On Friday, we concluded our indoor season with the DuPage Valley Conference's Indoor Championship at the same place where our season began, North Central College. Our Varsity team took 2nd place with 107 points to Naperville Central's total of 137. Our Frosh-Soph team was 3rd with 74 points. Congratulations to Naperville Central on their victory! They certainly earned it with their impressive performances and competitive spirit throughout the night.  

Complete results can be found at the link below.

www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/367918/results

Given that this meet marked the first time that Neuqua Valley had not won the conference title since we joined the DVC, this meet left us disappointed as a team. However, as I said to the team on Friday night, it is what you do after a disappointment that matters the most. We have eight weeks to grow as a individuals and as a team and unlike in most sports, we have the opportunity to face the same teams again at the outdoor championship. Even at practice on Saturday, many of our athletes renewed their vow to improve and push themselves. 

However, when you look closely at the results, disappointment is not the only feeling that we should have. Of the 75 Neuqua Valley performances on Friday, 46 individuals achieved personal bests, 3 of our relays set season bests and 1 school record was tied. When nearly two-thirds of your team performs better than they ever have, some things must be going well. Many of our athletes should be proud of what they accomplished on Friday, but the goal of improvement should continue to guide our athletes as they push themselves in the outdoor season. 

The meet began with the field events and set us off to a good start. In the Shot Put, Hunter Danton (So.) won the Frosh-Soph level with a throw of 44' 7.5". He was followed by Elijah Darden (So.) and Jake Daoud (So.), who took 4th and 5th respectively with throws of 39' 10" and 39' 1". Matt Appel (Jr.) continues to throw among the top throwers in the State and won the Varsity level Shot Put with a throw of 54' 5". With a huge personal best, Jacob Remack (Sr.) threw 47' 8" to take 2nd place. This means that we double scored at both levels of this event. 

In the Varsity High Jump, we achieved another double score, with Jared Malcolm (Sr.) taking 2nd place with a jump of 6' 1". KaLon Hale (Jr.), fresh off of basketball season, tied for 4th place with a jump of 5' 5". The double scoring continued into our other vertical jump, the Pole Vault, where Jailen Poole (So.) took 2nd place with a jump of 10' 2". He was joined in scoring by Goutham Baskaran (So.), who tied for 3rd place with a jump of 9' 8". In the Varsity Pole Vault, Alex Kiefer (Sr.) jumped 13' 8" to take 2nd place, while Trevor Lambert (Sr.) set a foot and a half personal best to take 3rd place with a jump of 13' 2". 

The horizontal jumps would see more scoring and a number of personal bests. In the Frosh-Soph Long Jump, Ethan Thomas (So.) took 4th with a personal best of 19' 4.5" and Jailen Poole (So.) took 6th with another personal best of 19' 0.5". At the Varsity level, EJ Oketona (So.), jumped 19' 6.25" to take 6th place with yet another PR. EJ would secure another personal best in the Varsity Triple Jump where he jumped 42' 0", which is more than a 2 foot personal best and good enough for 6th place. 

As we moved to the running events, our distance runners kicked off the meet with the 4 x 800 m relay. The Frosh-Soph relay team of Leif Anderson (So.), Daniel Gutierrez (So.), Luke Mennecke (So.) and Nicolas Dovalovsky (So.) took 2nd place with a time of 8:38.24. This means that our average runner in this race ran under 2:10. Vasant Fong (So.) would continue this trend in the Frosh-Soph 800 m where he would run 2:08.69 and take 6th place. The Varsity relay team of Jack Orengo (Sr.), Spencer Teske (Sr.), Jordan Matthews (Sr.) and Michael O'Connor (Sr.) took 2nd place and was less than one second per leg off of our season best time. Leif Anderson and Nicolas Dovalovsky would return later in the meet in the Frosh-Soph 1600 m, where they took 3rd and 5th place respectively with marks of 4:51.22 and 4:56.90. Spencer Teske and Jordan Matthews would also return in the Varsity 1600 m, where Spencer would take 4th place in 4:36.09. Michael O'Connor would also double as he came back in the Varsity 800 m, where he took 4th in a time of 2:02.69. 

