McNamara boys, Central girls take first at Manteno Invite

MANTENO − After starting the week with a first-place finish at the Tony Thorsen Invite on Tuesday, the Bishop McNamara boys track and field team kept rolling with another first-place finish in the Manteno Invite on Friday.

The Fightin’ Irish were up 103-95 over Dwight entering the final event, the 4x200 relay. Although the Trojans managed to take first in the relay, the McNamara team of Willie Felton, Justice Provost, David Quigley and Dashaun Whiters placed third to keep the Irish on top 109-105.

Herscher was third (94), Manteno was fourth (91), Kankakee was fifth (55), and Beecher was sixth (42). Central and Peotone tied for seventh (38) while St. Anne-Donovan was ninth (37) and Momence was 11th (16).

Whiters, Felton, Rhys Landsmann and Jackson Kirchner got the team’s lone first-place finish in the 4x100 relay (45.28 s).

They took second in five events, including Whiters, Landsmann, Felton and Jackson Kirchner placing second in the 4x200 relay (1:37.28). Whiters said that group is still looking to make strides the rest of the season.

“Our 4x100 is already pretty strong, but me, Jackson, Willie and Rhys, we’re trying to drop our 4x200 time by just a little bit so we can be first in the sectional instead and second,” he said. “Other than that, we’re looking forward to state.”

Head coach Anthony Mason said he was also pleased with the team’s results lately as they now look to finish strong with Chicagoland Christian Conference Meet coming up in two and a half weeks and sectionals less than a month away.

“The team has been running really well,” he said. “We had a really good meet at Dwight at the Tony Thorsen Meet on Tuesday. We won that, so to come out there to win this tonight is a good thing. We’re moving in the right direction.”

St. Anne-Donovan’s Aden Pinson took first place in the 100 meters (11.86 s) and 200 meters (24.22 s). Herscher’s distance runners came out on top, with Brayden Shepard winning the 1,600 meters (4:42.98) and Jeremy Szepelak winning the 3,200 meters (10:37.06).

Kankakee’s Clifton Martin won the 400 meters (50.32 s) while Zyair Turner, George Jones, Zyon Turner and Phillip Turner won the 4x200 relay (1:33.93). Manteno’s Nicholas Honkisz took the 110-meter hurdles (16.84 s) and Carter Stell took the 300-meter hurdles (44.54 s).

On the girls side, it was Central with 96 points clearing Manteno’s 76.5. The Comets had one first-place finish and four second-place finishes.

Momence placed third (75), Herscher was fifth (66), Beecher was sixth (64), Kankakee was seventh (55), Bishop McNamara was eighth (51.5), Peotone was ninth (30) and St. Anne-Donovan was 11th (4).

Central head coach Rebecca Swigert-Fenton said she was glad to see lots of contributors to the team win, even with fifth or sixth place finishes.

“I was really proud of how everybody chipped in,” she said. “So you’re not the fastest person on the team, that’s OK. You can find a spot and a way to help.”

Audra Prairie, Haley Behrends, Layla Koch and Alexis Schultz won the 4x800 relay (11:40.97). Eriannah Martinez placed second as part of both the 4x200 relay (2:02.88) and 4x400 relay (4:38.22) while also placing third in the 300-meter hurdles (54.10 s) and fifth in the long jump (4.28 m).

“I think that we all work really hard and we all train really hard, so I’m proud of our performance,” she said. “Every meet we always do something a little bit better than last time. I just really like that we all work as a team and as a whole, and we all push ourselves to our hardest.”

As for the rest of the girls field, Momence’s Jaliyah Wright won the high jump (1.42 m) and 100 meters (13.39 s) while Ashley Smith won the 100-meter hurdles (20.95 s). Momence also took first in the 4x100 relay (53.77 s).

Manteno had Klarke Goranson win the 400 meters (59.27 s), Lyla Nevel win the 3,200 meters (12:51.67) and Sophia Most win the discus (37.83 m). Kankakee’s TaLeah Turner won the long jump (4.54 m) and triple jump (9.73 m).

Beecher had Brooklyn Burdick win the 1,600 meters (5:39.66). She was also part of the winning 4x400 relay team (4:35.43). Herscher took the 4x200 relay (1:59.98).