DGN at Proviso West Invitational

Downers Grove North sophomore Joe Keys already had experienced his biggest hurdles victory at the Proviso West Invitational Saturday, Feb. 28.

Even more was in store in the sophomore 1,600-meter relay.

Sophomore Andrew Marszewski, Keys and freshmen Brendan Lockerby and Michael Taylor may not have won the race but their fourth-place time of 3:41.17 fully automatic time easily broke the previous sophomore indoor school record of 3:44.1 from back in 1965.

"I haven't exactly broken any records in the hurdles, but to break a record from 1965, something really long ago (is exciting)," Keys said. "It's been up for that long. That's just a great accomplishment that nobody else has broken, but this team here has so it feels good."

The Trojans finished sixth in an expanded field of 22 teams with 58 points. The meet combined varsity and sophomore level results and relay places were worth double points than individual events (20-16-12-8-4-2). Four of the team's seven scoring performances with top-six finishes came from the sophomore level.

Keys won the sophomore 55-meter high hurdles in 8.45 seconds after posting the fastest preliminary time. Sophomore Tariun Triplett won the sophomore 55 (6.74) by .04.

"It feels really good," Keys said. "I looked at MileSplit and there were a lot of guys that were posted as faster than me but I ended up winning it. It felt really good beating the guys that were supposedly supposed to beat me."

The sophomore 800 relay of Marszewski, Taylor, freshman Drew Shelly and Triplett was second (1:39.59).

Seniors Jack Diamond (varsity 800 in 2:01.96) and Ryan Clevenger (varsity 3,200 in 9:38.78) both finished third, and junior Zack Hogan was fifth in triple jump (40-9 1/2).

The team had seven more top-10 finishes and eight more top-15 efforts.

This was the Trojans' third indoor meet this season. They were coming off winning a six-team meet at Proviso West Feb. 20 111-107 over Hinsdale Central, which finished 12th Saturday (24 points).

"You see a lot of people at this meet, a lot of talented people," said senior co-captain Max Sale, who was eighth in shot put (45-7). "It kind of humbles you and makes you want to work hard because you see people that are doing something that you’re not. You look within yourself and say, ‘What can I do?’ or ‘What are they doing that I’m not?’ ”

At the season-opening Little Four Invite Feb. 13 at Hinsdale Central, Lockerby, Marszewski and Keys first caught wind of the sophomore 1,600 relay record when they were part of a lineup that won in 3:49.8.

"I think the key (Saturday) was we took our best guys that we could find and we put them all together," Lockerby said. "We knew we were going to get it because we had our whole best guys on the team. We were confident and we believed that we could get it today."

The addition of Taylor as the anchor helped. He ran a team-best 53.2-second split with a little help from trying to chase down third-place Lyons Township (3:41.09).

Keys (55.1), Marszewski (55.8) and Lockerby (56.8) split between 55 and 57 seconds. Cahokia (3:36.15) dominated with Whitney Young (3:39.32) second.

"When there's someone in front of you, I'm going to run faster," Taylor said. "I only feel pressure when we're not in first. I'm just going to run all out until I can catch them."

Taylor and Lockerby have been track teammates since seventh grade at Herrick Middle School. Lockerby also was eighth in the sophomore 400 (55.97).

"This (record) is definitely really exciting," Taylor said. "It's a big change from middle school. I love it so far."

Earlier, the sophomore 800 relay came within approximately .34 of breaking the sophomore indoor school record of 1:39.0 manual time from 1976 (1:39.24 converted to FAT). Proviso West (1:37.62) dominated that race with the Trojans edging third-place Cahokia (1:39.76) by .17.

"There's still room for improvement, for sure, so just getting after it every day in practice is going to help us out," Marszewski said. "We were five seconds off from our last relay so (the 1,600 relay record) was far-fetched, we thought, but we were able to put it together."

Keys was able to put it together twice to win the 55 hurdles.

In the final, he used a strong start and held off York sophomore Obi Nnam (8.55) in the lane next to him by .10 despite hitting the final hurdle.

"I got good out of the blocks and good between the hurdles. (But) I got a big bruise on my trail leg," Keys said. "(Nnam) was right to the left of me. I felt him right next to me and I just powered through, I guess.”

Keys entered the invite as the No. 4 seed but he quickly gained notice and confidence. In the first of four preliminary heats, his winning time of 8.52 turned out to be the fastest heading into the final.

"I was pretty nervous (for the final), but it felt good," Keys said. "I qualified with a fast time. I just felt good going into it. It gave me a little more confidence. I could beat them before so I could beat them again in the final."

Come outdoor season, Keys plans to resume competing in the 110 high and 300 intermediate hurdles outdoors. To help his endurance for the intermediates, he has been running 400s.

