Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year: Dan Watcke set the standard at Hinsdale Central, finished career with two more titles

Hinsdale Central boys track and field coaches realized the potential of senior Dan Watcke even as an eighth grader.

Watcke quickly saw as a freshman there was dedicated talent around him.

“Our coaches [head coach Jim Westphal and assistants Jim Kupres, Noah Lawrence and John Snee] are great coaches but also great people. Also the class we had coming in, I could see something special for sure,” Watcke said. “All of the stuff we talked about as freshmen kind of came to fruition.”

Watcke is the Suburban Life Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Watcke earned two Class 3A state titles May 27 at Eastern Illinois and was the catalyst for strengthening the culture of the Red Devils’ middle- and long-distance running program.

“Dan made others great around him,” Westphal said. “Kids elevated their game in large part because Dan set the standard. Like any great athlete, you make those around you better, including your coaches.”

Watcke won his second state title in the 800-meter run (1:52.16) after earlier being part of the winning 4x800 relay (7:38.59) with seniors Michael Skora and Grant Miller and junior Aden Bandukwala, who gave the Red Devils a third state title in the 1,600.

Adding Watcke’s two state titles in 2021, he ranks second in Red Devils’ history to Harold Borsom’s five titles from 1923-25, when Hinsdale Township competed in the smaller of two classes. Watcke’s sweetest title probably was the 4x800 championship – the first title in the event in program history.

Last June, the Red Devils won the Nike Outdoor Nationals in an Illinois high school record 7:32.14 with Watcke, Bandukwala, Skora and 2022 graduate Colby Revord. The state championship lineup returns to the 2023 Nike Outdoor Nationals on Friday at the University of Oregon, where Watcke will compete in college.

“It was good to be up on the top of the podium again [at state],” Watcke said. “We were competitive [in 2021] but we weren’t at quite the level we are now. It’s really cool to be a part of that growth from freshman year and with the senior class as a whole.”

Watcke holds outdoor school records for the 800 (1:48.59) and 400 (47.50) and with Skora and sophomore Smith Maxwell and senior Mehlum Anjarwala in the 4x400 relay (3:19.33) in the seniors’ last home invite May 5.

Watcke’s high school arrival came with some fanfare. In 2019, Watcke won the postseason Magis Mile in a meet-record 4:37.14 for eighth graders. That same track season, the Red Devils had one state qualifier.

“For [this group] senior year to win cross country conference, second in state, win Nike Regionals and then eighth in the state [in track], freshman year we had no idea that was going to happen,” Kupres said. “That comes along like once in a coach’s lifetime. The past few years have been super exciting with these guys.”

The 2020 track season ended in mid-March because of the pandemic after Watcke led the freshman cross country group to a conference title. Maintaining the program philosophy, the coaches kept Watcke on the freshman level until the postseason.

Sophomore year became Watcke’s track breakthrough. He won state in the 800 (1:54.24) and with the 4x400 relay (3:19.48). Watcke was the Red Devils’ first individual state champion since 1978 and for the Red Devils’ coaches, who began together in 2005 with Snee joining in 2009.

“After that 4x400, everyone wanted to be a part of something like that. I think that raised the level of team performance,” Watcke said.

As a junior, Watcke was second in the 800 (1:53.23) by .59. The 4x400 relay (3:20.38) was second by .57.

“I ran probably 15 or 20 more meters than I had to [in the 800 in 2022] and that’s what made the race. I ran a more tactically savvy race this year,” Watcke said.

Now one of the nation’s prestigious college programs appreciates Watcke’s value. Late last summer, Watcke was determining his five official college visits when Oregon contacted him.

“It was pretty late in the process but you’re going to take that call. When you think about universities for track and cross country, it’s kind of the Alabama [football] for track,” Watcke said.