Bob cohoon invitational

In Track and Field, sometimes history repeats itself. For some reason, the night of the Bob Cohoon Invitational at Downers Grove South is cold. We warned our athletes that it would start out seeming like a nice night, but by the end of the night, they would need to be prepared for the arctic. This past Friday night was no different. History also repeated itself in our team place. Both this year and last year we took 3rd out of a field of 16 tough teams. When you consider that we took 2nd in the State last year, this puts the challenge of this meet into perspective.

The finals began with the 4 x 800 m relay team of Josh Mollway (Jr.), Caleb Ferguson (Sr.), Dominic Dina (Sr.) and Matt Milostan (Jr.) stepping up alongside a strong field. Josh Mollway led off with a first time sub 2:00 leg, which was followed by Caleb Ferguson’s leg bringing us into the lead. Dominic Dina ran a personal best leg to keep us in the race and Matt Milostan gave a large effort to secure 4th place in a time of 8:07.99 against some quick anchors.

Myles Gascon (So.), Kevin Sager (Sr.), Dan Gaynes (Sr.) and Chris Muoghalu (Sr.) charged ahead to a 4th place finish in the 4 x 100 m relay with a mark of 43.72 despite some awkward exchanges. Our short sprinters continue to improve with Chris Muoghalu taking 6th place in the 100 m dash later in the meet with a mark of 11.23. Myles Gascon would run 11.25 in the prelims, showing how close this race would be. Congratulations to Josh Eiker (Sr.) from Galesburg for his meet records in both the 100 m and 200 m with marks of 10.48 and an amazing 20.83 respectively.

The 3200 m at the Bob Cohoon Invitational is always an event that draws some of the top distance runners in the State. Nostalgia set in as the meet record was announced to be held by Neuqua Valley alumnus Chris Derrick in a time of 8:48.9. Connor Horn (Sr.) and Scott Anderson (Jr.) would represent Neuqua Valley. The race went out for the first mile at a tactical pace given the wind and cold, but quickly ramped up in the second mile where Connor Horn took over the lead and Scott Anderson continued to move up in place. The race would come down to kick between Horn and Oak Park-River Forest’s Junior Irwin Loud. Loud would take the race with Horn taking 2nd in a time of 9:15.56. Scott Anderson would take 5th in a time of 9:21.28.

The 800 m would also feature a tactical race given the conditions and Isaiah Robinson (Jr.) positioned himself perfectly from the gun and through the first lap. Robinson ran a strong second lap to take second in a season best open time of 1:57.03. Our long sprinters also continued to score points in the 400 m with JaQuere Williams (Sr.) taking 4th in the 400 m dash with a time of 50.66.

Aidan Livingston (Sr.) and Patrick Wolak (Sr.) would take up the 1600 m race against many of the same distance runners from the 3200 m. After three strong laps, Livingston made a strong move with Wolak following behind. Both runners would secure personal bests with Livingston taking 5th with a mark of 4:26.66 and Wolak taking 7th with a mark of 4:28.17.

Our throwing continues to be a source of success with Tom Cwiok (Sr.) and AJ Cwiok (Sr.) scoring 18 points between them in the Shot Put and Discus. The duo took 2nd and 3rd in the Discus with Tom putting up a mark of 167’ 6” and AJ throwing 155’ 6”. Tom also placed 4th in the Shot Put with a throw of 52’ 3.25”. We rounded out our field event points with Nick Beatty (Jr.) taking 3rd place in the Triple Jump with a jump of 41’ 9.5”. Beatty’s solid performance came on the heels of his surprise participation in the 4 x 200 m relay.

​Our final event of the night was one we hoped would punctuate the meet in just the right way and our 4 x 400 m team of Isaiah Robinson (Jr.), Dan Gaynes (Sr.), Kevin Sager (Sr.) and JaQuere Williams (Jr.) did not disappoint. Robinson started us out strong pulling us within striking distance of the lead only to have Gaynes take over the top spot in his first Invitational 400 m. Sager and Williams ran strong to further extend our lead and capture the win in a time of 3:22.64.

Thanks to all of the athletes, parents and fans that came out to support the Varsity squad at this meet with our annual “tailgate”! Also, thank you to the anonymous parents for providing food for the entire team!

Next week we have our last invitational meet at Waubonsie Valley with their Red Ribbon Invitational.