Lane Tech in mid-season form with two relay wins in Girls meet

By Michael Newman

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It is a role that Alex Lima (Lyons Township HS, LaGrange) has been familiar with ever since his sophomore season. He has been through it a number of times in his prep running career at Lyons Township. He would get the baton with his team trailing. Somehow by the end of his leg, he would find his way in front.

It applied again Saturday at the inaugural Proviso West Panther Relays in the 3200 Meter Relay. Lyons Township got off to a slow start in the race. It did not help that Konrad Eiring (Barrington HS) ran a 1:59.2 opening leg to have a big lead ahead of Romeoville and Jones College Prep. At the end of the first 800 meters, Lyons Township found themselves in seventh.

The Lions worked their way up through the pack. By the time Lima got the baton for the final 800 meters, he was in second but four seconds behind Barrington’s Andrew Gensburg. Right on Lima’s side was Mark Protisiv (Jones College Prep, Chicago). The two made up the deficit on Gensburg in the first 200 Meters. Protisiv pushed the pace with Lima close behind. At the gun lap, Protisiv had opened a two second lead on Lima. That gap did not seem to bother the Lyons Township senior. With 100 meters to go, Lima shot ahead. A 2:00.3 anchor split for Lima ensured the win for his team (8:16.73). Barrington edged Jones College Prep for second.

There was not much mystery in Lyons Township’s win in the 1600meter relay. Lima received the baton with a slight lead. That grew in the final 400 meters as the Lions won (3:30.07) three seconds ahead of Minooka and Metea Valley.

Minooka had a good day also in this meet. When the team arrived at the Proviso West Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon, Minooka’s Coach Nick Lundin was alerted that there was a change in the sections of the 800 Meter Relay due to an omission of Proviso West from that event. The addition moved Minooka from the fastest section (7) to Section 6. It did not seem to bother Lundin and his team. “We will just have to do what we did at Top Times,” he told his team. “We will have to win it from that section.”

Lundin’s prophecy held true. Minooka easily won their section (1:33.85) ahead of Proviso West’s “B” team. At that point, it was the fastest time in the event. All that Minooka could do was for the final section to be run. Proviso West dominated the section winning by more than a second ahead of Metea Valley. The only thing that matter was what Proviso’s time was. Lundin looked over the timing operator’s shoulder and watched as the time popped up on the screen. Lundin pumped his fist in jubilation. Proviso West’s time of 1:34.13 was not enough to surpass that of Minooka.

Lane Tech dominated the Girls portion of this inaugural meet capturing two of the three relays contested. Taft’s Jocelyn Mendoza made it interesting for Lane Tech’s Imani Davis on the opening leg as both came in at the first exchange near 2:21. Lane Tech’s Roisin Mulkerrins broke the race wide open for her team opening a nine second lead running a 2:23 split. The race was over at that point. Caitlin Considine lengthened the lead to sixteen seconds. A fast 2:22.3 anchor by Madeline Monticello gave Lane Tech the win in 9:37.6 nearly lapping the field. The margin of victory ahead of Schaumburg was nearly 36 seconds.

The Indians also dominated the 4 x 400 Meter Relay. Imani Davis led off for her team and opened with a 59.6 400. Lane Tech never looked back finishing in 4:07.69. Their margin of victory was nearly ten seconds ahead of Thornwood.

Oak Park – River Forest was running neck and neck with North Lawndale Prep, DeLaSalle, and Bolingbrook. A great second exchange for the Huskies broke the race wide open. Their time of 1:48.23 was nearly two seconds ahead of North Lawndale Prep. Bolingbrook and De La Salle finished third and fourth with only four tenths of a second separating the three teams.