The distance events would continue with the 3200 m. At the Frosh-Soph level, Ryan Horn (So.) and Noah Schalliol (Fr.) ran 10:03.69 and 10:04.42 to finish right near each other in 3rd and 4th place. Aidan Stone (So.) took 6th place in 10:26.09. Michael Madiol (Sr.) and Nicholas Drechsler (Sr.) would both score for the team as Michael took 2nd in a time of 9:41.88 and Nicholas took 5th in a time of 9:55.96. 

Moving to the sprint events, Donovan Turner (Sr.) tied his own school record in the Varsity 55 m High Hurdles that he set last week, winning the event in an time of 7.61 seconds. Later in the meet, Donovan would win the Varsity 200 m Dash in a time of 23.13 seconds. In the Frosh-Soph 55 m Dash, Christian Allen (So.) ran 6.91 to take 4th place while Max Rivera (So.) ran 6.78 at the Varsity level to take 3rd. Max came back in the Varsity 200 m Dash to take 6th in an time of 23.96. Having two Sophomores run this fast this early in the season is a sign of good things to come, especially since Max just joined us from basketball.  

The Varsity 4 x 200 m relay team of Patrick Hoffman (Jr.), Max Rivera (So.), Aditya Sathyaprakash (Jr.) and Jonah Covarrubias (Sr.) ran with conviction to take nearly 2 seconds off of our Mustang Relays time, taking 3rd in 1:34.20. Patrick and Jonah would join Max Mitchell (Fr.) and Kel Foley (Sr.) in the Varsity 4 x 400 m, where they took 5th in 3:38.41. Kel would also take 5th place in the Varsity 400 m with a time of 52.65. In the Frosh-Soph 400 m, Ethan Thomas (So.) and Ethan Briones (So.) would take 5th and 6th respectively in times of 56.56 and 56.62, both personal bests. The duo would return in the Frosh-Soph 4 x 400 m with Jack Wharton (So.) and Christian Allen (So.) to take 5th in 3:52.81. 

Pictures from the meet can be found at the website below. Thanks to Coach Yunk for taking them! Right now, you need to be logged in to your school account to access these.  

drive.google.com/drive/folders/1T3tW-EnAv_-_GpHFRTJDt5iTJ8dUBkF9?usp=sharing

As we move into the outdoor season, know that we are getting better every day but that we still have a great amount of work to do. The next two weeks will be without meets and are very important to our training. Be ready to work hard! 

This was a busy week for Neuqua Valley Track and Field. We started the week with the Mustang Relays at North Central College and then ended with our athletes competing in three different meets. 

The weekend started with Matt Appel (Jr.) competing in the Louis-Charles Throwastravaganza at Rolling Meadows High School. Some of the top throwers in the State were there to give their best in the Shot Put. On one his last throws, Matt posted up a mark of 55' 0.5", which broke the indoor school record. This record was one of the oldest on our books and was held by Babatunde "OJ" Oshinowo, who later go on to play in the NFL. Some of Matt's warm up throws show that he has even more distance to go during this indoor season. 

Next, on Saturday, nearly all of our team competed at York High School in their annual open meet.  As we near the end of the indoor season, it is encouraging to announce that we achieved 103 personal bests, which are listed below. As athletes examine their performances, they should ask themselves if they are improving. If not, what can they change to help themselves improve? Everyone should ask themselves the following questions.

Am I taking care of the "little things" like sleep, nutrition and water intake? These things may seem little, but they are how you fuel your body and help yourself recover.
 
Am I working hard in practice? Could I push harder on quality days? If you want the body to respond, it needs to receive a manageable level of stress. Pushing yourself in practice will also help you learn how to push harder in meets. 

Am I working on the technical aspects of my event? Try to become a student of the sport. Resources are everywhere! Do you know the best people in the country or world in your event? Look it up and watch a video of them competing. You can learn from the best. 

