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April 30, 2006 - Palatine Relays and Wanner Invite Results

We had a fairly impressive week in our first series of pressure packed meets for the season.  At the Wanner Invite on Friday night, Steve Finley ran 9:02.9 to tie Mark Visk's converted two-mile record from his 1969 state championship run.  Mark Visk ran 9:06.1 for a full two miles in that race to not only set the Palatine school record, but the state record as well.  The race itself was historic with Jeremy Stevens running 8:56.9 to win with Eric Dettman in 2nd (9:02.0), Jacob Nachel in 3rd (9:02.5), and Steve in fourth.  Glenn Morris also ran, but a mid-race injury to his quadricep/hip area forced me to pull him from the race.  Hopefully he will be okay for the big meets in the coming weeks.  Splits from Steve's record-tying run were:

64.9 - 2:15.7 (70.8) - 3:24.4 (68.7) - 4:32.8 (68.4)
Missed split - 6:51.5 (2:18.7) - 7:59.4 (67.9) - 9:02.9 (63.5)

On Saturday, the Palatine boys team placed 3rd overall in the 74th annual Palatine Relays.  We ran well as a team, and the meet itself was smoking.  There were 18 records set on the boys and girls sides, including a record run by Mat Smoody in the 800 meter dash.  Smoody broke Zach Somers' record of 1:55.8, recording a PR of 1:55.0.  This run places him 7th overall on the Palatine 800 meter list and broke the sophomore record of 1:56.2, which was set by Chuck Bell in 1974.

Above: Recent alumni pose after a rousing edition of the
alumni mile.  Tim Larson won in 4:41 or so.

Picture Updates - I added two picture galleries.  Check out McCain's pictures from the Five Team Invite and D-Mac's pics from the Palatine Relays.

History Updates - I changed the 800 meter, 1600 meter, and 3200 meter all-time lists to reflect the great results from the last two weekends.  I also updated the 2006 Performance Lists to reflect our runs at the Wanner Invite, the Palatine Relays, the MSL West Division Championship, and our 1600 meter time trial on Wednesday.

Palatine Relays - Smoody breaks meet record; Pirates place third

Above: Nick Brosio anchors our hurdle shuttle relay to a third
place finish and near school record of 1:04.0.

I felt that our team performance was much better than it was on Tuesday night, and it paid off with a solid 3rd place finish.  We scored in 5 of the 6 field events, placed in almost all of the relays, and delivered some top efforts in the distance events.

F/S 1600 meter medley relay - Freshman Matt Wiggen has been competitive all year and he ran another solid 400 leading off this relay.  The 200 meter guys ran well and got the baton to OB in a tie for first.  He competed hard, but lost out to Wheeling's Norbert Gajos.  OB ran a season best split of 2:06.0.

800 meter run - I challenged Smoody last week to listen better and execute the details of his race better.  My goal for his race was for him to attack the first 600 in a 1:24 split.  He followed the plan exactly.  He hit the 400 at 55.0, the 600 at 1:24.8, and held on all alone to run 1:55.0 and win the race.  I was proud of him for competing so well and listening to and following his race plan.  This was a truly historic run - no athlete had run faster in the 74 year history of the Palatine Relays!  He also broke Chuck Bell's sophomore school record of 1:56.2 and moved up to 7th overall on our 800 meter list.

3200 meter run - Sagar Patel needed a good race for his own confidence, for his team, and for seed time purposes.  His 9:46.3 effort accomplished all three goals.  Sagar has been running well in practice lately, and I knew he was due.  Andrew Jacobi took the early pace in this one, and Sagar drafted off of him and BG's Sean Carlson.  Sagar made a great move at the 1600 to take the lead and went through at 4:48. He and Jacobi bumped each other a little before Carlson seized control and ran away from them.  Sagar looked like he might bail in the last lap, but he put on a spirited kick to catch Jacobi from Fremd and earn 2nd place for his team.  His 9:46 should be good for a seed in the fast heat of the sectional.

