Batavia wins seven events to retake DuKane Conference indoor track and field title

BATAVIA — Batavia’s Eddie Polaski thought he was in the clear.

Heading into the bell lap of the 3,200-meter race during the DuKane Conference indoor track and field meet Friday, the sophomore made a move for the lead, thinking his kick would be good enough to hold off any moves made from the four runners trailing him.

What he didn’t expect was St. Charles East senior Greyson Ellensohn to run right past him coming out of the curve.

“He just shot out from behind me,” Polaski said. “I don’t even know where he came from, he just sprinted out in front of me.”

But with quick thinking, the sophomore responded, going stride-for-stride with the Wichita State commit all the way through to the line.

And with a little lean at the end, he pulled out with the victory, crossing the line in 9:16.49, which was the sixth fastest time in the state and, more importantly to Polaski, 0.06 seconds faster than second place.

“I didn’t even know who won when we crossed the line,” Polaski said. “I came through and I immediately checked the scoreboard. And as soon as I saw the scoreboard, I was hyped.”

While Polaski’s victory was as close that it could get, the Bulldogs' had a bit more of a gap in the team standings, as they scored 127.5 points as a team to claim their third DuKane Conference title in four seasons.

“We had a really good meet,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron said. “We spread the kids around to try and score more, and a couple injuries hurt our lineups, but we had other guys step up for them. I was really pleased with everyone scoring points for us. It was a lot of fun.”

Besides Polaski, the Bulldogs had victories in six other events, with the most notable ones coming in the shot put — where junior Gavin Pecor recorded a throw of 58 feet, 1 inch, for the seventh furthest throw in the state — and the 400, with senior Thomas Woodard running a 50.2 for the ninth-fastest time in the state.

“I would hope that performances like that will carry into outdoor season,” Piron said. “We’ve got a lot of kids that’ll build into the pieces that will fill out some of those events to help with double scoring.”

Lake Park finished the meet with 90 points for the silver medal in the competition mainly thanks to its field events. Across five field events, Lake Park put up 65 points, including 18 in the triple jump thanks to a 1-2 finish from senior PJ Anderson (44-0) and junior Demari Richmond (41-9).

St. Charles East rounded out the team podium after a victory in the 4x400 in 3:30.6 helped it shoot into the bronze with 75 points. Junior Michael Wilson had the Saints' other victory on the day, winning the 800 in 1:59.43.

St. Charles North and Glenbard North ended the meet tied for fourth with 74 points. Both programs had wins in two separate events.

Glenbard North’s victories both came from junior Zechariah Morris, who won both the 55 dash (6.47) and the long jump (21 feet, 10.5 inches). St. Charles North’s wins came from sophomore Bryson Boscaljon winning the 55 hurdles (8.07) and senior Nathan McLoughlin winning the pole vault after clearing 15-6, which was a DuKane Conference indoor record.

“This was my first time doing a full run-through since I cleared 16 feet a couple of weeks ago,” McLoughlin said. “I wasn’t too happy about the heights, but it wasn’t too bad. Everything is moving really smoothly, and if I get things connecting more, especially on the bigger poles, I can hopefully start getting over 16 again easily.”

Geneva (48 points), Wheaton North (47.5 points) and Wheaton Warrenville-South rounded out the standings of the event. The Vikings' only victory came in the 4x800 relay, winning in 8:26.6. The Falcons' and Tigers' each had a second-place finisher on the night, with senior Colin Voress grabbing the silver in the 55 hurdles for North and senior Josiah Narayanan picking up second in the 1,600 for WW South.