Minooka wins team title; Wilson has banner day in 400

By Michael Newman

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Downers Grove Ill --- An injury in January slowed down Zack Smith (North HS, Downers Grove) during the indoor season. Some fans scratched their heads wondering what happened to the Downers runner who had been dominant during the cross country season.

They received their answer at the Downers Grove South track Friday evening when Smith won both the 3200 & 1600 Meter Run at the Bob Cohoon Invitational.

Smith had help during his 3200 race. He traded off leading responsibilities with teammate Ryan Clevenger. That was the plan to help each other run a fast time. Chase Silverman (New Trier HS, Winnetka) decided that he wanted a fast time as well and latched onto the Downers North duo. The pace was awfully fast at the start going past the 400 in a swift 62 seconds. By the time the three had run 600 meters, they separated themselves from the rest of the pack. When they went by the 1600 in 4:33, you knew that the possibility of running under 9:10 was there.

The third part of the race started to suffer as they passed 2 laps to go in 6:53 running a 2:20. Clevenger was starting to falter and dropped off the pace. Silverman started to push lap 7 trying to break Smith. At the bell lap, Silverman went by in 8:04 with Smith just on his side. Smith started to make his move with 200 meters to go heading around the curve. Silverman stayed by his side refusing to let him go. It was a final surge in the last 100 meters to give Smith a 2 second win ahead of Silverman (9:07.3 – 9:09.5).

The two would hook up again in the 1600 Meter Run. Both were satisfied to sick back in the pack through the first half of the race letting it come to them. Will Giroux (Lockport Township) had the lead as they approached the start of the final lap. It was Silverman that went first followed closely behind by Smith. The bell was rung as they passed in 3:20, the same time they went by in their 3200 Meter race. Silverman pushed the back straight hoping to move away from the Downers runner. Smith refused to budge. Smith exhibited a final kick that he had during last year’s track season but had disappeared during the indoor campaign. The result was another two second win ahead of Silverman (4:20.36 – 4:22.13).

“I felt good. I knew I had something left,” Smith said after the 1600. “I told myself to try to get up on his (Silverman) shoulder with 200 to go and pass him with 150 meters to go. Luckily again I was able to do it. The kick came around big for me.”

Minooka won the team championship with 108 pints, 28 ahead of runner-up Bloomington. As it has been during this season in the invitational meets that they participated in, the Indians dominated the sprints. Devin Ingram was a double winner in both of the short sprint races. He won the 100 Meter Dash as he pulled away from Lionel Towns (Oak Park-River Forest HS) and Tim Vestuto (Stevenson HS, Lincolnshire) towards the finish line for the win (10.94). Ingram then fought off Isaac Walker (Warren Township HS, Gurnee down the final 50 meters to win the 200 Meter Dash (22.36 – 22.46). Ingram was also part of their winning 4 x 200 Meter Relay. The Indians won (1:30.15) by more than a second ahead of Carl Sandburg. The story was a little different in the 4 x 100 Meter Relay. Minooka had the lead as they mad e the final exchange, but a great anchor by Oak Park’s Desmond Bird-Murphy gave the Huskies the win (42.86 – 43.01).

Chris Wilson (Minooka HS) has showed so far during this outdoor season that he is fully recovered from an injury that he suffered indoors. His goal heading into this meet was to break 49 seconds in the 400. He was even with Nick Rafacz (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville) as they made their way around the far turn. He made it look easy pulling away from the Neuqua senior winning by close to two seconds ahead of Rafacz (49.04 – 50.72).

“I tried something different tonight. My coach always tells me that I go out to fast and do not finish my last 200 too strong,” Wilson said. “I sat back more on the backstretch and went with 100 left. I think I waited too long because I had too much left.”

Minooka also received a win from Shabari Bailey in the 110 Hurdles. He ran 14.73 to win by over three tenths ahead of teammate Bobby Kazula.

Ty Moss (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville) put on a show in the three races that he took place in. New Trier had control of the race in the 4 x 800 Meter Relay as they handed the baton to their anchor Pete Cotsirilos. The lead was close to seven seconds ahead of Neuqua Valley’s Moss. The junior closed the gap on Cotsirilos in the first 400 meters of the final leg of the race running an amazing 53 seconds. It was Cotsirilos that had the final say as Moss ran out of steam in the final 150 meters. New Trier finished under 8 minutes for the second meet in a row running 7:59.21 for the win. The 1:56 anchor by Moss gave Neuqua their best time of the year (8:03.37) as they finished second.

It was just as exciting in the 800 Meter Run. Sean Torpy (Sandburg HS, Orland Park) was the one that pushed the pace throughout with Moss staying by his side. Moss passed Torpy with 20 meters to go to win the race by three tenths of a second ahead of Torpy (1:56.26 – 1:56.56).

Moss finished his night in the 4 x 400 Meter Relay. Neuqua Valley was without Zac Espinosa who was held out of the meet for precautionary measures. The Wildcats showed their depth by putting freshman Isaiah Robinson in his spot. The freshman responded by running a 50.9 leg. On the final leg, Nick Rafacz was passed by Oak Park’s Lionel Towns on the back stretch. Rafacz kept his composure passing the Oak Park runner on the curve. He then had to hold off Minooka’s Chris Wilson. He had taken the baton in fifth place. He ran out of room as Rafacz crossed the line giving Neuqua a 3:23.18 win. They were six tenths ahead of Minooka (3:23.76) as Wilson ran a 48.3 anchor to put them into that position.