Boys Track and Field: Glenbard East nips Glenbard South for Upstate Eight title

On a beautiful night, the Upstate Eight Conference boys track & field championships was as good as the weather.

With partly cloudy skies and a light wind with temperatures in the 70s, the conference meet at Glenbard South had the perfect ingredients for a wide-open contest for the UEC team title, plus opportunities galore for the competitors to post their best possible showings heading into next week’s sectionals.

“It’s a great [evening] for a meet,” Glenbard South coach Doug Gorski said as he welcomed the teams at the Raider Stadium entrance gate Thursday afternoon.

Gorski, who doubled as meet director, also used a bicycle to move around the event when dusk arrived just before 8 p.m. to get the stadium’s lights turned on.

“That’s how we do it at Glenbard South,” Gorski said with a laugh as he also added filming his athletes during competition to his résumé.

In the end, he saw his team battle with Glenbard East for the UEC title. It came down to the final event, the 4x400 relay, to determine the crown – where, by virtue of earning six points in a third-place finish, two points behind runner-up Glenbard South, it allowed the Rams to earn their first Upstate Eight crown, 115-114.

Bartlett (84 points) took the bronze, while Elgin (74 points) placed fourth and two-time defending UEC champ South Elgin (58 points) finished fifth.

“I’m at a loss for words right now, obviously,” a dazed but happy Glenbard East coach Dan Greco said as the final standings were announced over the P.A. microphone.

“That was the most exciting track meet. I knew this team was special from when we started indoor [season]. They got along. They jelled together, they encouraged each other right off the bat. I could tell. A lot of underclassmen talent-wise that we brought up, and tonight things fell into place and we had a lot of great performances.”

Those performances were led by junior Joey Rosenthal, whose wins in the 100 (11.21 seconds) and 200 (22.71 seconds) earned him the unofficial title of the UEC’s fastest man.

“It’s awesome,” Rosenthal said of his performances. “I knew [the races] would be close. [It] really made it more competitive. [It] really pushed me to run more [because] the breeze was a little bit not in my favor. I’m for sure a heat guy with a little breeze at [my] back.”

Fellow East junior Eric McLain (long jump, 22-01.5) and senior Terrell Hatter (triple jump, 41-01) added individual wins, and the Rams added a first-place finish (43.39) in the 4x100 relay.

Leading the Raiders’ runner-up effort after a victory in the 4x800 relay (8:10.46) were a trio of first-place finishes led by senior Ryan Chung’s win in the 800 meters with a time of 1:58.48. South juniors Harper Bryan (39.99) and Tim Jochum (4:28.88) added victories in the 300 hurdles and 1,600-meter runs, respectively.

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20230511/boys-track-and-field-glenbard-east-edges-glenbard-south-by-a-point-to-win-uec-meet