Bennett Konkey wasn’t sure what his future was going to be like on the track after his sophomore season.

After suffering a hamstring injury in February 2025, the Geneva standout spent most of his track season in physical therapy trying to make sure he was the most prepared he could be for football season.

As a result, he couldn’t repeat as a state qualifier in the 100-meter dash like he did as a freshman, or in the 200 like he wanted.

“Not being able to run at state last year and not compete in the 100 or 200 was tough,” Konkey said.

One year later, the Geneva junior made his return back to the IHSA boys track and field state championships as an individual. And he did so in winning fashion. Konkey ran away with state titles in both the Class 3A 100 and 200, the first state titles in Geneva history.

“It’s just so hard to believe that I wasn’t running track last year, and now I’m a two-time state champ,” Konkey said. “It’s very exciting, I’m just so happy.”

Konkey started off his meet securing the championship in the 100 dash, crossing the finish line in 10.39, the fastest finish time among all three classes. A few hours later, he ran a 21.08 in the 200 to edge out Oswego’s Dontrell Young, who was the only runner to beat him in an individual event all season, for his second title of the day.

“I was just worrying about myself and just competing,” Konkey said. “I can’t change what he does, only what I do. So I just made sure that I got my body right, stayed hydrated, all of the little things that would add up into a race like that.”

Konkey, who plans for the state meet to be his last track meet so he can focus on football, said that his biggest focus during the offseason was resting up his hamstring, which he attributed to one of the biggest factors to his state titles.

“I went to physical therapy for about eight months and it just did not help, probably because I was playing on it,” Konkey said. “But after football season, I just rested until the beginning of track, and that just let it strengthen and re-heal. And once I stepped back on the track, I just felt like a million bucks all season long.”

Konkey wasn’t the only athlete from Kane County coming home with a state title. The relay team of Jack Swiatek, Ben Bohr, Gio Guttierez and John Reinbold ran a 7:42.43 in the Class 2A 4x800 to secure the title for Aurora Central Catholic, its first in the event since all the way back in 1979.

“It’s just the best feeling to come back after just missing the podium last year,” Bohr said. “Last year left a terrible taste in our mouth, none of us performed how we usually do, and it was crazy. But after feeling that failure, we we just came back with a lot of confidence, and it’s so special to know that we could come out here and basically run this solo.”

A lot of the success came from Swiatek, who ran a 1:53.58 opening leg, the fastest of any leg in the finals, to give the Chargers a lead that they would not give up for the rest of the way.

“We had a huge target on our back coming into state as the one seed,” Swiatek said. “Everyone wanted to get us, and I knew I had some great competition in that first lap. I knew I had to bring my A-game and give these boys the best chance possible to bring it home.”

In its return to Class 2A, Kaneland came away with three All-State performances. The relay team of Colton VanDyke, Noah Cornell, Jackson Boryc and Benjamin Karl had two of them, securing second place in both the 4x100 (42.04) and the 4x200 (1:27.20), which both set school records.

“Having these teammates, we’ve been pushing each ourselves all year, especially in workouts,” VanDyke said. “Having this competition helps us get better in relays. It’s been such a fun season, and I’m so proud of how we did. We PR’d at state, so I can’t be mad at how we performed.”

Karl, the lone returner in the state-qualifying relays from last season, had his shining moment in the 4x200, taking the baton in fifth and sprinting the Knights to second in the final stretch.

“It was just from all the workouts and my guys pushing me,” Karl said. “It felt like a workout with all my guys around me and I knew I had to try to do what I can to come back. It felt awesome to get all the way up to second for my boys.”

Karl wasn’t the only Knight making a big push in the final 100-meters of his race, with junior Gavin Smith making a big push in the home stretch of the Class 2A 800 to go from ninth to fifth, finishing in 1:53.51.

“I put myself in the perfect position to make a kick right between the main pack and just made a move at the end,” Smith said. “I was going to go to the outside, but then they all went their and opened Lane 1, and I just went right inside and overtook them.”

Also finishing with three All-State performances on the day was St. Charles North. Its best finish came in the Class 3A 4x800, with the team of Christian Enger, Logan Hitchings, Lucas Reed and Matthew Russell running a 7:46.39 for fourth place in the event.

“Coach (Kevin) Harrington always says that we’re an outdoor team that performs at the end of the season when it really counts,” Enger said. “We had a super bad stall at the start of outdoor and it felt like nobody was moving that quick. We just did everything we could to train and make sure we didn’t stick at that pace and that just got us super fast right when it counts.”

Russell had the decisive move in the race for the North Stars, who had their first All-State finish in the event since 2008, taking the team from ninth to fourth in the final 400 meters.

“Harrington gets us into the mind set that we can do anything when we step on the track,” Russell said. “He doesn’t put limits on us, and I think that helped me so much to have a coach that believes in me, and it helped me out on that last leg to get out there and know I could be in the top group.”

Junior Sam Hill and senior Lucas Tenbrock also finished on the podium for the first time in their careers, with both getting seventh in their respective events. Hill finished his 3,200 race in 9:13.01, while Tenbrock threw 51.56 meters in the discus.

Batavia junior Darin Ashiru had the biggest jump in the standings during finals. After just sneaking into the finals of the 3A triple jump, the junior cleared a personal-best 14.09 meters on his first jump in the finals to secure a sixth-place finish in the event for All-State honors.

“I was feeling great coming into the finals,” Ashiru said. “We knew what we needed to fix coming in and I showed it on the first jump. It’s really special to do this in track, and it’s going to be great momentum going into the football season and set the standard for what we want to do.”

St. Charles East rounded out the day with an All-State performance, with the team of Leo Bolsoni, Sam Wollak, Peter VanLue and Michael Wilson running a ninth-place 3:20.84 in the Class 3A 4x400 finals for their first All-State finish in the event since 2012.