bob cohoon invitational (4-19-2019)

It was a cold, windy night at Downers Grove South High School on Friday as our Varsity team took a step forward, ready to end the season with a strong finish. The team took 3rd place at the Bob Cohoon Invitational and was within striking distance of Oak Park-River Forest and Minooka. Complete results from the meet can be found at the website below. 

www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/376247/results

In an effort to simulate the State Meet, our throwers competed in back-to-back meets, competing both Thursday at the West Aurora Throws Meet and Friday at the Bob Cohoon Meet. Despite the tough schedule, Matt Appel (Jr.) was able to place 3rd in both the Shot Put and Discus. His throw of 52' 8" in the Shot Put is above the State Qualifying Mark and Matt was also able to throw 146' 10" in the Discus, despite a 30 mph head wind. That same wind was a crosswind in the Pole Vault, where Alex Kiefer (Sr.) took 3rd place with a jump of 12' 6".  

Moving to the track, our 4 x 800 m relay team of Spencer Teske (Sr.), Nicolas Dovalovsky (So.), Michael Madiol (Sr.) and Michael O'Connor (Sr.) won the meet in an impressive fashion and with solid strategy in 8:25.58 as they battled the wind. Nicolas ran the fastest split in 2:02.3. With only about 45 minutes of rest, Nicolas and Michael O'Connor returned in the 800 m, where Michael placed 2nd in 1:58.16 and Nicolas placed 6th in a nearly identical time from the relay of 2:02.26. These would be solid marks without the wind! Michael Madiol would also return later in the meet in the 1600 m, where he took the lead in the last 100 m to win in 4:32.27. Michael was joined by Chris Keeley (Sr.) who continues his comeback and took 5th in 4:36.68. Matt Jett (Sr.), forging his own comeback trail, fought hard in the 3200 m and took 2nd in a time of 9:57.32 by running a very smart race. 

Turning to the sprint events, Max Rivera (So.) continues to medal in the short sprints and took 6th in 11.39 in the 100 m dash. Max would run lead off on the 4 x 100 m and the 4 x 200 m relay. In the 4 x 200 m, Max was joined by Patrick Hoffmann (Jr.), Aditya Sathyaprakash (Sr.) and Jonah Covarrubias (Sr.) and took 2nd in 1:33.90, despite a pulled hamstring by Aditya where he still managed to finish the race. In the 4 x 400 m, Max Mitchell (Fr.), Jonah Covarrubias (Sr.), EJ Oketona (So.) and Patrick Hoffmann (Sr.) took 3rd in 3:36.78, showing that our 400 m runners are starting to get into racing shape. 

This meet began to give us a sense of what is possible at the end of the season, something that we discussed at our team meeting this past Wednesday. The end of the season is within sight and we need to take care of the little things (sleep, nutrition, technique, etc.) now more than ever if we want to make our own luck.

This upcoming week has two more chances to take another step with our meet at home on Monday and the Red Ribbon Invitational at Waubonsie Valley on Saturday. After that, we begin our march to the end with the Conference, Sectional, and State Meets!