Plainfield South places second at Minooka Sectional, sends seven to state

MINOOKA – Hurdler Weston Averkamp, of Ottawa, likes cold weather.

Boy, was Wednesday a day for the senior.

Averkamp set his season-best time of 14.48 seconds in winning the 110-meter hurdles at the Class 3A Minooka Sectional to advance to next week’s IHSA state meet at Eastern Illinois University.

On a brutally cold day, with a wind chill of 44 degrees and temperature of 55 at 4 p.m., the conditions limited the events where more than the top two qualified for state.

Then there was Averkamp, cool as an iceberg in beating runner-up Adrian Cooper of Moline to the line by 0.56 seconds. Bradley-Bourbonnais freshman Jamir Burt (15.13) also advanced, one of two Boilermakers to do so. Averkamp doubled by winning the 300 hurdles in 39.33 seconds later in the meet.

The key for Averkamp, the lone Pirate to advance, was simple.

“Go in the gym and keep your sweats on,” Averkamp said. “I love the cold. For some reason, I do. My body goes into survival instincts. When I hit that cold, I’m awake, so I feel I’m more explosive. In heat, I’m tired.”

The 110 hurdles was the glaring exception to the Noah’s Ark two-by-two advancement, with five runners moving on.

Joliet West’s James Kokuro Jr. had to deal with not only the cold but hope a recent groin injury didn’t return. It didn’t, and he won the 400 in 49.54 seconds, 0.66 seconds off his season best but still better than anyone else’s seed time.

“I felt pretty good,” Kokuro said. “I did what I had to do. I qualified. Didn’t worry about the time.”

Kokuro just missed doubling in the 200, his third place in 22.65 less than a second off the 3A standard of 22.30.

Among area teams, Plainfield South earned seven berths in the state finals, with Minooka second with four.

Three runners advanced in the 800, led by Yorkville’s Owen Horeni (1:55.72), with Joliet Central’s Nathaniel Gabriel (1:57.34) finishing third, six-hundredths under the limit and the lone Steelman to advance.

Another was the high jump, where Kankakee’s Dominic White took third, but advanced by jumping 1.93 meters. Taelor Clements of Yorkville was second, also at 1.93.

Mostly, it was a parade of 1-2 qualifiers, as in the 3,200, where Plainfield South’s Alex Batsala and Dylan Maloney finished 1-2 in 9:27 and 9:31.08, respectively.

Minooka’s Ryan Resar ran an anchor leg of 2:01.63 to pass Yorkville on the last lap to enable the Indians to take second in the 4x800 at 8:19.56 and qualify for the state finals. Plainfield South, anchored by Dylan Buturusis, won in 8:17.56.

Minooka (1:30.07) and Plainfield South (1:30.20) advanced in the 4x200 relay. Kankakee, considered a threat, finished fifth despite a time of 1:30.93.

Kankakee, anchored by White, rallied down the stretch to win the 4x400 in 3:25.03, just ahead of Joliet West’s 3:25.57.

Minooka went 1-2 in the pole vault, Cooper Bowman and Jaxson Waddell each clearing 4.16 meters to advance.

Plainfield South’s Austin Cory took second and advanced in the 1,600 in 4:26.05, edged by Rock Island’s Elliot Batz in the final 30 meters.

Plainfield South also advanced both discus men, with Nickolas Grigsby taking second in 50.55 meters and Brennan Culpepper taking fourth at 47.46.

Bradley’s Malachi Lee won the long jump at 6.84 meters.

United Township took the team title with 104 points. Plainfield South (75), Minooka (65) and Yorkville (63) followed.

https://www.shawlocal.com/the-herald-news/2025/05/22/plainfield-south-places-second-at-minooka-sectional-sends-seven-to-state/