Wheeling HS Boys Track 2004

2004 Season - It's easy to look at our finish of the season with some disappointment, but realistically bring home 8 team trophies and finishing in the top 4 in our conference is a significant accomplishment. The best Boys Track season since 1990. Something to make everyone involved with this team proud!!

Sectionals - Friday night was filled with much excitement and anticipation. The level of motivation and excitement was very high. The performances that followed were equally as high. In the Discus, Nick Bledsoe won the sectional with a personal best of 160' 7" over 10 feet better then his personal best. Troy Keith followed with a personal best in the High Jump of 5' 11". When the running events got started, the weather conditions were perfect. No wind, temp in the 60's. The distance runners could not have asked for a better day. The 3200m Relay matched the perfection of the weather. Seven teams qualfied for state, including Wheeling which ran a season best 7:58.1 and finished 6th. Five teams ran 7:55 or better. The team was lead by Derrick Moy 1:58, Cesar Del Rio 1:59.6, Jose Lopez 2:03, and Bernard Gajos 1:57.5.

The next event was the 4x100m Relay. The team of Brian Moy, Arthur Norwood, Ernist Holton and Jeff Heard defended their Sectional Title from last year and won in 42.9. The excitement was building for Wheeling as we completed the two relay events, those that followed in other events were getting pumped up. Unfortunately, during the 3200m Run, the weather decided to take a significant turn for the worse, and postponed the rest of the meet until saturday morning.

The results from Saturday were not good. Our good vibes were squeezed out by the weather on friday night, and our performance on saturday were flat. The 4x200m Relay finished 3rd and ran a season best, but did not qualifiy. One of the biggest surprises of the afternoon was given by Jori Brown with his personal best 51.6 performance in the 400m Dash, good even for 4th place. Nick Bledsoe returned in the Shot Put and placed 6th with a personal best 50' 7". In the 300m I. Hurdles Brian Moy finished 3rd in 40.9. Our 1600m Relay, placed 5th running a respectable race, but too far out of the running to make a run at qualifying.

District 214 Frosh Inv. - On Tuesday, we hosted the district 214 meet. We had finished 2nd in the indoor version. We were able to outdistance Prospect and Buffalo Grove to win the Freshman Meet. High points in the freshman meet, the 3200m Relay finished second in a season best 8:48, Mike Meier and Kevin Smith went 1-2 in the 3200m Run, Dan Diaz won the 110m H. Hurdles and the 300m I. Hurdles, Eric Crabbe finished 3rd in the 1600m run, Robert Kamentsev won the HJ, and TJ finished 2nd in the LJ and helped the 4x100m relay team to 2nd Place. Also on the 4x100 relay, Nick Bledsoe, Tyler Austin and Dan Diaz. Tyler Austin finsihed 2nd in the HJ and won the Long Jump, Chris Mata won the Discus. Finally, the 4x400m Relay of Ryan Neville, Dan Diaz, Fransisco Perez and Derrick Moy won and set a new freshman record of 4:34.8

MSL Conference Meet - Frosh/Soph - The frosh/soph was depleated because of moving up of several kids. We still had several great performances. Tyler Austin finished 5th in the LJ, 7th in the HJ, and helped the 4x100 and 4x200. In the 4x100m Relay we were interfered with, and had to rerun alone, after the meet. The foursome of Steve Barshak, Fred Arteaga, Tyler Austin, and Justin Apuli were able to steal 8th place in the rerun. In the 4x200, Fred, Tyler, Justin and Ryan Neville ran a strong race and earned our highest place in the meet finishing 2nd in a season best 1:38.3. In the 4x800, Fransisco Perez, Mike Meier, Kevin Smith and Ryan Neville ran personal bests to finsih a strong 5th in the relay. Fransisco then returned in the 800m run and finished 6th, matching his personal best. In the 300m I. Hurdles, Dan Diaz and Bobby Zelm both ran personal bests of 44.5. Eric Crabbe placed 6th in the mile running a personal best 4:47.3. Chris Mata placed 3rd in the discus throwing a season best 129'1".

