CHICAGOLANDPREPS.com
NCP Track 2010
Laytham qualifies for state
with tremendous 800 race
By Rob Valentin
ChicagolandPreps.com Editor
Thursday, May 20, 2010
All season long Northside College Prep’s Wesley Laytham flirted with breaking two minutes in the 800.
Heading into Thursday’s sectional meet at Loyola, the junior had one last opportunity.
Laytham made the most of his chance completing the half-mile race in a time of 1:57.65, good for third place and more importantly a trip to the state finals next weekend at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium.
“I was telling myself all week that I could do it,” Laytham said. “We had been training so hard and we were tapering last week and I knew I was in shape to do it. I just had to perform. I really wanted to make it.”
Laytham was in third place for almost the entire first lap but heading into the first turn on the second lap he bolted to the front and started to pull away. The tactic picked up the pace of the race and although Laytham was passed by Neal Omar (1st, 1:55.7) and Prospect’s Pat Ford (2nd, 1:56.62) he was still able to get under the qualifying time of 1:57.74 by .09.
“I knew that I was going to have to start pushing it if I was going to make time because my kick isn’t as strong as previous years. I took it out and tried to hold position. I waited until the last possible second so I could make the move and have not anyone go with me.”
Coming onto the backstretch, Laytham was giving it everything he had and he had no idea if he was going to make state cut time.
“I saw the clock and knew it was going to be really close,” Laytham said. “I knew it would come right down to the line so I tried to go right through it with everything I had. I could have easily let up when I got passed but I kept going.”
Laytham may change up his plan at state, but the basic goal is to just go have another quality race.
“I just want to PR again,” he said. “I’m excited to go there and race all those guys. It should be a good experience. I’m going to sit back a little more at state. I’ll try and get behind guys that run the time I want and try and move on the last lap.”
Northside’s Mac Melto came close to making state in the 400 as he took fifth in the 400 with a time of 50.8. He had the fastest 400 time of any sophomore, which bodes well for the future.
“Going into this meet we didn’t have me in my usual events, the 100 and 200, because we wanted me to be ready for the 400 and it worked, it paid off,” Melto said. “I beat my PR by over a second.
“Although I didn’t get (to state), if I keep progressing I should get it by next year. I think my chances look pretty good. (Coming close) will motivate me a lot. I consider this a successful season. I broke all my PR’s.”
Melto plans to run cross country and that should help build his endurance in the 400.
Hersh Perlmutter was the Mustangs’ top hurdler taking 13th in the 100 high hurdles (16.42) and 18th in the 300 hurdles (43.35).
“I kind of stayed the same this year (in the 100) and did what I did last year,” said Perlmutter, who is a junior. “It was nothing impressive. It was just kind of average so I’ll have to try and improve for next year. I did see a lot of improvement in the 300.”
Like Melto, Perlmutter will run cross country in the fall in hopes of building more endurance for track and field.
Senior Cooper Eben put a wrap on his high school career by taking14th in the 3,200 with a time of 9:55.41 and 19th in the 1,600 with a time of 4:51.82. The two-mile was one of the meet’s deepest and thrilling races as seven runners advanced to state. In the mile, six runners advanced to state.
“I was concentrating mostly on the two-mile,” Eben said. “It was a real fast heat. I’ve never run harder in a race and I’ve never had a worse finish (place wise). But its fun to run with that type of competition.”
Eben ran a 4:51 first mile in the 3,200 and that’s what he was shooting for. In the end he wound up cutting more than three seconds of his PR.
Now Eben will turn towards his college studies although he plans to keep on running. He’ll be attending Duke and plans to major in
In the relays Northside’s quartet of Erik Zuehlke, Dan Graham, Jusuf Skelic and Ezra Edgerton brought home 10th in the 3,200 (8:50.21) while Melto, Pat Duffy, Edgerton and Laytham took 10th in the 1,600 relay (3:35.73).
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Speese leaps to high jump title
By Rob Valentin
ChicagolandPreps.com
Saturday, April 24, 2010
It was only fitting that a Northside College Prep athlete won the high jump in the inaugural Eric Nelson Track and Field Classic at River Park.
Nelson graduated from Northside last spring and his school record in the high jump may stand for quite some time.
But on Saturday, it was up to Hunter Speese to show what he could do and he didn’t disappoint clearing 5-feet 6-inches to win the high jump over Urban Prep’s Byron Caulton (2nd, 5-4).
“I’m still injured and I can only high jump so I just tired to do as best as I could and try to win it,” Speese said. “I’ve been having trouble with my hamstring for a real long time now and I’m trying to give it enough time so I’ll be ready for city championships. It felt pretty good today so I definitely think I’m on the right track.”
Speese can see a big improvement from how he was jumping last season.
“I think I’m definitely more consistent than I was last year,” he said. “Last year, sometimes I would do good and sometimes I would do bad. This year, I can always expect to clear 5-6.”
Speese came close to clearing his jump on 5-8 but he just couldn’t quite make it over.
“When the bar gets higher, it really comes down to form. I need to work on that more and I definitely think I can get it.”