Am I avoiding injury? If so, what steps can I take to help this process? You need to take ownership of your body and make sure it is functioning properly. 

PERSONAL BEST LIST FROM THE YORK MEET

55 Meter Dash
Jared Malcolm 7.21a   
Ryan Finneran 7.23a   
Aidan Byrnes 7.38a   
Tony Cai 7.48a   
Sathya Subramanian 7.59a   
Anvit Nidadavolu 8.11a   
Anthony Bates 8.78a   

200 Meters
Jonah Covarrubias 24.13a   
Max Mitchell 24.18a   
Patrick Hoffman 24.21a   
Aditya Sathyaprakash 24.38a   
Ryan Finneran 25.74a   
Ethan Thomas 25.95a   
Michael Grawe 25.99a   
Ethan Briones 26.09a   
Aidan Byrnes 26.13a   
Eugene Jang 26.39a   
Sathya Subramanian 26.53a   
Emiliano Vargas 26.62a   
Paul Lee 26.75a   
Fatehmaan Sidhu 26.76a   
Farouq Desmaratti 26.83a   
Chase Parkhurst 27.06a   
Jonathan Martinez 27.15a   
Tony Cai 27.16a   
Michael Lavelle 27.92a   
Ayush Ganju 28.04a   
Anvit Nidadavolu 28.91a   
Kevin Zeng 28.94a   
Angelo Lavacchi 29.02a   
Michael Toomey 29.12a   
Triston Price 30.40a   
Nicholas Shabaker 30.91a   
Anthony Bates 33.56a   
Hisham Alam 34.56a
   
400 Meters
Jonah Covarrubias 53.52a   
Max Mitchell 55.04a   
Ethan Briones 57.63a   
Ethan Thomas 58.10a   
Daniel Wu 59.57a   
Michael Lavelle 1:03.18a   
Chase Parkhurst 1:04.26a   
Joshua Slinkman 1:05.00a   
Michael Toomey 1:05.15a   
Emiliano Vargas 1:05.51a   
Angelo Lavacchi 1:05.58a   
Angad Agrawal 1:08.62a   

600 Meters
Patrick Kelly 1:50.73a   
Nicholas Shabaker 2:00.31a 
 
800 Meters 
William Fu 2:25.82a 
 
1600 Meters
Nicholas Drechsler 4:47.77a   
Quinn Kennedy 4:50.08a   
Noah Schalliol 4:51.19a   
Aidan Stone 4:53.18a   
Brian Jett 4:56.73a   
Austin Burke 5:06.01a   
Kyle Kretovic 5:12.62a   
Jacob Nauman 5:19.97a   
Ashwin Rajan 5:20.05a   
Andrew Gutierrez 5:20.21a   
Adam Johnson 5:21.26a   
Avik Vaish 5:22.51a   
Joseph Spencer 5:24.58a   
Aleksandras Majus 5:37.86a   
Josh Kubicki 5:38.81a   
Nick Rokosz 5:45.59a   
Ethan Smetana 5:49.54a   
Pranav Rajaraman 6:10.71a   
Prithvi Thakur 6:39.73a
   
3200 Meters
Spencer Teske 9:55.63a   
Michael O'Connor 10:17.82a   
Jordan Matthews 10:23.91a   
Ramsay Johnson 10:32.50a   
Luke Mennecke 10:32.55a   
Daniel Gutierrez 10:44.58a   
Erik Thompson 10:56.56a   
Sachin Fong 10:56.94a   
Josh Rodriguez 10:58.36a   
Kevin Saju 11:00.31a   
Liam Dorsey 11:02.57a   
Dominick Gramarosso 11:09.85a   
Ethan Lockwood 11:13.05a   
Jack Hastings 11:56.54a   
Jeffrey Heitman 12:07.89a   
Akshat Maheshwari 12:18.47a   
Henry Golden 12:32.36a   
Samuel Wrobel 12:36.66a   
Connor McConnell 12:42.45a
   
