DVC indoor championship (3-15-2019)

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!