Boys Track and Field: Downers Grove North edges York for 3A sectional title

WHEATON – For Wheaton-Warrenville South boys head track and field head coach Rob Harvey, Wednesday night’s Class 3A sectional meet provided him with a three-tiered challenge.

In addition to guiding his team, he was also the meet director. Plus, he had to take a sojourn to South Elgin High School for a couple of hours to be a part of the Storm boys volleyball team’s senior night as his son Sean, a Penn State recruit, hosted Lake Park.

As he departed Red Grange Field, he joked about the biggest challenge of the night.

“The most difficult thing is getting (the meet) started,” he said. “Then it kind of runs itself.”

When he returned, he watched a pair of West Suburban Silver schools, Downers Grove North and York, battle for the overall team title throughout the night before the Trojans emerged on top of the 16-team field with 97 points to earn their first title since 2017 and fourth in school history, besting the Dukes (85).

Lake Park (60) took home the bronze, while the host Tigers tied Schaumburg (44 points) for fourth.

“It was a beautiful night to run,” DGN Head Coach Andrew Adelmann said of his team’s performance that will send eight individual and three relay teams to Eastern Illinois University in Charleston next weekend for the state final competition.

“(Our) guys took advantage of it, and showed up when it counted most. It was great to see that it was a full team effort.”

Downers North’s winning effort saw junior Vince Davero (22 feet, 07 inches) take both the long jump and triple jump (44 feet, 10.25 inches) crowns, a first-place finish in the 4 x 400 relay (3:24.56) and wins by fellow juniors Ryan Eddington (1:54.05) in the 800-meter race where he bested York senior Aidan Hill by 0.17 seconds in which five runners earned a ticket to Charleston.

Eddington’s fellow Trojan teammate Caden Weber triumphed (4:16.77) in a 1,600 that saw six runners qualify for next weekend.

One of the major factors that played a key role in the meet was the drop in temperature from 66 degrees at the 4:30 p.m. start to 47 degrees by meet’s end at 10 p.m.

“Racing with a hotter temperature, (you) probably run a more of an even race, but in a cold race (if) you go too slow, your legs might lock up a little bit sooner.”

3,200-meter winner Vijay Krishnamoorthi of Conant, who won his race in one of the first track events in the afternoon, pointed to needing extra warm-up time prior to the 1,600, where he finished third.

“It definitely makes a difference. You have to do a little extra,” he said.

Lake Park senior Tyler Michelin, who like Davero won a pair of field events in the shot put (62 feet, 3 inches) in the first field event of the day and the discus (162 feet, 9 inches) in the last field contest, also cited staying warm and keeping loose.

“It’s definitely a lot easier when it’s warmer out,” Michelin said.