Blackhawks defend title
Saturday, May 8 2010 -Blackhawks defend title
(Mary Beth Nolan/For Sun-Times Media)
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White TextThe hallmark of the season for West Aurora's boys track and field team has been its depth and diversity.
The Blackhawks put that on full display as they hosted Friday's Kane County Meet and repeated as champions with 126.5 points. West scored points in all but one event and won seven events overall.
"We're more well-rounded this season," West senior Leon Spears said. "We hunger for first place at every meet. I think that's the difference between this year and last year."
Spears had a big hand in the win, as West held off a game Kaneland squad, which scored 103 points in second place. Spears fended off St. Charles North's Christian Ilunga to win both the 100 and 200 meter races. He also anchored the winning 400 (43.26) and 800 (1:31.07) relay teams.
Spears won the 100 in 11.03, a mere 0.01 ahead of Ilunga. He followed that was a 22.78 in the 200.
"I never knew of him," Spears said. "He's a great competitor. It pushed us both and we both had good times."
Coming into the season, Spears was the lone returnee from the state-placing 400 and 800 relay teams, but the Blackhawks have reloaded with Jarrick Phillips, Matt Souvannasing and Zach Woods getting the baton to Spears in both relays.
"If they keep working, they can go downstate and hopefully make the state final, if they keep working," West coach Cortney Lamb said. "They have the talent, though."
Souvannasing also had an individual win, taking the long jump (20-8). Aviance King also won in the field, needing only two jumps to clear a season-high 6-7 and win the high jump. Steve Loran won the 3,200 for West in 9:45.74.
Kaneland put up a strong fight as a Class 2A school competing with several Class 3A teams, and it was senior Logan Markuson who led the way. Markuson came back to nip Batavia's Rob Mohr to win the 300 hurdles in a season-best 39.89 in a race that featured seven potential state qualifiers.
"Rob is a great athlete," Markuson said. "I was looking at the seed sheet, and it was nice knowing that it was going to be a close race, a good time to PR. That's exactly what happened for a lot of kids."
Markuson also won the pole vault with a 13-9 despite a nasty crosswind. He also anchored the 1,600 relay team, which won in 3:27.31. Tommy Whittaker, Derek Bus and Edgar Valle were also on that team. Bus had a strong day, as well. He won the 400 meters (51.12) and was also on the winning 3,200 relay team (8:04.58). Trevor Holm, Joe Levita and Valle were also in that group.
"There were some good teams here, but it comes down to not the big, impact guys, but the guys in triple jump that score one point," Markuson said. "It came down to them tonight."
Geneva placed third at the meet with 73 points. When the top three teams saw each other at Kaneland earlier in the season, it was Kaneland and Geneva that topped West Aurora. The Vikings were led by a double from senior thrower Frank Boenzi. He ground out a win in the shot put with a 56-7 and set a new PR in winning the discus in 168-5.
Batavia was fifth with 61.5 points. The Bulldogs' lone win came from Mohr in the 110 hurdles (14.80). Marmion was seventh with 27 points, East Aurora took eighth with 20 points and Aurora Central Catholic tied for 11th in the 13-team field with eight points