Distance Medley Relay - The loss of Glenn Morris threw this entire relay into disarray.  We sat Glenn as a precaution with his injured leg, causing Dettloff to rotate into the 1600 spot and Eddie Lopez to take the 1200 leg.  Eddie went out too hard (62.1) and really paid for it in the last 400 meters.  He ran 3:26.  Syed Ajmal then did a great job of getting us back into the race, running a 52.3 leg for a season best.  He handed off to Alex Soto, who ran a 2:03.1 800 meter leg to move us within striking distance of top three.  Dettloff ran aggressively early in the 1600 leg to get us into third.  He struggled to hold off a charging Ryan Hoklas from Prairie Ridge, but we managed to get third.

4 x 800 meter dash - I keep asking my 800 meter guys to step up and show that our relay is going to be good enough to use Finley or Smoody on it.  We did all right in this one, but still have a long way to go.  Dan Holbach led off in 2:06.6, Mike Ducore ran well after a Thursday knee injury in 2:04.1, Matt Dettloff doubled back in 2:07.1, and Mat Smoody just held our place in a 2:04.  We finished 4th overall.

400 meter dash - Terrence Thigpen was given a big opportunity to be our 400 meter guy, and he paid us back by running a career best 52.7 to place 6th overall out of the slower heat.  I was really proud of him and knew that he had it in him.

1600 meter run - This was the most eagerly anticipated race of the day.  Evan Jager, Jacob Nachel, Nick Farina, and Finley were all running fresh.  All but Jager were coming back from tough races on Friday night in hopes of simulating the state experience.  Farina ran 4:14 to win the Prospect 1600 while Nachel and Finley both ran 9:02 and change 3200s.  Steve let some other runners lead in the early going for once.  Jager took it through the 800 in 2:09.8 so it set up for a kicker's battle.  Steve moved up in lap three to come up on Jager's shoulder at the 1200 mark.  Nachel tried to pass them both in the next 100 meters, but Steve and Evan took off dueling down the backstretch.  Finley held on his heels gamely until 100 meters to go when Jager extended away to win in a Palatine Relays record of 4:14.9.  Finley finished in 4:17.0 while Nachel (4:18.4), and Farina (4:23) finished 3rd and 4th.

4 x 400 meter relay - We have been trying to run an appropriate seed time in this relay, but we keep being one guy off.  One of our 51 legs, Tony Figueroa, is out with a hamstring strain so we substituted sophomore Telly Halloran in his place.  Mat Smoody led off in 51.1, Telly gave us a 53.3 in his second 400 of the day, Alex Soto ran a tough 51.6, and Finley anchored us in 51.1.  We finished a close fourth in 3:27.2 (the exact same time as last week) and will be looking for a solid seed next weekend at the Lisle Invite.

Wanner Invite - Finley ties school record

The 3200 at Prospect on Friday night was one of the more hyped up regular season races I have had the opportunity to attend or be a part of.  It is just rare for so many good runners to get together outside of the state meet.  The exciting prospect was that there was little pressure and openings for guys to take a risk with the early pace and go for great times.

As you can see, Finley and Morris took the early pace.  They led through the first mile together.  Steve, especially, was determined to make the race fast even if it cost him places and some time at the end.  I think everyone expected him to lead.  Glenn dragged right behind him through the 1600, but his body language looked off to me.  He briefly took the lead in the front stretch heading to the 1600, and it appeared that he really started to struggle as the pace increased.  At the 1700 meter mark, a wipeout occurred, but neither Finley nor Morris were involved.  Both Christian escareno and Ryan Jacobs fell.  Many watching think that Glenn got stepped on, but I think the shift in pace caused him to tighten up in his quads.  Much to his disappointment, I pulled him at the start of lap six.  Hopefully, he'll feel alright as the big races approach.

This picture shows a bit of action from either the start of the 5th or 6th lap.  Eric Dettman made his big move in this race last year just past the mile when he ran away to win in 9:06 or 9:07.  This year, he waited until the 2000 meter mark before moving.  The difference was that Stevens was in the race, and it had gone out in 4:32 rather than 4:38.  Jacob Nachel and Finley both were dropped by this move, but not as bad as the rest of the pack.