The 3,200 relay had a stellar race winning with a time of 9:11behind tremendous efforts from Pat Duffy, Jusuf Skelic, Alexander Seibt and Ezra Edgerton.
Duffy and Edgerton flew through their legs with both running right around 2:10’s.
“The first lap should be a little over your best 400, which I did,” Duffy said. “Then you want to pick it up and sprint the last 200.”
“I think I did pretty good,” said Edgerton, who wants to run an 800 in 2:05 by the end of the season. “My final lap was a little slow because I pushed too much on the first lap. Otherwise it was good.”
Duffy had to get out of the blocks quick because of the way the race started.
“It was a waterfall start and everyone is starting in the same place,” Duffy said. “It’s really cut throat and you just try not get boxed in during the first lap. You want to make your move during the first turn and stop the other team’s motivation.
Meanwhile, Edgerton took the baton as the anchor and he had one simple job: seal the win.
“Well this time we were pretty far ahead so I figured I would just keep it that way,” Edgerton said. “I just focus on running the 800. Sometimes you look back to see where you are in comparison but you just try to run your 800.”
In the two-mile Cooper Eben had a pitched battle with Roosevelt’s Jeffrey Rector. Eben was on his heels for the entire race but couldn’t quite get past him as he finished in second place.
“I was going into it a little bit sick from during the week, but I still wanted to run as well as I possibly could,” Eben said. “I knew the Roosevelt runner was very good so I tried to stay as close to him as possible.”
The beginning of the race was a real challenge for Eben as Rector flew out of the gates.
“He went out way too fast, going out in a 65 (seconds),” Eben added. “That’s an 8:40 two-mile and that’s not going to happen. So I tried to stay a little bit back. I wound up going out in a 68.
“I tried to get back on pace and ran a 4:49 first mile, which is pretty on pace for what my PR is but the second mile I just kind of lost it. I ran a 5:14 for my second mile. I kind of hit a wall.”
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Melto grabs three firsts
By Rob Valentin
ChicagolandPreps.com
Wednesday, April 22, 2010
Despite the brutal weather condition Mac Melto dominated the sprint events at Lake Forest Academy on Wednesday, winning the 100, 200 and 400.
In the 200, he ran a 23.41, which broke the school record he set little more than a week ago. Melto ran an 11.55 in the 100 and a 53.89 in the 400.
“I remember this meet last year and the conditions were even worse,” Melto said. “Coming into this one, I knew it wasn’t going to be fun because of the conditions but I kind of used the weather to my advantage. I know everyone else was having a hard day so as long as I stayed warm and warmed up well, I knew I’d be able to beat the weather. I was surprised I was able to break my record in the 200.”
Northside’s boys, which won the meet 77-60, had plenty of good performances on the day.
Hersh Perlmutter won the 110 high hurdles with a school record time of 16.18 while also winning the 300 intermediate hurdles in a time of (44.13). He even did well in the 200, an event he doesn’t normally run, finishing third in his heat.
“It’s tough because I’m used to there being a hurdle right away,” Perlmutter said. “I wanted to jump so bad.”
Perlmutter was especially pleased with his performance in the shorter hurdles event.
“The 100 was great, breaking the school record,” he said. “The 300 did not feel good. I started stuttering around hurdles three, four and five and that really slowed me down.”
Staying warm was also a big concern because cold muscles are more likely to get injured.
“I tried to keep jumping and moving around,” Perlmutter said. “I’ll run in any conditions, it’s just how hard and how much fun it’s going to be.”
One of the most exciting races of the day was the 800 relay. Northside and Lake Forest were close throughout much of the race and when Kevin Jaburek started his anchor leg, the Mustangs were slightly behind.
But Jaburek powered through the curve and left his competitor in the dust on the home stretch as Northside won in a time of 1:42.06. Also on the relay were Nathaniel Agharese, Josh Williams and Jusuf Skelic.
“I was in the zone,” Jaburek said. “I took the handoff and said ‘I’m winning this.’ With 75 meters left I just went for it and I knew I had it. If someone is close to you, you just have to go beat them.”
Northside dominated the distance events sweeping the 1,600 with Wesley Laytham winning (4:51) and Charlie Mesimore (2nd, 4:53) and Erik Zuehlke (3rd, 5:01) right behind.
In the 3,200, Mesimore picked up the win, completing the race in a time of 10:44. It wasn’t his best time but the conditions were pretty brutal and he still won by a very comfortable margin.
“It wasn’t very good,” Mesimore
said. “I basically ran the race by myself and so going around all the curves,
there’s no one to push you. I ran the first mile in 5:13 and that was really
slow, so I just kind of shut it down.”
Other standouts for the Mustangs were the 3,200 relay team of Duffy, Ezra Edgerton, Skelic, and Zuehlke (1st, 9:18), Nathaniel Agharse in the 100 (2nd, 11.87) and 200 (2nd, 24.44), Neal Capapas in the 100 (3rd, 12.14) and 200 (3rd, 25.7), Laytham in the 800 (1st, 2:05.72), Edgerton in the 400 (3rd, 56.5), Hunter Speese in the high jump (1st, 5-8) and Williams and Skelic in the high jump (2nd, 5-6).
