Saxons Star at Bartlett
For a school that loves its boys track and field, Saturday morning’s seventh annual Bartlett Invite had all the right ingredients that go into making a successful meet.
With the sun shining, weather in the low 70s, and only a light breeze in the air, it was a perfect day for running, and that’s just how Bartlett’s coach, Jeff Brab likes it.
“Beautiful weather, and good competition,” Bral said. “You can’t ask for much more.”
In fact, Bral did have one more request. He wished his team had fared slightly better in the standings for the day. Bartlett (29 points) ended up tied for eighth with Marian Catholic and Marmion Academy.
Bral was able to come up with at least one reason his team struggled.
“When you’re hosting a meet, it’s really hard to focus,” he said. “Usually we go to a meet and just run. Today, you go to the meet and get this set up and that set up and then you can run. I’m not making excuses, but we’ve had some average performances."
There was nothing average at all about the performance by Schaumburg, which finished second (75 points), trailing only a very strong Thornridge team (105).
Schaumburg made its presence known throughout the day, with seven top-three finishes in the invite’s 16 events, including a 110-meter hurdle race that saw Schamburg’s Drew Jackson go toe-to-toe with Thornridge’s T.J. Evens and Adum Gross.
Jackson finished a strong third in 15.32. After the race, Jackson acknowledged his tough competition.
“I knew it was going to be tough because I saw the runners from Thornridge, and I was just trying to keep up with them,” he said.
Other results included a fourth-place finish for Wheeling (54 points), sixth place for Elk Grove (34 points), 12th place for Rolling Meadows (14), and 14th place for Mundelein (10).
Elk Grove looked its best in die 400 dash, where it earned two of the three top finishes. Anthony Bavaro finished first in 50.43 and Jake Contri finished third at 51.04. Wheeling enjoyed a solid Boys track showing in part because of its success in the high jump. Robert Kamentsev took home first place with a height of 6 feet, 4 inches and Tyler Austin finished tied for second with Notre Dame’s Tim Compbell with a height of 6 feet.
Rolling Meadows also had a strong showing in the field events, capped by Andy Ryan’s first-place tie in the pole vault. Ryan and Arrowhead’s Wes Kaue-laris both reached a height of 14-6.