He also hopes to maintain his speed for the 110s. He didn't get much offseason hurdles training but he worked out with the sophomore football team, for which he played safety/defensive back. Last year, Keys was 10th in the 110 highs (16.89) at sectionals behind three seniors, missing the nine-person finals by .07.

"This might be a little of a far shot, but I'd like to qualify for state," Keys said. "It's going to be tough, but if I train hard and keep it up, then I think I could maybe qualify.”

Triplett pulled out the 55 title after also posting the fastest preliminary time (6.86). In the final, Triplett edged St. Rita freshmen William Beebe (6.78) and Louis Cox (6.96), the only other sprinters to break 7.0.

Triplett is still chasing the indoor school record of 6.51, especially after running 6.63 in practice.

"I knew (the record) wasn’t going to come today, but I’m happy to have this gold medal,” Triplett said. “I’m trying to beat the record. I want to see my name on the wall and I hope I can do it.”

Triplett has improved significantly since last year. Besides the sophomore 800 relay, he also was eighth in the sophomore long jump (17-7 1/2).

“I got faster, more quick on my feet, but I still need to work on my block starts more,” Triplett said. “I’m still struggling for block starts, but I have improved a lot.”

Clevenger nearly won the 3,200 but he couldn’t close out the way he wanted after leading the early portion of the race.

Clevenger ended up a close third to York senior Matt Plowman (9:36.63) and Oak Park-River Forest sophomore Irwin Loud (9:37.46). No other runner broke 9:40.

Clevenger had slight leads at 800 meters (2:24.5) and 1,600 (4:53.4) and hung with the leaders after Loud pulled ahead during the 11th of 16 laps. Plowman moved slightly ahead of Clevenger into third for the final 600 meters and passed Loud with 150 meters to go.

“I thought I could pull it off with the kick and then (distance coach John Sipple) was kind of yelling at me to get going,” Clevenger said. “When they went, I sort of went with them and tried to hang on. I tried to kick home and maybe win but it didn’t work out today.

“There was probably a lot I should have done. I should have pushed it and started to separate some people, make some moves on some laps. It wasn’t really that good a tactical race. It was one of my only races ever where I was moping around. I’ve never really been in one of those. I didn’t really know what to do, how to respond.”

Clevenger has been working his way back from a tough offseason of training. It began with his tapering as an individual qualifier for the Nike Cross Nationals Dec. 6 in Portland, Ore., where he finished 81st (16:22.14 for 5,000 meters).

“Already at that point, I was kind of a little behind because everyone started training already,” Clevenger said.

Clevenger then two a two-week break during which he had wisdom teeth removed. The recovery, however, extended into another week of non-training. Then, just as he was getting back to full-level training, he contracted bronchitis and did not run for more than a week.

The physical setbacks may have contributed to Clevenger not being as mentally sharp as he wished during the race.

“I feel like midway through, I got into a part where I was feeling a little pain and didn’t want to do anything more, push it more, which was kind of dumb,” Clevenger said. “I just kind of didn’t want to do anything. It felt a little too easy now that I think about it. Looking back on it and it’s over now, it feels like I just did a workout basically. It didn’t really feel like a normal race.”

In the varsity 800, Diamond (2:01.96) only was beaten by Barrington senior Konrad Eiring (1:57.51) and Young senior Kevin Ma (2:01.26).

Earlier, Diamond had a 2:01.7 split to lead the ninth-place varsity 3,200 relay (8:34.78) with junior Robby Prescott (2:06.5 split), senior Dillon Murphy (2:12.1) and junior Nick Torres (2:14.4). Prescott and Torres had personal bests.

Sale received six throws by making finals and came just five inches from sixth. Senior Alex Graika was 10th (44-1).

After the competition, Sale took some practice throws and said he was between 48 and 50 feet. A 50-1 1/2 earned fifth Saturday.

“I just had a bad week of practice. I still haven’t been able to perform in a meet this year, up to what I’ve been doing in practice,” Sale said.

“I don’t know what it is. Maybe I have a mental block or something. I’ll fix it. I’ll be back up. Come time for conference I’ll be throwing 50 feet.”

Sophomores Dan Ferenc and Hunter Villanova tied for eighth in the sophomore pole vault (7-0).

Senior Zac Christensen was 11th in the varsity mile (4:43.08). The varsity 1,600 relay (senior Jack McGinnis, Diamond, senior Brendan Dingle, Clevenger in 3:44.86) was 12th. McGinnis (varsity 400 in 54.43) and junior Anthony Giordano (200 in 24.38) were 13th.

Sophomore Tristan Jahn (10:42.14) and freshman Jacob Ridderhoff (10:43.98) were 11th and 12th in the sophomore 3,200 relay. The sophomore 3,200 relay of sophomores Jack Barkei, Andrew Marek and Drew Pyburn and freshman Sam McCool was 11th (9:01.51).

-- By Bill Stone