GIRLS
On the girls’ side, Robin Doherty
won both the 100 hurdles (19.6) and the 300 hurdles (54.99). Caleigh Renkosiak
also fared well bringing home first-place finishes in the shot put (26-10) and
the discus (80-10).
Bessie Nolan won the mile (5:44)
while Ashley Kossakowski (2nd, 15.59) and Doherty (3rd, 15.73)
fared well in the 100.
Nina Coomes did a fantastic job
anchoring both the 400 and 800 relay teams.
“I’m a captain and what’s most
important to me is the well-being of the team,” “I have to carry that weight
and deliver our expectations. That’s what anchoring means.”
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Laytham breaks 800 record
By Rob Valentin
ChicgolandPreps.com editor
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Northside College Prep’s Wesley Laytham came into the 800-meter run at the Deerfield Invite on Tuesday with his sights set on the school record of 2:03 set by Cuitlahuac Pineda Youniss.
Things didn’t look good for Laytham in the first 200 meters as he got boxed in and bumped around. Heading into the second turn he was in fourth place. But like a lightning bolt, Laytham stormed into first place at the beginning of the home stretch.
Over the next 400 meters, there was no catching the junior who finished the race in first with a time of 2:02.5, good enough for a new school record.
“For me it definitely shows signs of progress,” Laytham said. “I’d like to be able to go sub 2:00 in the 800 and that’s what I’m focusing on.”
The beginning of the race was definitely a bit difficult.
“The first 200 started on a waterfall and immediately a bunch of Deerfield runners went out pretty hard, some of them probably harder than they should have,” he said. “It was a pretty tight box and I tried to get out of it without starting any trip ups. I tucked back in and rested up and made the move with 500 to go. Then I just went hard enough so no one could catch me.”
A Deerfield runner tried to make a go of it with 130 meters left but Laytham wouldn’t have any of it and pulled away in the final 100.
“I definitely heard him and heard people cheering so I was trying to go as hard as I could,” Laytham said. “My legs were pretty heavy and tired from Saturday and I was just worried about getting caught. I finished with nothing left.”
Another big winner for the Mustangs in Tuesday’s meet was Charlie Mesimore, who brought home first place in the 3,200 with a time of 10:26, 19 seconds faster than his nearest competitor.
“I haven’t run a two-mile this year so it was good,” Mesimore said. “It was real nice weather. After the first lap, I was pretty much running by myself. I just tried to run even splits.”
Having to run by yourself is never easy, but Mesimore just tried to focus on reaching his goals.
“The first mile I just wanted to be under 5:10 and I went 5:03,” he said. “Then your arms start to die and you just keep telling yourself ‘one more lap until 1,200, one more lap until 800.’ The last half is just basically pushing yourself.”
Mesimore should have no problem dropping more and more time during his junior season.
“My main goal is just to get under 10:00 for the two-mile. I’ve been trying to do that since sophomore year and if I can do that, it would be mission accomplished for me.”
Erik Zuehlke had a solid race in the two-mile as well, finishing in third place with a time of 10:53.
In the other distance race, Cooper Eben won the 1,600, finishing with a 4:46. The distance relays also fared well. The 3,200 relay team of Eben, Ezra Edgerton, Danny Sobor and Dan Graham brought home second place, running a 9:12.5. The 1,600 relay team of Mac Melto, Edgerton, Mesimore and Laytham broke the school record by more than three seconds after combining to run a 3:38.58.
Northside had plenty of other standouts as well. Junior Hersh Perlmutter broke his school record in the 300 running a 43.19. Sprinter Nathaniel Agharese took third in the 200 (24.25) while Josh Williams won the high jump with a leap of 5-feet 2-inches.
GIRLS
The girls meet had plenty of solid performances by Northside as well.
Freshman Mason Speta competed in the high jump for the first time ever and finished tied for second place with a leap of 4-6.
“I’ve only practiced a few days before for this so I thought I’d just come in and see how I did,” Speta said. “I wound up jumping really well and I’m so happy about it.”
Competing in an even as intricate as the high jump isn’t easy. Speta came into the meet just hoping to be able to clear the opening mark of 4-feet.
“You definitely have to set up your steps, when you’re going to jump, what foot you’re going to go off of and where you’re going to jump from,” Speta said. “I’m actually a competitive fencer so I have pretty good leg muscles so I think that might have contributed.”
Speta is just two inches from the school record. Junior Robin Doherty also was able to jump 4-6 in the meet.
Ashley Kossakowski had a brilliant meet jumping 13-5.25 in the long jump, which was the best jump by a female Northside jumper this spring.
“I think I did really good,” Kossakowski said. “I was running in between high jump, long jump and 4X1. I was pretty pumped up. I’m a noob in long jump so I pretty much just ran and jumped. The school record is 16 and I’m a junior, so hopefully by the end of senior year I can do that.
Bessie Nolan also had a terrific day completing the mile in a time of 5:42, a personal record an just two seconds off the school record
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