55m Hurdles - 39"  High Hurdles
Paul Lee 9.43a   
Enoch Kim 9.59a
   
Shot Put - 12lb
Jacob Remack 43-05.00   
Hunter Danton 43-01.50   
Martin Kiefer 33-05.00   
Alex Mattson 32-07.00   
Samuel Turner 28-03.00   
Matt Hassell 18-00.00 
  
Pole Vault
Goutham Baskaran 10-02.00
   
Long Jump
Jacob Guthrie 17-03.00   
Eugene Jang 16-00.00   
Joshua Slinkman 15-06.00   
Angad Agrawal 9-10.00   
​
Triple Jump
Ej Oketona 39-10.00   
Jacob Guthrie 37-01.00

Complete results can be found at the link below. 

 www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/366848/results 

Finally, we had one more meet with Neuqua Valley representation this weekend. Donovan Turner (Sr.) competed in the New Balance Indoor Nationals Meet at the Armory in New York City. Donovan was the only hurdler from Illinois to compete in the 60 m High Hurdles and broke the school record in the 55 m High Hurdles en route. (An en route record means that the result was recorded at 55 m even though the race was 60 m long. There were two FAT cameras to make this happen.) Donovan has rewritten our hurdles records several times over these past two years and it will be exciting to see which ones will fall next.  

As we look ahead to the DVC Conference Championships this Friday, we need to make sure that we are getting plenty of rest and are ready to compete the best of our ability as we end the indoor season! We hope to see everyone at North Central College this Friday! 

On Monday, our Varsity relays competed in Downers Grove South's Mustang Relays at North Central College. While everything did not go according to plan, all of our relays set season bests. 

In the 4 x 800 m, we tried an experiment and put Donovan Turner (Sr.) into his first 800 m based on his impressive performances in the 400 m and the 300 m Intermediate Hurdles. Running lead off, Donovan ran 2:07.3, which ranks well among our team this season so far. The baton next went to Michael O'Connor (Sr.), who pressed hard for the entire race and set a huge personal best of 2:01.3 for his split. It was clear that Michael was on a mission during his race. Spencer Teske (Sr.) charged through his leg to a 2:04.0 split, which is just under his season best split. Finally, Michael Madiol (Sr.) finished off the relay with a 2:02.1 which is another season best and brought the team to a 10th place finish in a time of 8:14.80. 

In the 4 x 200 m, the relay team of Jonah Covarrubias (Sr.), Kel Foley (Sr.), Aditya Sathyprakash (Sr.), and Donovan Turner (Sr.) ran 1:36.08, taking 12th place amid collisions, falls and congestion on the track. Donovan Tuner's anchor leg was the fastest indoor split in the 200 m that we have ever recorded and was so fast that we need to check the video to verify the result which was right around 22 seconds flat. 

Ending the evening was the 4 x 400 m, and the team of Kel Foley (Sr.), Jonoh Covarrubias (Sr.), Max Mitchell (Fr.) and Donovan Turner (Sr.) took 9th place in 3:32.54. Kel took took out the race hard and his 200 m split was nearly as fast as his 4 x 200 m split. Next, Jonah ran in lane 2 as he kept trying to pass people and would not give up the position. As a freshman, Max was running in his first serious Varsity race and he did not disappoint, putting up a 54.0 split. Donovan closed out the night with a strong 50.9 split, his fastest of the season so far. 

Complete results can be found at the link below. 

www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/351903/results

Look for Matt Appel to compete Friday night in the Rolling Meadows Throwastravaganza and our entire team on Saturday at York! 

Plainfield East Meet

Some meets are just about getting a chance to compete and our meet last Thursday at Plainfield East was just that. Our entire team was able to either try for a personal best, try a new event or get in a rough workout by competing in some challenging combinations. Meets like this do not really have a story, so we want to simply recognize those athletes that achieved a personal best at the meet. For some, this accomplishment might be the result of trying an event for the first time. Also, please remember that these marks are indoor personal bests and please let me know if see any mistakes or omissions. 

