Boys track and field: Barrington rallies to win Lake County Invitational in shortened meet
After an early 30-minute lightning delay at the beginning of the meet, the 14-team Lake County Invitational got off to a great start for the Grayslake Central boys track team Thursday night at Lake Zurich.
But the weather refused to cooperate in the end as the meet was abruptly called off at 8:10 p.m. due to more lightning heading into the area.
They finished 14 of the 18 events as Barrington came back to win the title 89-83 over the Rams. Lakes (52 points) took third place followed by Stevenson (48 points) in fourth.
“Lake Zurich did a great job hosting the meet, and you can't help the weather,” said Grayslake Central coach Brent Pitt. “Barrington is a great program with great athletes and they looked really good.”
The Rams jumped out to a 26-18 lead over Barrington as Grayslake Central's Trey Sato (9:12.80) won the 3,200-meter run. The Rams also got a first-place finish from Sean Mullen (14.91) in the 110-meter hurdles.
The Broncos' 400 relay team of Micah Hall, Lucas Marin, David Marian, and Travis Soto placed first in 42.50 to edge the runner-up Rams by .19 seconds. Barrington's same foursome won the 800 relay in 1:29.01 by .67 seconds over Grant. Hall (11.14 seconds) also won the 100-meter dash by .11 seconds over Carmel's Torey French. The Broncos also got a first-place from Keegan Degoma (53.90 seconds) in the 400-meter run.
Two-time Class 2A pole vault champion Paul Migas of Lakes took first place with a vault of 4.95 meters. Migas will compete for the University of Tennessee next year.
“I'm definitely very confident in myself and my ability, it will be a fun time, and hopefully I can set that state record,” said Migas, who has to move up to Class 3A this season if he hopes to win a third straight state title. “The key for me is just staying positive and focusing on my training, that will be all that matters.”
Lakes' Payton Whitehead (1:57.34) nipped Vernon Hills' Charles Blackmer by less than a second to win the 800-meter run. Carmel's Dev'ion Reynolds (6.84 meters) won the long jump while Lakes' Patrik Dortch (13.53 meters) won the triple jump. Warren's Aidan Porreca (15.91 meters) was the shot put champion.
“(Whitehead) is looking really great, training is going super well for him, now it's just kind of getting him ready to peak for the sectional run,” said Lakes coach Jacob Buddell. “The 4x800 relay set a new season PR so they're looking good and I know that they were primed and ready to go.”
Stevenson's Ethan Aghakhan rolled to the discus crown with a school-record throw of 53.83 meters after he placed ninth in the state last year in that event.
“It's too bad, we just have not had any good luck with the weather this year, but we had some good performances tonight,” said Stevenson coach Andy Farrissey, whose team got a second from Thomas Simmons in the 110 hurdles. “Ethan Aghakhan broke the school record in the discus with a throw of 176, and the 2-mile really well with an 8:16 which is a huge PR time for them so I'm optimistic about next week.”