Records Fall

Standing at the finish area at York, I was talking to the coach from Neuqua Valley about how great the atmosphere is at the York Open meet. Every year is a chance to see some of the top times in the state (we saw IL # 3 in the 1600 this year) and also every athlete on the team has a chance to PR, and our guys took advantage of that chance. The Wildcats had 20 athletes run lifetime personal bests (indoors or out) this year.

Records are meant to be broken, and that is just what the 4x200 relay of Adrian Washington, Nigel Osei Asare, Torrance Freeman and Bryan Underwood did on Saturday at York. The first chance for this quartet to race this indoor season, they took advantage. Their time of 1:33.24 broke the old record (from 2007) by .36 of a second. This group still has its best race ahead of them.

The distance crew really had a breakout day with lots of PRs. The 800 crew got things rolling with 3 big PRs and a few more breakout races. Adrian Castillo finally broke through the 2:30 barrier with a 2:27. Denzell Mims knocked nearly 10 seconds off to run 2:39. Ezequiel Ocegueda broke the 3 minute barrier for the first time (2:54), not a bad week from Zeke. Thursday he ran sub 7 for the first time in the mile. Zeke is a real example of what consistency and hard work can do, this fall in XC Zeke was a 30 minute 3 mile runner. Thomas Coleman had another breakout race, as did Michael Kazak. Ubaldo Rodriguez continues to make strides in his comeback from his broken ankle with another strong race (2:17).

In the 600 Tyler Wier and Jake Michel were both rewarded with PRs, Tyler used a great last lap to run down a handful of runners.

In the 1600 our freshman distance guys continued to make great strides. Dominick Barrios and Ty Vitanovec ran shoulder to shoulder the whole way and both came away with big PRs and first times under 5:40. Aden Veljacic has been on a tear, and Saturday was no different, he dropped his PR down to 5:45. The varsity milers had a strong showing as well, with times just off lifetime outdoor PRs.

The throws crew had some strong performances, Christian Martin took 1^st overall. Grady Bartz had a big 53cm PR. Tyler Ibarra continues his big run in the shot with a 40cm PR. Eli Smith also got in the PR crew with a great throw to finish his series.

In the other field events, Adrian Washington took first in long jump and Stephon Griffin took 1^st in high jump. Curterry Clark had a great jump to set a new PR in the triple jump.

The sprinters also had some great runs to set new PRs. Adrian Washington, Nigel Osei Asare, Saranash Amin, Tyler West, Geovany Ramirez all set PRs in the 200. All of those guys have been working hard and it is great to see that hard work pay off.

Up next for the Wildcats is the SPC Indoor Championship next Friday, and the Frosh/Soph crew competes at The Plainfield North Frosh/Soph Invite.