Sandburg laid relatively low using two alternates but ace senior Chris Torpy gauging things on anchor. He was able to use medium effort and get his team to the finals in 7:50.95.
On Saturday despite breezy conditions every team was ready to go. The championship race was started off well and true to form OPRF got the jump on the field in a big way with Sean Lonergan (Sr.) leading the charge. The opening 400 was an honest 55 seconds. Lonergan kept his foot on the gas and pulled away from the pack with each step and closed out his leg in 1:53.4. The incoming group ranged from 1:57 to 2:00. It was a cluster to say the least and it meant that a big deficit had to be closed down.
OPRF was still in control on the legs of Jack Monaghan (Sr.). The Huskies came into this season a bit of a surprise after being down in the middle distance game for a few years. They ran well out of the gate with a deep upperclassmen group and Head Coach Tim Hasso allowed his coaches to coach and dictate any way that they wanted to. Monaghan tired just a bit at the end of his leg but a 1:54.7 carry was still very strong and it actually increased the team's lead going into the third leg.
The third leg of the 4x8 relay is probably the most important part of the race in that most teams load their best or second best runner. Sandburg relies heavily on its third and fourth runners to tread water for the first two legs. And they did. Senior Sean Torpy got the baton is great shape and quickly eyed OPRF's Alex Staples (Sr.) who had to think he was in trouble. Torpy hit his first 400 in 53.3. Instead of fading Torpy went after Staples like a pitbull goes for a mail man's pant leg. In other words it was about to be big trouble for OPRF and the rest of the field. Sean Torpy eased past Staples with less than 250 to go on the leg and continued powering away. Sean handed off to his twin brother Chris Torpy with a blow torch like 1:50.9 split.. It was curtains on the field after a strong 55 second opening circuit. The sight was set on the all-time metric all-class record of 7:40.02 by Algonquin (Jacobs) set in 2006. Meet announcer Billy Poole-Harris eloquently put a stamp on the closing as Chris entered the homestretch: "Ladies and gentlemen look at the clock we are at 7:20! We might have a record [get] on your feet! We at 7:30 for Class 3A. Chris Torpy (Sandburg)... breaking the record!" As it was with a matching 1:50.9 split the overall time was a US #1 7:37.36. OPRF finished second in 7:44.37 and 10 of the 12 finalists broke 8:00. Last place was 8:01.70 by Granite City.
The 4x100 was another hot event this year. The cutoff in the prelims was a fast 42.25- six of the nine finalists went under the water mark led by E. St. Louis Sr. at 41.79. The Flyers are a deep team that ran 41.37 earlier in the season. On Saturday with the wind blowing a brisk in from the southwest, the thought of breaking 41.12 would be tough. The race itself was a tough and tight one outside of ESL and the spirited Minooka team who had one of their coaches (Mark Smith) on their minds. ESL held off a closing Indians quartet 41.64-41.73.
Jared Borowsky's senior school calendar started a little early with a win at the Detweiller at Dark cross country meet. He continued to have a great year qualifying for the state meet. But a mysterious injury from the sectional meet prevented him from completing his dream of competing for a state title. Borowsky went to work in the lab. He emerged six months later with a modest effort at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational. His time of 9:21.77 from the seeded race seemed to set things up for the remaining part of the season. He placed second to Jack Aho (Jr., Grayslake Central) at the Lake Zurich Sectional. The final played perfectly with a pace not fit for super fast times. Irwin Loud (Jr., Oak Park-River Forest) seemed to dial it back after his previous front pack style doomed him late in races. Aho did not press the pace either. It was just 4:42 at the first half. On the bell the disappointment of a season ago faded away. Borowsky took full advantage of a tactical race and motored home using a final lap of 57 seconds to win in a big personal best 9:07.47. He finally beat old pal Aho who took second in 9:11.20.
Travis Anderson (white) dueled against William Session (blue) in a classic 110HH affair
Perhaps the most emotional race of the day was the 110HH featuring Travis Anderson (Jr., Edwardsville) and defending champion William Session (Sr., Belleville East). Anderson has been dominant all season despite having a sore hip from time to time. His counterpart was had similar issues. They both also had matching serious mugs all weekend. Session won his prelim in a windy 13.88. Anderson got the crowd excited with a blazing 13.59. Saturday it was a two man race out of the gate. Anderson had the apparent lead over the first five barriers but Session stormed over the remaining ones like a man possessed. He clawed his way to the finish line. The crowd went from going crazy to a complete silence. Finally, the scoreboard read: 13.71-13.72 [+2.6] Anderson won. It was one of the greatest hurdle races in IHSA history.
The talk of the sprints game was Josh Eiker. The senior star had building a resume that would put him among the immortals. He ran a fast Century in 10.34 in the prelims. But the wind gods were not kind. The measurable allowance is 2.0 and the readings all day was around 2.5 to 5.1. The final wasn't much different as the Galesburg legend got a late break out of the blocks and ran "only" 10.48 [+2.3]. Eiker easily defeated Derrius Rodgers (Sr., Lockport) and his 10.66. Eiker would return at the end of the meet to win his trademark event the 200 in 21.66. Eiker was the only one to break 22 seconds. The overall time was slowed by a nasty headwind that was read in -3.9.
Cameron Ruiz (Jr., Lakes) etched his name among the jump gods with a double winning LJ/TJ combination. The first one was the long jump in a legal 24-0. Ruiz snatched the lead from Antonio Tate (Sr., Dekalb) who never bettered his 23-1 that was contested indoors on Friday. Ruiz was a newcomer in the triple jump coming into this season. He left as champion on his final attempt with a leap of 50-6 [+1.7]. Ruiz was so happy that he did a triple cartwheel. His mark was also US #2 behind Ja'mari Ward's (Cahokia) 53-7.
- 800: Chris Torpy came back sharper than expected against fresh vets like Connor McCue (Sr., West Aurora), Chris Conrad (Jr., O'Fallon), Heath Warren (Sr., Springfield), John Partee (Sr., Plainfield South), and Torrain Haughton (Sr., Maine East). It did not matter. Torpy put on a burst with 150 to go that seemed to break the back of the field and he won in a good 1:50.88. McCue ran down the rest of the pack to grab second in 1:53.38.
- 4x200: Neuqua Valley shocked the world by snatching the lead away from the favored ESL crew down the homestretch. The Wildcats anchor senior Ryan Lukas never gave up his sight of the victory powering his team home in 1:26.72.
- 400: The little brother of 2014 double HJ/LJ state champion Jonathan Wells of Grant grabbed his own stage in the prelims. Senior Octavian Wells stunned the crowd Friday with a prelim time of 47.07. He and previous list leader Brad Garron (Jr., Evanston) were the only speedsters under 48 seconds. But on Saturday Wells made it look easy. He won the gold medal with little resistant by over a second in 47.39. Chris Thompson (Sr., Lemont) got the silver medal in 48.45.
- PV: Zachery Bradford (So., Bloomington) endured an incredibly long day that finally ended with a 16-1 effort Bradford had the bar moved up to 17-1 in which he did not make.
- HJ: Newcomer Cameron Donatian (So., West Aurora) upset an even field to win in a classification best 6-10.
- SP: John Meyer (So., Lockport) completed a great sophomore year campaign with another round of 60 foot throws. Meyer got his first win in 62-1.
DT: AJ Epenesa (Jr., Edwardsville) broke the all-time meet record during Friday's prelim round. Before he set the mark of 205-11 he connected on several 200-foot throws including a 201-8 lead off. Epenesa is simply the best discus thrower in the nation. Epenesa placed second in the shot put and thrower over 60-feet for the first time tossing the ball 60-4.5.