MSL Conference Meet friday night at Rolling Meadows - We prepare for the end of the season, and friday night we started to show what is possible. This group of young men competed to the finish line, and it paid off several times. In the field events, Nick Bledsoe and Juan Reyes finished 2nd and 4th respectively in the Discus, Nick also finished 8th in the shot put. (Nick is only a freshman). In the High Jump we chose to move up Robert Kamentsev, also a freshman and it paid off as he finished 6th. On the track we were in the hunt all the way. In the 3200m Relay 8:06.0, we ran our season best and only 2 seconds of state qualifying time. The team of Derrick Moy, Cesar Del Rio, Jose Lopez and Bernard Gajos all ran season best or very close to it. In the 4x100m relay, Kenji Balderas, Arthur Norwood, Ernist Holton and Jeff Heard finished 3rd, but ran a seaosn best 43.2 just .2 behind Fremd in second. State Qualifying mark is 42.9. In the 100m Dash, Arthur Norwood finished in 10.8 and 3rd place, moving him up to 2nd on the Wheeling all-time list. In the 800m Run, Bernard came back 30 minutes after the 3200m Relay and finished a strong 4th running 2:00. The 800m Relay was one of the highlights of the night, dominating the race from the start. The group of Kenji Balderas, Arthur Norwood, Ernist Holton and Jeff Heard, won in a season best 1:30.9. We are only .9 off of the state qualifying mark. In the 400 John Randazzo, had the lead until the last 100m and finished a strong 5th and running a personal record 51.9. In the 300m I. Hurdles, Brian Moy attempted to run away from the field, and was caught with 40m to go, but contined to fight to the finish. It paid off, he did finish 2nd but, ran a personal best, and tied the state qualifying mark of 39.8, which moves him up to 3rd on Wheeling all time list. The final event of the day, was debatably the most exciting. The 4x400m Relay was lead off by Brian Moy, and followed by Lurano Lightburne, Bernard Gajos then finished with John Randazzo. During the race we ranged anywhere from 3rd to 6th place at any one moment. Down the final straightaway we were 5th chasing 4 teams that were no more then 20 meters away, John caught and passed 2 teams in the final 10 meters to finish 3rd in a season best 3:29.2 We finished 4th as a team our best finish since 1990 with 69.5 points, an improvement upon last years solid meet.

Titan Inv. - Another cold and chilly friday night has our group competing against a very strong field from the central suburban league. Niles West was the class of the meet, but we were able to hang in with a state team trophy contender. We continued to dominate the sprint relays, winning the 4x100 and 4x200. Our 4x800m relay is beginning to come around competing well and finishing 4th, as well as our 4x400m relay which finished 5th on the cool evening. Individually, Arthur Norwood and Jori Brown placed 3rd and 4th respectively in the 100m dash, Derrick Moy ran a season best to finish 6th from the slow heat, John Randazzo continues to impress finishing 4th in the 400, Brian Moy finished 2nd in the 300m I. Hurdles, Cesar Del Rio ran a strong 1600, continued to believe that he is strong milers, ran away from most of the field with an 800 to go and finished 2nd. Jeff Heard and Kenji Balderas stepped up big, and ran season bests in the chill finishing 3rd and 4th in 22.3 and 22.6. Juan Reyes continue his solid season finishing 2nd in the discus. On the Frosh/Soph level we finished 5th only 5 points our of 3rd. Outstanding performances included, Nick Bledsoe winning both the Shot and Discus, including a new meet record in the shot 47' 5". Robert Kamentsev continued to compete well in the jumps finishing 3rd in the High Jump, 4th in the LJ, and 4th in the TJ. Our relays just like on the varsity, continue to be strong on the F/S also. 4x800 - 3rd, 4x200 - 3rd and 4x100 - 6th.

We had another strong weekend. We headed north to McHenry for the McHenry Relays, stayed dry on friday night and won the meet by 3 pts over Hoffman Estates. We had outstanding performances in our field events this weekend. The trio - Juan Reyes, Nick Bledsoe and Joe Lewis won the Discus both friday night, and again on saturday at the Palatine Relays. Juan improved his best to 152' 9", within 3 inches of state qualifiying mark. Nick improved his best to 144' 6", and Joe improved to 134' 1". In the shot, Nick Bledsoe improved his season best to 49' 7", more amazing is that he is still only a freshman. Our High jumps continue to perform well, the Trio of Tyler Austin, Robert Kamentsev and Troy Keith tied for first place on friday night and finished in 5th place on saturday. Robert jumped a season best 5' 11".

Our Sprints continue to be strong, our only victory on the track at McHenry came when we needed it to win the meet. The 4x100 relay team of B. Moy, K. Balderas, E. Holton and Jeff Heard won in 44.1. On Saturday,our 4x200m relay K. Balderas, J. Brown, E. Holton and J. Heard won in a season best 1:32.5.

The Distances are coming along also, a strong run by Cesar Del Rio, Eric Crabbe, Jose Lopez, and Derrick Moy helped us finish 3rd in the 4x1600m relay on friday night. Cesar ran a season best 4:33, followed by Lopez running his season best 4:45, Crabbe's matching his best 4:49 and derrick a strong finish in 4:45. Cesar came back and finsihed 4th on saturday at the Palatine relays improving his PR to 4:32. We not get ready for the Titan Inv on friday.

Lake Forest Inv. - Another successful weekend for the wildcats. Both the Frosh-Soph and Varsity returned with 2nd Place team trophies. That is 6 team trophies this season. We must be approaching some kind of record. Our relays continued to be successful, winning both the 4x100 and 4x200. The team of Moy, Balderas, Holton and Heard won the 4x100m Relay. The team of Balderas, Keith, Holton and Heard won the 4x200m Relay. Ernest Holton regained his bounce with a strong effot in the Triple jump finsishing 2nd. In addition the 4x400m Relay (J. Brown, D. Moy, J. Randazzo and L. Lightburn) finished 2nd, and the 4x800m Relay (Del Rio, Lopez, Nguyen, and Gajos) finished 3rd. The relays are our strength.

