DGN at Hinsdale Central's McCarthy Invite (story)

Downers Grove North senior captain Nick Steichmann has had his share of success in shot put, but his victory Friday, May 9, was of special significance.

Steichmann took first place with a distance of 48 feet-4 1/2 inches at the 64th annual McCarthy Invitational at Hinsdale Central, which featured 10 teams.

”Winning an invite is wonderful,” Steichmann said. “I’ve won a few meets. I don’t know how many invites (if any). It’s always good. It feels good (to win).”

Steichmann also was able to celebrate another rare victory. For the first time since 2005, the Trojans captured the invite with 110 points. The host Red Devils, trying to win their invite for the first time since 2004, were second with 102 points and Oak Park-River Forest was third with 71.5.

Senior Tony Zea (800-meter run in 1:55.83 fully automatic time), juniors Ryan Clevenger (1,600 in 4:15.76) and Nick Janicki (149-3 in discus) and the 800 relay of sophomore Anthony Giordano, senior Charles Creamer, junior Brendan Dingle and senior Jazz Charrier (1:31.84) also were event champions.

Zea and Clevenger achieved lifetime bests, and the 800 relay won out of the slower-seeded of two heats with a season-best time. Taking second were senior Jared Spilky (lifetime-best 9:41.99 in 3,200) and junior Max Sale (140-8 in discus).

This was the first year the McCarthy Invite used FAT. It was the final invite before the West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet Friday, May 16, at York. The Trojans were third at the indoor Silver Meet March 21 at York (82 points) behind York (169.5) and OPRF (82).

”People are starting to peak around now,” Steichmann said. “I think it’s really good (to win as a team) because we had Hinsdale Central here. They’re usually a big player, and OPRF was (second in conference) indoors. Those guys are really big competition so winning against them is just that much better working for conference.”

On April 19, the Trojans captured the West Aurora’s John Bell Invitational with 100 points. Before then, Dowers North head coach Eric Buhot cannot recall the last time his team won a varsity invite.

“Before this year, I can’t remember the last time we won a varsity invite,” Zea added. “Some of these teams that were beating us indoors, now we’re starting to mature and do what we can do. This year has just been unbelievable. We didn’t think we were going to win today. We just out to see what we could run, hopefully get some (personal records) and coming out with a win is a little extra whipped cream, cherry on top.”

The Trojans may not have constructed their strongest invitational lineup, but they surpassed Hinsdale Central’s four firsts and five seconds behind six third places –seniors Andrew Adams (400 in 52.32), Zack Smith (800 in 1:57.02) and Eric Wisz (13-0 in pole vault), Charrier (lifetime-best 21-5 3/4 in long jump), the 3,200 relay (Smith, freshman Jack Barkei, junior Joe Carter, senior Jeremy Craven 8:17.44) and the 400 relay (Giordano, Creamer, Dingle, Charrier in 43.24). That gave the Trojans top-three finishes in 11 of the 18 events.

”It’s nice for the team. It’s a nice morale booster. It’s not the end all, be all, but it’s cool to walk away with a (championship) plaque at the end,” Buhot said. “We had some guys in off events, events that they don’t typically run. With some of our sprint guys, we keyed in on a couple of relays and sacrificed a little bit (individually). We had some other guys step in and do really well.”

The throwers were happy to contribute 28 team points. Janicki and Sale were the only discus throwers to exceed 131 feet. Steichmann won shot by 9 1/4 inches but continues hoping to throw in the 50s as he does at practice.

”I just have to be sure that I perform just as well in the meet. I’ve been throwing excellently in practice, but I just need to translate that over in a meet now,” Steichmann said. “That’s all about making sure my form is good in practice, working out anything small that I can and looking forward to conference.”

While Zea is one the premier 800 runners in Illinois, the invite marked the first time he competed in an open 800 since indoors Feb. 22, when he ran an indoor school-record 1:56.28 to win the Proviso West Invitational.

His victory Friday was a lifetime best and brings him near the outdoor season record of 1:55.3 manual time from 1993.

”Hopefully that’ll fall next week and then from sectionals and state, drop a lot more than that,” Zea said. “Hopefully no one will ever break that again. I’ll come back 60 years from now and my name will be up there. That’s my goal.”

Zea led from start to finish, taking the first 200 in 27 seconds. Zea by 1.19 seconds over Downers Grove South senior Jacob Amiri (1:57.02), a 2013 state qualifier in the event but still was shy of the invite record of 1:53.3 manual time from 1998 by Lincoln-Way Central’s Jason Van Swol, the 1997 and 1998 Class AA 800 state champion.

Zea was supposed to run the 800 April 25 at Downers South’s Bob Cohoon Invite, but he woke up ill and sat out the rest of the meet after battling through a rough leg of the 3,200 relay.