As you can see from this finishing picture, Jeremy Stevens proved once again that he is an all-time great in Illinois distance running.  He ran 8:56.9 to take the win and put five seconds on Dettman from York in the last 150-160 meters.  There may have been a brief tangle between them in the last curve, but Stevens was clearly better than the field on this night.  Both Nachel and Finley charged valiantly in the last stretch to try and catch Dettman, but it was in vain.  I yelled at Steve for quitting early and letting Nachel catch him, but I think he leaned (like Lancaster last year) at the mile line rather than the finish line.  This mental error cost him 3rd place.  Places 2-3-4 were separated by a second: Dettman 9:02.0, Nachel 9:02.5, and Finley 9:02.9. 

Afterward some were disappointed that more people did not break nine minutes, but I urge them to look at old state meet results.  This was one of the fastest 3200s in state history.  Check out the list of top 3200s that the IHSA keeps.  Matt Withrow's state title winning 8:57 is not on there, but the top four from this race all qualify to be on that list.  Furthermore, Jeremy Stevens' time of 8:56.9 puts him at 14th, but is even more impressive when you realize that Troy Maddux's Class A state record is 9:10 and change.  That list is a bit messy (Don Sage is on it twice - if we did that we'd mostly have Graves and Virgin on there), but a good indication of the historic import of last Friday's race results.

MSL West Division Championship - Pirates place third

In the first division championship run under the new format, Palatine placed third behind Fremd (143 points) and Barrington (96 I think).  We finished with 93 points.  Rather than contesting five dual meets or two triangulars, the division title is now decided by a six team invite.

4 x 800 meter relay - We tried to get by without running Morris, Finley, or Smoody in this, and it nearly worked.  The team of Alex Soto, Dan Holbach, Mike Ducore, and Esberaldo Gonzalez placed fourth to earn 4 points.  The boys split 2:04.9, 2:05.8, 2:04.9, and 2:07.7 respectively.  More importantly, several teams used up their best 3200 runners in the relay and gave us a chance to do well in that event.

3200 meter run - Neither Matt Dettloff nor Sagar Patel ran his fastest time of the season or of his career, but both competed hard and did what was needed to secure 2nd and 3rd place finishes.  This netted us 14 team points.  Dett and Sagar traded leads throughout and were able to put away Fremd's Andrew Jacobi in the last 800 meters.  Dettloff ran 9:58 while Sagar finished in 10:01.  Barrington's Josh Tomek won the race.

800 meter run - Both Smoody and Finley had open events later in the meet so their goal was to win this one with minimal effort.  They took control early and gapped the field significantly by the 400 even though the split was only 58.1.  They extended the lead until the 600 where I shut them down.  Finley ensured that the hard-charging Joe Myszka from Schaumburg didn't catch them, and we snagged 18 points.

400 meter dash - Smoody ran a 2:02 in the open 800, but the harder task was to come right back 10 minutes later and score in the 400.  Due to a weak seed time, Smoody had to run in the slow heat with Terrence Thigpen (our other entry).  Both were up to the task of scoring.  Smoody ran a lifetime best 51.2 to placed third on time while Terrence ran 54 to sneak in there for 6th.  I was proud of both of these guys for running aggressively and making the best of a tough situation and grabbing 7 team points.

1600 meter run - We held Morris out fresh for this one and brought Finley back from the 800.  Their goal was to work together and take the pace out hard.  Their opening 61 second quarter shocked the field a bit and they powered through the 800 at 2:08-2:09.  They had gapped the field a lot by then.  Morris took over in the third lap, holding the lead until 300 meters to go.  Steve then powered away a little bit while Glenn held on for a lifetime best and a crucial second place finish.  Their 1-2 finish scored 18 points.

On the F/S level, Palatine placed second as a team, and our distance guys contributed a ton.  We placed 3rd or 4th in the 4 x 800, scored 2nd and 5th in the 3200, went 2nd and 6th in the 800, and scored 1st and 3rd in the 1600.  That means that every distance kid we entered scored for the team.  I'm really proud of that!  Highlight performances included Lewis Conley's 6th place 800 in a nice pR of 2:18, Eddie Lopez's tactical dual with Schaumburg's Nathan Rutz in the 3200, and Kevin O'Brien running away from the field in the 1600.  Vlad Novikov also ran well to break 5:00 for the first time in 4:53.