Boys Track and Field: Richmond-Burton holds off Woodstock for Kishwaukee River Conference title

PLANO – Richmond-Burton’s Jack Martens had just held off Plano’s Christ Keleba in the 200 meters, completing a spints sweep at the Kishwaukee River Conference Boys Track and Field Meet.

Martens and teammate Max Loveall stood on the track, catching their breaths, surmising what their first- and third-place finishes had done for the Rockets.

“Pretty [darn] good,” Martens said, when asked how he felt. “I got all the open sprints [100, 200 and 400]. I’m just so tired, especially with the [weather] delay. It was crazy.

“It feels awesome, too, since it was our first time winning conference. It feels so good.”

Lightning and storm conditions forced about an hour delay at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday as athletes boarded their buses for cover, then were let into the school to warm up.

R-B trailed Woodstock by six points with 16 events scored, so Martens and Loveall’s 200 results gave the Rockets 14 points and an eight-point lead heading into the 4x400 relay, the final race.

Woodstock ran 3:27.52 for a meet record in the 4x400, but R-B took third to finish with 147 points to Woodstock’s 143, ending the Blue Streaks’ two-year run as KRC champions.

“We’ve been chasing Woodstock a couple years. They’re just a fabulous team,” R-B coach John Osmanski said. “They had a great meet tonight, and we just barely pulled it out at the end.

“It took a team. We knew we had a team, and it took an entire team to win tonight, and we just barely held off Woodstock, which had an amazing meet.”

R-B dominated in the sprints, and Woodstock ruled the distances races, finishing 1-2 in the 800 (Ishan and Aryan Patel), 1,600 (Ellery Shutt and Milo McLeer) and 3,200 (Jakob Crown and Charlie Baker). The Streaks also won the 4x800 relay, and shot putter Tyler Moon won with a meet-record throw of 14.56 meters (47 feet, 9 1/4 inches).

Martens broke Marengo’s Finn Schirmer’s 100 meet record (10.9) with a 10.87, then erased Burlington Central’s Jacob Teets’ 400 record (51.31) with a 50.06. Sandwich’s Simieon Harris (50.47) and Ishan Patel (50.92) also beat the old mark.

Patel did that two races after breaking the 800 meet record with a 1:58.25.

“Coach [Lisa Kunzie] loaded me up in the 800, 400 and 4x400, trying to get team points,” Patel said. “Winning that 800, that time didn’t matter, get that place.

“I was nervous for the 400, just had to do my duty. Had some pretty stiff comp in that 400. My goal was to just stay right on them and hold on as long as I could. I’m very happy with my time.”

R-B’s Logan Molczan set a meet long jump record at 6.33 (20-9 1/4), his third time hitting that mark this season. He also took fifth in triple jump.

“My long is closer to going to state,” Molczan said. “I made sure I followed my principles, got my height, made sure I had good speed. I had some issues with my mark, but we fixed that. It’s improved a good 2 feet this year.”

R-B got a crucial 1-2 from Noah Gammel and Ryan Wisniewski in the 300 hurdles, just before Shutt and McLeer went 1-2 in the 1,600.

Plano was led by Keleba and Waleed Johnson, who each won a jump and teamed with Johnny Espino and Tristan Meszaros to set the KRC 4x100 record in 42.88. Keleba won the high jump, and Johnson won the triple jump with a meet-record 13.31 (43-8), also his career best.

Johnson was second in the 100 to Martens in 10.98.

“It was really my phases [in triple jump],” Johnson said. “I’ve been trying to focus on being technical with my phases and just being able to elongate my second phase and get on the board really well.

“[The 4x100] was amazing. All we preached was getting our handoffs clean, running a clean race all the way around the track. I’m happy my guys did that, and we came together as a team. We’ve been working at it all season.”

Woodstock North’s Landan Creighton broke his own record with a 4.15 (13-7 1/4) to repeat as pole vault champion. He also was second in triple jump, fourth in high jump and fifth in the 110 high hurdles.

Harvard’s Bernard Bahnsen won the 110 high hurdles in 15.73 seconds, holding off R-B’s Tanner Thompson (15.78) and Wisniewski (15.88).

“It was pretty close,” Bahnsen said. “I heard him coming up behind me. I was just trying to get first. Tanner was coming up right on me.

“It feels really good. I’ve been working really hard to make it to state and be a conference champion for Harvard. It’s really nice to be that person for Harvard. It’s really nice to have a chance to go to state.”