Additional individual places included, Brian Moy 1st in the 300m I. Hurdles, John Randazzo - 3rd - 400m, Troy Keith - 4th -High Jump, Juan Reyes - 4th - Discus, Barnard Gajos - 4th - 1600m , Jeff Heard - 4th - 100m, Joe Lewis - 5th - Discus, Kenji Balderas - 5th - 200m, Jeff Rifkin - 6th - Pole Vault, and Cesar Del Rio - 6th - 800m Run.

Bartlett Invitational Team Champions - This was truely a team effort with several different individuals stepping up and producing BIG!! The victory was big for our program, defeating many strong area schools. We had several big 1st Place finishes, including Arthur Norwood - 100m, Brian Moy - 300m I. Hurdles, Bernard Gajos - 800m, 4x100m Relay - Brian Moy, Jeff Heard, Ernist Holton, Arthur Norwood, and the 4x200m Relay - Jori Brown, Troy Keith, Ernist Holton, Arthur Norwood. In addition we had many solid place winners to help boost our 81 pt total. 4x400m Relay - 2nd - Brian Moy, John Randazzo, Jeff Heard and Bernard Gajos, John Randazzo - 3rd - 400m, Juan Reyes - 3rd - Discus, Troy Keith - 4th - High Jump, Derrick Moy - 4th - 1600m Run, Cesar Del Rio - 5th - 1600m, Jori Brown - 6th - 200m. This was a true team effort!! I can't wait to see what the rest of the season brings.

Our first outdoor meet of the season produced some great performances! We established some good times, and demonstrated that we are ready for the outdoor season. Fremd did win 78-68. What I saw today was athletes with a desire to compete!! Everyone went after it and tried to take it to the next level. We won all 4 relays on the varsity level. We did well all over the track, even to the point of honestly surprising me!! We have a heartbeat going, if we can just get it in sync with everyone together, Lookout!! Nice job everyone, time to look ahead, Hersey and Prospect!!

The MSL Indoor Inv. took place this past saturday. The wildcats finished 4th out of 9 teams. We had some outstanding performances, and some not so outstanding. The 4-Lap Relay was our only 1st Place medal of the day. The team of Brian Moy, Jorri Brown, Ernist Holton and Jeff Heard finished in 1:12.1 only 3 tenths of a second of the school record. In the 800 Bernard Gajos set a school indoor record of 2:01.6 while finishing 2nd. Other great performances inlcluded, Ernist Holton in the Triple Jump, 200m and 55m Dash, Jeff Heard 3rd in the 55m Dash, Cesar Del Rio 5th in the 1600m Run, Troy Keith 4th in the High Jump. We have a couple of meet next week, and then prepare for the outdoor season.

Tuesday the 9th we raced out to Rockton Honnonegah to run in the Dome. A 200m facility north of Rockford. We had many good performances but we also displayed that we were tired. We only took a partial team, since the winter awards banquet was also scheduled for that night.

Another successful weekend for the boys track team. We competed well against Mundelein on Friday night and won 76-26. Then on saturday morning the varsity competed at the Blue Demon Inv. at Maine East. We finished a strong 3rd place out of 15 teams, including several conference foes. We accomplished this without entering 3 frosh-soph relays which we could have scored in. The frosh-soph already had 2 meets this week.

For the first time in 15 years the Boys won the team title for the Wildcat Inv. held at Wheeling this past weekend. We had many solid performances, and several surprise results which helped us hold off Jacobs 99-90. Our Event winners included, Ernist Holton in the Triple Jump, Arthur Norwood in the 55m Dash, and Julio Perez in the 1600m Run.

The Frosh-soph should look ahead to this week which begins a very busy stretch for us beginning with the District 214 meet at Buffalo Grove on March 3rd. We then compete on friday night vs. Mundelein (Home), and then the Varsity heads to Maine East Saturday morning. Finally we have a trip to Rockton Honnonegah on Tuesday, the day of the Winter awards night.

Parents: Please note the 2004 schedule is posted. There are some new meets that have been added. Maine East Inv. indoors and the Palatine Relays outdoors. In both cases, there we will get as many athletes the opportunity to compete as possible. This will mean that some Frosh-Soph athletes may get the opportunity to compete on the varsity level. Please check with your son to determine which meet they will be participating in. It is our goal to post who will participate in what meet as early in the week as possible.

Take a look at it and start setting some goals. Click here to view the IHSA State Qualifying standards. For some of you it's time to start setting some higher goals!!

I look forward to touching base with many of you very soon.