By Bobby Narang
Charleston, Ill.
The 2022 high school boys state track and field meet almost was a return to normal.
As the first full state meet in three years, everything was nearly perfect except for Friday’s weather during the preliminaries. Besides the small hiccup, the three-class finals experienced no delays and excellent weather. Clear results:
• Yorkville High School senior Kyle Clabough turned in one of the top performances of the meet in defending his shot put championship with a winning throw of 18.74 meters. The University of Wisconsin recruit claims the distinction of Yorkville’s only two-time individual State champion in program history, and only the second overall winner.
“I’m very proud that I was able to accomplish this; when I was first started off throwing, I was just okay,” Clabough said. “My goal was to be a State champion, and I ended up winning it twice. I’m pretty happy about it. I was decent as a freshman, learned the spin and bulked up my junior year. I want to thank all the coaches for helping me and my family.”
First-year Yorkville head coach Matt Rodewald said Clabough showed his championship mettle by enduring a tough two-day stretch to pull out the state championship.
“Kyle is one of those guys who understood and realized it’s difficult to repeat the experiences of the past,” Rodewald said. “He struggled throughout a lot of the year, mainly due to the level of expectation that he had. But it came down to this weekend. I kept telling him that it’s not about getting better, but about winning. Champions rise up in the most dramatic occasion, and he did it on his last throw.”
Yorkville finished tied for 19th place with 17th points.
• After placing fourth in the long jump and triple jump last season, Oswego’s Caleb Wright returned to State and took fifth place in each event.
“I felt really good going in, but I was going out to do the best I could and didn’t really set any goals,” Wright said. “I was going for the state championship, but maybe it was a bit of wear and tear, and a lot of jumps.”
Oswego’s Christian Sobecki placed fourth in the pole vault (4.55 meters), and Balin Doud took fifth in the 1,600 (4:12.47) and teammate Ethan Forsell notched seventh in the 3,200 (9:12). Oswego’s 4×800-meter relay team added an eighth-place medal in a tine of 7:58. Oswego was tied for fifth place with Glenbard South and Champaign Centennial, each with 26 points. Minooka took fourth place with 29 points. Hinsdale Central was ninth with 24 points, Naperville Central with 23 points, Naperville North with 22 points.
• Batavia won its first 3A team by scoring 37 points, thanks to the 1,600-meter team winning the final event of the meet.
Batavia senior Jonah Fallon helped the Bulldogs score 10 points to lift them to first-place by running a blazing time on the anchor leg. Warren and Edwardsville both tied for second place with 30 points, and both teams did not relay in the 1,600. The Bulldogs clocked a winning time of 3:19.81 to edge runner-up Hinsdale Central (3:20.28).
Fallon said he on strong kick to edge out Hinsdale Central’s Daniel Watcke, who placed second in the 800 finals in the final 100 meters. The Bulldogs’ 1,600 relay consisted of Vincie Solano, Jacob Hohmann, Andrew Gerke, and Fallon.
“I knew Watcke is a really strong runner and knew he would be behind me,” Fallon said. “I got the baton in second, and the team did what we had to do and they knew what my strength was. I got in first, and just held it as long as I could
“I always run better in relays than individual events because I have to perform better for them. With the team title on the line, that was all I was thinking about.”
Batavia received a big-time performance by Jalen Buckley in the triple jump (14.85 meters). The Western Michigan University football recruit notched a personal record on his final attempt to win the event.
“I knew I had to win it to help the team,” Buckley said. “I got it on my last jump. I knew I had to get points for the team. I tried not to worry about myself and just jump. I’m happy to enjoy the ride back with my team.”
• St. Charles East senior Micah Wilson, a Wisconsin recruit, failed to defend his 3,200 championship when he finished in third place in a time of 9:04. He placed fourth in the 1,600 (4:12).
“I wasn’t super happy with today because I really wanted a gold (medal),” Wilson said. “But overall, the last three years I’m really happy about its kind of emotional. I’ve been reflecting on the past four years and excited about what’s next. I’m excited to run on the Division I level, to run with a great coach and great team.”
• St. Charles North’s Paolo Gennarelli ended his career with a second-place medal in the shot put (18.14 meters) go with a fourth-place finish in the discus (53.80 meters).
“I knew it was going to be tough competing with (Yorkville’s) Kyle (Clabough),” Gennarelli said. “I just tried to do my best because he’s really good.”
• In 2A, Burlington Central was in 14th place with Kankakee the State champion, Benet Academy took 20th place, Aurora Central 27th, and Kaneland tied for 33rd place.