By Michael Newman

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Elmhurst – It was a matter of taking control of the meet before the first race on the track. Oak Park-River Forest did that Friday night at the Joe Newton Fieldhouse winning four of the five field events contested. That was just the beginning as the Huskies rolled to the West Suburban Conference Silver Division title scoring 146 points. Glenbard West followed with 95 points with Hinsdale Central (72 points) and Lyons Township (66 points).

It started for the Huskies in the horizontal jumps where they finished 1-2 in both events. Jonathan Mitchell jumped 21-3 to win the Long Jump with teammate JT Lowder jumping 21-0 to place second. It was the same in the Triple Jump as Myles Molette-Hughes jumped 45-8.5 for the win ahead of teammate Kwesi Yeboah (43-8). It was another 1-2 finish for Oak Park in the Pole Vault as both Noah Kowal and Johnny Sreenan both cleared 13-7 in the Pole Vault. Kowal won the conference title on fewer misses. Keon Gilbert also picked up a win for the Huskies as he had a 50-4.5 personal best to win the Shot Put ahead of Glenbard West’s Adam Dau (50-1). Cullen Fitzgerald of Hinsdale Central was the only “non-Oak Park” athlete to win a field event. Fitzgerald cleared 6-3 to win the High Jump.

Oak Park-River Forest’s success continued on the track with the first running event. Matt Vietzen ran a 1:57.9 anchor leg to catch Glenbard West in the final lap of the 3200 Meter Relay. The Huskies won (8:13.58) ahead of Glenbard West (8:16.92).

JT Lowder scored more points on the track after he finished second in the Long Jump. Lowder won both hurdle events running 7.67 (IL #3) to win the 55 Highs ahead of Lyons Township’s Zackary McClain (7.87). Lowder came back to run 7.53 to win the 55 Lows again ahead of McClain (7.62).

Oak Park-River Forest’s eighth win of the night came in the 400 Meter Dash. Nathan Sykes waited for the right moment and moved the final 100-meters to win the 400 Meter Dash (51.08) with Hinsdale Central’s Luke Skokna finishing second (51.49).

The distance events were dictated by moves in the final laps of their respective races. The vest performance of the night in this discipline was from Downers Grove North’s Brendan Lockerby. The senior controlled the pace in the 800 Meter Run leading a pack including Cameron Benes of Glenbard West and Jackson Bode of York through a 58.5 opening 400-meters. Lockerby continued to push the pace in the next 200-meters stretching the pack into a line. Benes and Bode stayed close. He had the lead until the final five-meters when Benes slipped by on his right side. Both leaned across the line at the same time. Benes got the win (1:57.35) just six hundredths of a second ahead of Lockerby (1:57.41).

Lockerby only had 30 minutes to recover before he was due back on the line for his section of the 600 Meter Run. He bided his time staying in the middle pack willing to let Glenbard West’s Seth Townsend shoulder the load of leading the race. Lockerby took over with 200-meters left going through the first two laps in 55.8 seconds. There was no looking back for the Downers Grove North runner as he rolled to the win (1:24.66, IL #2) ahead of York’s Jackson Bode (1:26.78).

“You have to trust your training,” Lockerby said about his double. “You just have to get right back in it. It is more mental than anything. That is what I was preparing for.”

The pace was quick in the 1600 Meter Run as Hinsdale Central’s Alec Hill brought the pack through a 63.5 opening 400-meters. Lyons Township’s Charles Harders took over the pace at the half way point bringing the pack that included Hill, Downers Grove North’s Jacob Ridderhoff, and Rory Cavan of Glenbard West. With 500 meters left, Hill lost his balance heading into the curve and falling to the track. The pace was picking up as Harders led the two other runners through 1200-meters in 3:18.3. A half a lap later, Cavan took the lead looking for the win. The lead lasted only 100-meters as Harders took command at the gun lap. Cavan made one more charge down the home stretch but Harders held him off. It was close at the finish as Harders won (4:21.50) just five hundredths of a second ahead of Cavan (4:21.55) with Ridderhoff placing third (4:23.14).

Downers Grove North’s Miles Christensen stepped up a distance running the 3200 Meter Run in this meet. He took the lead 400-meters into the race and controlled the pace from there. Glenbard West’s Stephen Moody tried to take the lead, but Christensen would not allow it. He closed in a fast 29 seconds to win (9:24.60) almost three seconds ahead of Moody (9:27.56).

Harders was part of his team’s winning 1600 Meter Relay. He was a last-minute substitution after his win in the 1600. His third leg of 52.8 seconds broke the race open as Lyons Township ran 3:31.06 for the win ahead of Glenbard West (3:32.81).

Proviso West won the other relay contested in this meet as they ran 1:33.78 to edge Oak Park-River Forest (1:34.04) for the win in the 800 Meter Relay. Joe Zydlo of Glenbard West was not one of the top seeded runners in the 55 Meter Dash. He started from the outside but finished first with a personal best of 6.61 seconds. York’s Brendan Chaltin bested Zydlo in the 200 Meter Dash. Chaltin’s time of 23.08 was just eight hundredths of a second ahead of Zydlo (23.16).