Complete results can be found at the link below. 

www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/367009/results

Personal Bests:

​55 Meter Dash
Max Mitchell 6.8h 
Aidan Byrnes 7.3h 
Enoch Kim 7.4h 
Tony Cai 7.4h 
Emiliano Vargas 7.5h 
 
200 Meters
Goutham Baskaran 24.5h 
Michael Grawe 26.2h 
Farouq Desmaratti 27.1h 
Nate Passaro 27.9h 
Arul Palaniappan 28.8h 
Elijah Hasan 29.0h 
Kevin Zeng 29.3h 
Michael Toomey 30.3h 
Angad Agrawal 30.4h 
Kabir Chawla 30.6h 
Nicholas Shabaker 30.9h 
William Yeh 31.4h 
Hisham Alam 35.3h 

400 Meters  
Kieran Tharbs 1:00.2h 
Fatehmaan Sidhu 1:01.5h 
Patrick Conniff 1:03.0h 
Michael Lavelle 1:04.2h 
Angelo Lavacchi 1:06.5h 
Emiliano Vargas 1:07.2h 
Arul Palaniappan 1:07.6h 
Michael Toomey 1:07.9h 
Triston Price 1:09.3h 
Angad Agrawal 1:10.2h 
 
800 Meters
Leif Anderson 2:13.0h 
Kyle Kretovic 2:17.0h 
Sachin Fong 2:21.0h 
Noah Schalliol 2:25.0h 
Ethan Thomas 2:26.0h 
Jake Klimek 2:30.0h 
Christian Allen 2:36.0h 
Patrick Kelly 2:42.0h 
Nicholas Shabaker 2:49.0h 
 
1600 Meters  
Sam Stuart 5:05.0h 
Ramsay Johnson 5:06.0h 
Sahil Yemul 5:07.0h 
William Fu 5:16.0h 
Liam Dorsey 5:16.0h 
Ethan Lockwood 5:20.0h 
Jack Hastings 5:23.0h 
Jeffrey Heitman 5:23.0h 
Connor McConnell 5:40.0h 
Wei Jiang 5:46.0h 
Samuel Wrobel 6:02.0h 
Arnav Shrivastava 6:34.0h
Prithvi Thakur 6:44.0h
 
3200 Meters
Austin Burke 10:54.0h 
Jordan Matthews 11:21.0h 
Daniel Gutierrez 11:23.0h 
Avik Vaish 11:32.0h 
Jacob Nauman 11:32.0h 
Adam Johnson 11:37.0h 
Andrew Gutierrez 11:57.0h 
Joseph Spencer 12:06.0h 
Ian Kim 12:10.0h 
Jacoub Letourneau 12:34.0h 
Josh Kubicki 12:46.0h 
Ethan Smetana 13:12.0h 
 
Shot Put
Elijah Darden 39-6 
Sam Jourdan 38-6 
Jake Dauod 38-1 
Martin Kiefer 33-3 
Alex Mattson 32-4 
Nick Noga 28-5
Samuel Turner 28-2 

Pole Vault 
Rahul Nair 10-7 
Paul Kiefer 9-7 
Jonathan Martinez 9-1 

Long Jump
Prakash Tata 17-7 
Ayush Ganju 16-5 
William Yeh 14-0 
 
Triple Jump 
Daniel Shin 35-2
Prakash Tata 34-4 
Ayush Ganju 32-6 

Windy City Pole Vault Summit

On Saturday, Alex Kiefer (Sr.) competed in Windy City Pole Vault Summit, which is an invitation only Pole Vault meet contested at Rolling Meadows High School. Against some of the best pole vaulters in the State, Alex took 6th place with a jump of 13' 9". Some of his early jumps had Alex well over the bar, showing what he is capable of achieving by the end of the season. 

Complete results from the meet can be found at the link below. 

www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/367339/results


This upcoming week is a busy one for us. We have the Mustang Relays on Monday Night at North Central College for our top Varsity relays, Matt Appel (Jr.) competing at Rolling Meadows in a Shot Put only meet on Friday and the entire team at York this Saturday. We hope to see everyone at all of these events!