Boys track and field: Evan Gronewold leads Huntley to 3A sectional title

HUNTLEY – Huntley junior sprinter Evan Gronewold felt pretty good after the 100 meters, even better after the 400 and just about perfect after the 4x400 relay.

The 4x400 gave Gronewold his fourth win at the Class 3A Huntley Boys Track and Field Sectional on Wednesday at Red Raider Stadium, meaning he will go to next week’s state meet in four events.

The Red Raiders also won the team title with 107 points, 40 ahead of second-place Rockford East. Crystal Lake Central and Belvidere North tied for third with 60.

[ Photos: Class 3A Huntley Boys Track and Field sectional ]

Gronewold ran a leg on Huntley’s winning 4x100, with Talon Sargent, Jacob Zastrow and Paul Kerber, tied Rockford East’s Marquez Gray for first in the 100, won the 400 with a school-record 49.02, then anchored the Raiders’ winning 4x400 with Sargent, Nate Ary and Zastrow.

“It was a big confidence booster after winning the 100, and a huge confidence booster after winning the 400,” Gronewold said. “I PR’d by 0.9 seconds and broke the school record (49.48 by Brendan O’Donnell). I was really happy when I heard I broke that.”

The Raiders also got sectional titles from Matt Alpert (pole vault), Brad Walker (shot put) and Paul Kerber (200). Kerber was third in a wild 100 and qualified on time (11.00). It looked like any one of Gronewold, Gray and Kerber could have been declared the winner.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised by whatever they called,” Gronewold said.

Huntley’s Dylan Schmidt also qualified on distance with his third-place long jump (22-5). The 4x200 team of Sargent, Kerber, Zastrow and Marc Llauderas took second.

Alpert made 13-8 in the pole vault, the state-qualifying height, then cleared a personal-best 14-2.

“I was stressed about that all week, have to hit 13-8,” Alpert said. “I did that, and it felt really amazing. [14-2] felt even better. I was a little nervous because I usually don’t go up a pole. I had the adrenaline, and it felt pretty great.”

Alpert moved from a 14-foot, 160-pound-rated pole to a 14-6, 155 pole for his last vault.

Jacobs will send Connor Frank in the long jump and its 4x200 relay team of Frank, Jaiden LaRoss, Tommy Martinez and Sean Dobson. The Golden Eagles were leading the 4x100, but Ben Ludlum and Dobson had a mishap on the final handoff and Ludlum twisted an ankle. They were disqualified.

Martinez was inserted into the 4x200 lineup and the quartet ran 0.39 off its best time to win that race.

“I felt bad for our team. I started bad and ended up hurting a teammate,” Dobson said. “I miscounted my steps and also did not get off quickly enough. [Ludlum] caught up to me and he caught his foot on my foot. Good for us, Tommy was there and ran a really good race.”

Eagles coach Jason Borhart thinks Ludlum might be available by the Class 3A state meet June 19.

“We ran great,” Borhart said. “After what happened, they came back and the first two legs did their job and handed off in first place, and Tommy ran a great third leg. All Dobson had to do was finish.”

Frank qualified earlier in the long jump with his career-best (22-10 1/4) on his final attempt.

“I scratched my first two, the third one was not the best jump, and I just told myself, ‘This is my last chance,’ " Frank said. “I hit the board almost perfectly. I readjusted my run-up and gave it everything I had. You can feel when it’s a far jump. It felt far.”

Crystal Lake Central’s Jonathan Tegel and Gavin Wang qualified in the 110 high hurdles, taking first and second. Tegel also was second in the 300 intermediate hurdles. The Tigers also are sending Karson Hollander (3,200), their 4x800 relay (Danny Hamill, Tommy Landt, AJ Camacho and Austin May) and their 4x400 relay (Hamill, Daivion Lewis, Will Foster and Camacho).

Other local state qualifiers were Cary-Grove’s Zach Petko (discus), McHenry’s Eric Maher (high jump), Prairie Ridge freshman Will Gelon (1,600) and Hampshire’s Isai Morales (800). Gelon scratched in the 3,200, which was run in 90-degree heat, and concentrated on the 1,600.

“I’ve been working on paces for the 1,600,” Gelon said. “Even if I’d made it to state in both, we would have scratched one. I didn’t want to take a spot from someone else. I was questionable at the start of the year whether I could make it or not. I felt good during the race. It wasn’t that hard.”

Class 3A Huntley Sectional

Team scores: 1. Huntley 107, 2. Rockford East 67, 3. CL Central, Belvidere North 60, 5. Grant 40, 6. Hampshire 35, 7. Jacobs 34, 8. Cary-Grove 27, 9. Guilford 26, 10. Hononegah 24, 11. Prairie Ridge 22, 12. McHenry 17, 13. Harlem 14, 14. CL South 13, 15. Auburn 12.

4x800 relay: 1. CL Central-* (Hamill, Landt, Camacho, May) 8:0576, 2. Grant-* 8:15.45, 3. Hononegah 8:21.36, 4 Guilford 8:21.88, 5. Jacobs 8:22.31, 6. Huntley 8:28.30.

