Boys Track and Field: Glenbard South second at Glenbard West invite

Cam Williams of Glenbard South competes in the 4x100m relay during the 41st Jim Arnold Invitational Saturday April 29, 2023 in Glen Ellyn.

GLEN ELLYN – While Oak Park-River Forest literally ran away with the top team prize in Saturday’s Jim Arnold Invitational at Duchon Field in Glen Ellyn, Glenbard South turned in a strong performance for second place honors.

The Huskies tallied 134 points by taking seven first-place and two second-place medals. Led by three first-place finishes, the Raiders earned 67 points, one point ahead of third-place Evanston. Wheaton North (61.5) and Lake Park (59) rounded out the top five.

Athletes had to compete in a steady drizzle during the first half of the meet.

Glenbard South coach Doug Gorski thought his squad did very well considering it was the smallest of the 13 teams competing.

“We are the only 2A school here. Going against these big dogs should prepare us for the state series,” the Raiders coach said. “We thought we would score only 50 points today.”

Cameron Williams took home two first-place medals for Glenbard South, winning the 100-meter dash (10.97 seconds) and the long jump (6.85 meters).

Teammates Tim Jochum (1:57.38) and Ryan Chung (1:59:52) came in first and second in the 800 dash. The pair also finished in the top 10 in the 1,600.

“Total team effort. Our distance guys came through and won their events. Our sprinter, Cameron, won the long jump and the 100 in his first outdoor meet,” Gorski said. “Our two 800 guys, Tim and Brian, had a great race, and they came back in the mile and ran well. Our 4x100 team did a nice job finishing second.”

Top finisher for Wheaton North was the 4x800 relay team. The quartet of Ben Shebar, Hudson Romaine, Simon Turner and Kyle Komro took second in the event with a time of 8:14.39.

Lake Park won the discus and high jump, Josh Brown, who won first place in the high jump (1.85 m), said the wet conditions made competing more challenging.

“It’s pretty intimidating when it starts raining,” Brown said. “But you have to get it out of your mind and run the approach the same way you always do.”

Lake Park’s Tyler Michelini throw of 59.91 meters earned him a first place medal in the discus.

OP-RF won three of the four relay races.

“We have a nice relay team. Right now, we are moving a lot of people around, so it wasn’t our full relay team. We’re trying to figure out the runners we need in place for conference and state meets,” Huskies coach Tim Hasso said. “I told the kids, the meet today is not going to be about times, it going to be about places and competitiveness. The team was competitive so that made me proud.”

South Elgin took first place in the only relay OP-RF did not win — the 4x400 relay. Jacob Yachinich, Zach Meyer, Harry Carr and Lucas McMillan won the race with a time of 3:35.65.

Host school Glenbard West won two events and finished seventh with 42 points.

Hilltopper Chuck Halden took top honors in the 3,200 with a time of 9:35.37.

“My coach has been saying my whole running career to never lead a race. Always just stay back and then kick the last couple of laps so that’s what I did,” the junior said. “I think I was in fourth or fifth place for most of the race. In the last two laps I decided to kick it and I won it in the last 300 meters.”

Junior Muneeb Shah won the 400 for eighth place Naperville North (36 points) with a time of 51.62.

“I had a lot of preparation. I had a big workout Wednesday and I feel like that set me up to run a good race,” said Shah. “I planned on it being better but the rain kind of work against me.”