ILXCTF – Mike Newman – News – Illinois High School Track & Field – Highlights from the Week

Illinois High School Track & Field – Highlights from the Week – March 20, 2023

Summaries, highlights, and notes from a busy Illinois HS Track and Field weekend

By Michael Newman

Some schools competed in their final indoor meets for the 2023 season. There will be some schools and athletes that will go another week under roof to compete in the Illinois Top Times Championships beginning Friday inside the Shirk Center in Bloomington.

Here are highlights of some of the conference and invitationals that took place throughout Illinois in the last week.

BOYS CONFERENCE MEETS

West Suburban-Silver @ Proviso West (3/17) – Oak Park-River Forest repeated as Silver Division Conference team champions with 132 points. Lyons Township (108 points) and Downers Grove North (72 points) finished second and third in this seven team meet. The Huskies were led by Joshua Meister clearing 14-6 to win the Pole Vault. Gavin Schaer of York cleared 14-0 (3A #10) to finish second. In a close race in the 55 Meter Dash, Caleb Schulz ran 6.57 (3A #11) for the win just ahead of Proviso West’s Tervous Graves (3A #13 Tie). Schultz came back to run 22.67 to win the 200 Meter Dash. This meet again showed why this is one of the toughest distance conferences in the state. Liam Newhart of Oak Park-River Forest in his first race of the season in the 3200 Meter Run ran 9:28.48 (3A #12) to win the race just ahead of Jessie Gamboa of Hinsdale Central (9:31.17, 3A #17). Three of the top four times in the state in the 600 Meter Run came from this meet. Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central pulled away in the final lap to run 1:21.01 to win the race and take away the tome time in the state in that distance. Aidan Hill of York ran 1:22.83 (IL #3) and Matthew McGovern of Lyons Township ran 1:23.25 (IL #4) to finish second and third. Earlier in the meet, Hill ran 1:57.55 to win the 800 Meter Run edging Ava Gaspar of Downers Grove North (1:57.56, 3A #15) and Grant Miller of Hinsdale Central (1:58.33, 3A #17). Michael Skora of Hinsdale Central took the lead with two laps left in the 1600 Meter Run before teammate Dan Watcke passed him. Watcke ran 4:19.60 (3A #4) to win the race running 58.9 in the final 400-meters. Skora ran 4:22.31 (3A #9) to finish second with Caden Weber of Downers Grove North running 4:25.27 to finish third. In the Frosh/Soph division of this meet, York took home the team title with 119.33 points followed by Oak Park-River Forest (93.5 points) and Lyons Township…