4x100 relay: 1. Huntley-* (Sargent, Gronewold, Zastrow, Kerber) 43.13, 2. Rockford E.-* 43.22, 3. Hampshire 44.39, 4 (tie). Belvidere N., Cary-Grove 44.46, 6. Prairie Ridge 45.47.

3,200 meters: 1. Hollander-* (CLC) 10:01.66, 2. Lenzen-* (BN) 10:09.40, 3. Gruner (Harlem) 10:13.82, 4. Maculan (Auburn) 10:13.83, 5. Lendman (BN) 10:18.72, 6. Gonzalez (Ham) 10:25.89.

110 high hurdles: 1. Tegel-* (CLC) 16.13, 2. Wang-* (CLC) 16.45, 3. Polka (Grant) 16.61, 4. Bell (Hun) 16.81, 5. Ferguson (Auburn) 17.09, 6. Alvarado (CLS) 17.34.

100 meters: 1. Gronewold-* (Hun), Gray-* (RE) 10.99, 3. Kerber-* (Hun) 11.00, 4. Banker (Honon) 11.31, 5. Shoufer (PR) 11.44, 6. Yeats (Ham) 11.67.

800 meters: 1. Delgado-* (Grant) 1:55.97, 2. Morales-* (Ham) 1:57.61, 3. Gibbons (Guil) 1:58.43, 4. Winkelman (PR) 2:00.95, 5. Lang (RE) 2:02.02, 6. Landt (CLC) 2:03.84.

4x200 relay: 1. Jacobs-* (Frank, LaRoss, Martinez, Dobson) 1:30.41, 2. Huntley-* (Sargent, Kerber, Zastrow, Llauderes) 1:31.09, 3. Rockford E. 1:31.96, 4. Hampshire 1:32.02, 5. Cary-Grove 1:33.99, 6. Prairie Ridge 1:34.62.

400 meters: 1. Gronewold-* (Hun) 49.02, 2. Luster-* (RE) 49.92, 3. Czyz (Jac) 51.20, 4. Mobeck (Jac) 52.89, 5. Ary (Hun) 53.03, 6. Beuno (RE) 53.48.

300 int. hurdles: 1. Brown-* (BN) 42.49, 2. Tegel-* (CLC) 42.57, 3. Ferguson (Auburn) 42.80, 4. Figueroa (Grant) 42.93, 5. Alvarado (CLS) 43.15, 6. Lewis (RE) 43.43.

1,600 meters: 1. Gelon-* (PR) 4:31.32, 2. Halbrader-* (Honon) 4:33.60, 3 McNulty (BN) 4:36.81, 4. Llanquiman (PR) 4:40.75, 5. Massman (BN) 4:40;96, 6. Cravens (Hun) 4:42.21.

200 meters: 1. Kerber-* (Hun) 22.60, 2. Gray-* (RE) 22.77, 3. Yeats (Ham) 23.02, 4. Bertolino (BN) 23.05, 5. Catlin (RE) 23.29, 6. Estrada (Ham) 23.32.

4x400 relay: 1. Huntley-* (Sargent, Ary, Zastrow, Gronewold) 3:25.05, 2. CL Central-* (Hamill, Lewis, Foster, Camacho) 3:29.89, 3. Rockford E. 3:30.11, 4. Hampshire 3:31.91, 5. Grant 3:33.48, 6. Hononegah 3:34.83.

Shot put: 1. Walker-* (Hun) 51-10.5, 2. Scanlon-* (R. East) 51-1.5, 3. Petko (CG) 50-11, 4. Swim (Hun) 50-0.5, 5. Caspary (CG) 47-4.5, 6. Klink (Honon) 46-7.

Discus: 1. Petko-* (CG) 163-55, 2. Scanlon-* (R. East) 153-7.75, 3. Lundgren (Harlem) 150-5, 4. Stordahl (CG) 142-11.75, 5. Swim (Hun) 137-6.75, 6. Crudele (Hun) 132.7.25.

High jump: 1. Maher-* (McH) 6-0.75, 2. Zalucky-* (BN) 6-0.75, 3. Muhammad (Guil) 5-10.75, 4. Moscatello (Jac) 5-9, 5. Wasilowski (McH) 5-7, 6. Koomson (Ham) 5-7.

Long jump: 1. Muhammad-* (Guil) 23-3.25, 2. Frank-* (Jac) 22-10.5, 3. Schmidt-* (Hun) 22-5, 4. VanWitzenburg (CLS) 21-8.75, 5. Thompson (Ham) 20-10.5, 6. Ary (Hunt) 20.5.75.

Triple jump: 1. Patterson-* (Grant) 43-4, 2. Powers-* (BN) 42-3.5, 3. VanWitzenburg (CLS) 42-1, 4. Johnson (PR) 40-7.5, 5. Lewis (Harlem) 40-4.25, 6. Koomson (Ham) 40-0.75.

Pole vault: 1. Alpert-* (Hun) 14-2, 2. Chapman-* (BN) 13-8.25, 3. Galvicius (McH) 13-1.75, 4. Mackeben (CLC) 13-1.75, 5. Fialek 11-8.25, 6. Mehlig (BN) 11-1.75.

*-State qualifier.