”That was my plan all along. I went out in 27, crossed the line in 55. I was hoping to go 1:54, but it’s still a huge stepping stone,” Zea said.

“I felt good, especially leading wire to wire by myself. Still, the third 200 was kind of hard. I just wanted to get out today and see what I had in the tank, show that my season, all of my training, has been working out. I’ve been working my butt off this year so I really want it this year at state.”

Smith’s lone events Friday were two 800s. He was an all-state third in the 1,600 in 2013 and will try to reach state in the 1,600 and 3,200 this season.

Smith ran a personal-best open 800 after a personal-best 1:58.9 split leading off the 3,200 relay. Smith held tough with Hinsdale Central senior Kevin Huang on the opening leg before the Red Devils (8:04.34) soon pulled away and won by 10.15 seconds over second-place OPRF (8:14.49). The Trojans were 2.95 seconds behind the Huskies.

”It’s nice to be done early,” Smith joked.

”My two fastest 800 times thus far. I’m obviously not the biggest 800 runner, but I’m really happy with how it went. It was good to get out there, race against Tony in that 800 and then have Kevin in the 4-by-800 pulled me along. It was really tough, but it was fun and it’s always enjoyable to race at this meet. It’s always a fun one.”

At the Trojans’ last invite May 2 at Sandburg, Zea joined Smith for the 1,600 with Clevenger also in the race as an exhibition entry. They took the top three spots with Smith beating out Zea on the final lap (4:14.93 to 4:15.96).

Zea ran a personal-best 1,600, but this time, he was at his more comfortable distance.

”It’s awesome, just getting to see first-hand how hard he’s running out there,” Smith said. “It’s one thing to watch it and it looks like he’s going pretty fast. You don’t really know it until you’re out there running and you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m moving as fast as I can right now and he’s still way up there.’ ”

The 800 relay looked dominant, but that’s because it was seeded in the slower heat. The Trojans still ran a season-best time and, considering there was no close competition, probably could have run faster. Their time still was enough to beat Hinsdale Central (1:32.62), the winner of the faster heat by .78 for the overall title.

”(Buhot) just told us just run our best time, don’t slow down just because we’re in the slow heat. Just go all-out all of the way and that’s what we did and luckily we got first place,” Charrier said. “Everybody did a great job with our handoffs and our split times were pretty good.”

The Trojans went with the same lineup and order for the 400 relay, which was beaten only by Bloom (42.26) and OPRF (42.97). They are now .60 away from the state-qualifying standard.

Giordano has emerged as a consistent leg out of the blocks after spending most of the indoor season on the frosh-soph level. His initial handoff with Creamer was among the highlights in both relays.

”We’ve been working handoffs almost every day now for the past week so we’ve almost been getting them to perfection. There’s always room for improvement. I always like to say that,” Giordano said.

”We just have to keep working on that and we have to get that into a fluent motion. When we can do that, we should be able to qualify for state. We’re getting better every week.”

Dingle has been another key addition to the relay starting with the Bell Invite. Dingle has been in track since sixth grade but attended Montini Catholic as a freshman. Upon transferring to Downers North as a sophomore, he was part of the 2013 track team indoors but not outdoors and did some 4-lap relays, as well as the 1,600 relay.

”We’ve been dropping times each week,” Dingle said. “I’m a 100, 200 runner. It’s just getting used to the handoffs (in relays), knowing the timing, like if I know Charles is tired or if I feel I need to push out harder. For the 4-by-200, we all feel like our exchanges were perfect. We couldn’t really do much better.”

Spilky felt like a winner in the 3,200 as he ran a lifetime best for second to Hinsdale Central senior TJ Caveney (lifetime-best 9:34.77), the 25th and final all-stater at the state cross country meet Nov. 9.

With his strongest final 3,200 lap of 1:06, and a good kick in the last 300 meters, Spilky overtook Hinsdale Central freshman Blake Evertsen (freshman school-record 9:43.18), who was 29th at state cross country.

”I realized that (I was second) after I finished but I thought I was actually racing, trying to win,” said Spilky, 77th for the Trojans’ second-place state cross country team. “I thought it was just me and Blake Evertsen. I didn’t even realize that (Caveney) was way far ahead. I was just trailing (Evertsen) basically. I always kick with 300 meters to go and it worked. I’m happy to beat Blake because he’s normally crushing me (in cross country). He’s a freshman, but he’s a really good runner.”

Senior Marc Mathy was sixth (9:54.41) and junior Jack Diamond broke 10:00 for the first time (9:59.46) competing as an exhibition entry whose results did not factor in the team results. Diamond would have finished ninth. Hinsdale Central’s exhibition entry, junior Matt McBrien (9:47.48), had the fourth-fastest time.

While Spilky was battling three Red Devils during the race, his 3,200 teammates were a huge boost to his confidence before the race.

