Depth leads Seneca to Class 1A sectional championship

SENECA — The Seneca boys track and field team took first place in only one of the 18 events Wednesday, but the Irish’s depth was enough to lead them to the team championship. They finished with 106 points to finish ahead of Dwight (80), Timothy Christian (74), Bishop McNamara (64), Yorkville Christian (52), Ottawa Marquette (51), Wilmington (47), Somonauk (44), Unity Christian Academy (34), Immaculate Conception Catholic (28), Westmont (23), Beecher (21.5), Lisle (19.5), Newark (19), Illinois Lutheran (12.5), Momence (9) and Walther Christian (5.5).

The lone champion for Seneca was long jumper Matt Stach, who won with a leap of 6.79 meters.

“This was a big night for us,” Stach said. “It was kind of shocking that we took first place. We have had a lot of injuries and we didn’t expect to take first, but we had a lot of people step up.

“We had a lot of PRs [personal records] and a lot of the freshmen and first-year guys stepped up and did good things. I was injured last year and didn’t get a chance to qualify for state, so I wanted to make sure I did it tonight.”

Dwight sophomore Graham Meister was a two-time champion, easily outdistancing his competition in both the shot put and discus. His shot put of 19.20m was well ahead of runner-up Cale Hamilton’s distance of 14.63m. In the discus, he threw 50.57m, beating runner-up Jesus Govea of Seneca’s throw of 43.84m.

“I had a really good day today,” Meister said. “My shot put was a PR. My best before was 17.99.

“In track, you are pretty much going against yourself. You can’t do anything about how the other guys do. If I finish third at a meet, but have a PR, I would be happier than winning but not getting a PR. I am always looking to do better than I have done before.”

Another dominant individual performance came from Ottawa Marquette sophomore Jacoby Gooden, who qualified for state in the 100-meter dash as well as being the anchor of the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relay teams. In the 4x100, he lunged at the finish line to edge Bishop McNamara’s Jackson Kirchner and his momentum carried him into a somersault beyond the finish line.

“It was great to qualify in three of my four events,” Gooden said. “If someone would have told me before the meet that I would qualify in one out of four, I would have been happy.

“I am probably more happy to qualify in both relays. There are a couple of seniors on those teams and they deserve to get to state. That’s why I went all-out like I did in the 4x1. You don’t want to leave a sectional thinking you didn’t give everything you had.”

State qualifiers from the sectional in individual running events were Gooden and Timothy Christian’s Jonathan Kelsey in the 100, Evan Smith of IC Catholic and Billy Moore in the 200, Smith and Kelsey in the 400, Dwight’s Joe Faris, Yorkville Christian’s Graham Razum and Timothy Christian’s Ryan McKenzie in the 800, Razum and Somonauk’s Landin Stillwell in the 1600, Stillwell and Lisle’s Zeke Gonzalez in the 3200, Wilmington’s Hunter Kaitschuck and Dwight’s Joseph Duffy in the 110 hurdles, Timothy Christian’s Chandler Brady, Unity Christian’s Aiden Robinson, Duffy and Seneca’s Colton Pumphrey in the 300 hurdles.

Qualifiers in relay events were Marquette’s team of Marcus Baker, Jimmy Lawsha, Charlie McGrath and Gooden and Bishop Mac’s team of Willie Felton, Rhys Landsmann, Dashaun Winters and Kirchner in the 4x100, Marquette’s team of Baker, Lawsha, McGrath and Gooden and Seneca’s team of Travis Barr, Stach, Trenton Powell and Brayden Simek in the 4x200, Dwight’s team of Aden Roff, Chris Ozee, Duffy and Faris and Wilmington’s team of Reid Waldon, Jimmy Lewsader, Cole Boersma and Moore in the 4x400 and Somonauk’s team of Stillwell, Jackson Brockway, Gunnar Swenson and Caden Hamer and Bishop Mac’s team of Sebastian Cortes, Justice Provost, Jack Purcell and David Quigley in the 4x800.

Field event qualifiers were Meister and Hamilton in the shot put, Meister, Govea, Seneca’s Zebadiah Maxwell, Bishop Mac’s Keegan Cooper and Brock Clott and Marquette’s Alex Schaefer in the discus, Beecher’s Wences Baumgartner and Simek in the high jump, Yorkville Christian’s Nico Harris and Seneca’s Powell in the pole vault, Stach, Brady and Timothy Christian’s Peyton Scholma in the long jump and Brady and Illinois Lutheran’s Dawveed Holland in the triple jump. Seneca’s Noah Odum qualified in both the wheelchair shot put and discus.

“This was a real nice performance by our guys,” Seneca coach Terry Maxwell said. “We had a lot of top 5s and a ton of PRs. Everyone ran out of their minds, and that’s what you need in a championship meet like this.

“Travis Barr did a great job for us and freshman Brady Fort taking fourth in the mile was huge. Matt Stach is one of the top long jumpers in the state and he came up big for us, and so did Jesus Govea and Zeb Maxwell in the discus.”