”Going into this race, I was not feeling so good and they encouraged me a lot and helped me get ready so I really appreciate that,” Spilky said. “My hamstring was tight. I was tired. They got my mind going. It’s all in your mind. I’m just really happy they were really good teammates to me. They say this is totally an individual sport, but your teammates are really important with how you perform. They got me mentally ready.”

Clevenger has been used to running 1,600s with Smith, and sometimes Zea. This time, he had no one to help his pace or execute strategy, but he was running fresh and completely took advantage.

Clevenger won by 6.37 seconds over Hinsdale Central senior Billy Magnesen, ninth at state cross country who earlier ran on the winning 3,200 relay.

”When you get down this low (time-wise), it’s kind of hard to take a few seconds off. This is a good race for me, a good confidence booster, a great confidence booster,” Clevenger said.

”It felt weird (without Smith or Zea). I kind of felt like it was my job to get the speed or pacing down. I kind of liked it. I felt like all the pressure was on me and I like having some pressure to run well. It was all focused on me, and it was a good W. It would have been nice to have them, but either way it just was great.”

Downers North distance coach John Sipple graduated from a Sandburg program also with many great runners. Clevenger said Sipple recalled one teammate who went his absolute hardest on the third lap and then tried to hang on the final lap rather than save everything for his kick.

On Friday, Clevenger led at the halfway point in 2:09 with Magnesen right there. On the third lap, Clevenger made his move to open a two-second lead on Magnesen and pulled away.

”That’s probably going to be my strategy for the rest of the year,” Clevenger said. “I really tried to move along the backstretch of the third lap and I think I was (1:02). Going into the fourth lap, I had a feeling Billy was a little bit farther back and I found something left on the last lap.”

Charrier enjoyed a breakthrough in long jump, a new event for him this season. He had three personal bests, starting with a 20-6, and broke 21 feet for the first time on the second and third of his four attempts – 21-4 1/2 and 21-5 3/4.

Charrier said Downers North jumps coach Justin Ashton believed his last jump was maybe an inch better. However, Charrier fell backwards at the last moment and sat in the sand, resulting in a mark of 20-3.

Charrier still would have finished behind Bloom’s Jonah Wiley (21-10 1/4) and Malik Jenkins (21-7 1/2). Downers North sophomore Zack Hogan was fifth (20-5 3/4) with three 20-plus jumps.

”I’ve just got to stay on my feet and not land on my butt next time,” Charrier said with a smile. “(Overall) they felt pretty good. I felt like I could have done better. It felt good, like I’m starting to get it in long jump finally.”

Creamer was fourth in the 300 intermediate hurdles (44.05) out of the second of three heats.

In the 1,600, junior Zac Christensen was sixth in 4:29.05, beating his previous best 4:37.99 from the Bell Invite by roughly eight seconds.

”It was a quick field. I knew I was going to be fast so I was looking to PR by a lot,” Christensen said. “I had high hopes going into it, so it paid off. I knew it was quick and I couldn’t believe I was under (4:30). It feels good, finally getting under that barrier.”

Christensen entered the race seeded eighth. He finished 2.79 seconds behind Huang and 3.74 seconds ahead of seventh place.

”There was definitely a bunch of guys that were in front of me that were pulling me along,” Christensen said. “We went into it saying I’ve just got to ride along with the wave and go with the pack. That’s what I tried to do and it paid off.”

Before Christensen’s race, Sipple predicted a big personal record. For the 3,200, Diamond said Sipple was looking for him to break 10:00, although it turned out to be close. Diamond, usually an 800 runner, hadn’t run faster than 10:13 for 3,200 meters at a time trial for the cross country team during the summer.

”I’ve been expecting a sub-10:00 for a while. I was really happy that it worked out and it’s definitely a stepping stone moving forward,” Diamond said. “For sure, if I run a few more times, there’s more in there.”

The invite lineup also gave opportunities to frosh-soph regulars. Barkei not only ran the second leg for the 3,200 relay but also was on the 1,600 relay with Zea, Giordano and Diamond (10th, 3:38.54). Freshman Joe Keys competed in the 110 high hurdles.

With split squads between two invites May 2, Barkei made his varsity debut at the Rolling Meadows Invite and was 15th in the 1,600 in 4:48.92, a personal best by two seconds. Barkei’s 2:06.6 split with the 3,200 relay Friday was a personal best.

”It’s a whole different experience (on varsity),” Barkei said. “(On frosh-soph) I’m used to coasting behind and then kicking and getting a decent place. On varsity, no. It’s a whole different way to run. You have to go out hard and you have to stay going that speed.

”(The 1,600 at Rolling Meadows) was a lot like this one because you have to go out and you have to stay going pretty much as hard as you can. Whatever you have left, then you use it in the last 300 meters so it’s basically the same thing (as a 3,200 relay), except an extra two laps thrown in there just to mess with you.”  

-- by Bill Stone