Mustang Relays always delivers fast times, this year was no different. Several relays set top ten times in the country in one of the fastest Mustang Relays in history. We are going to break down the meet and talk about the greatness that went down in Naperville on Monday.
Girls
4x800m
Prospect ran the new IL #1 and US #6 time of 9:10.63 to capture their 5th win in a row. It was a very close race between Prospect and St. Ignatius, Iggy took second with a US #7 9:12.00. Prospect ran very even splits, they were not out in the lead until the back half of the race. Veronica Znajda and Meg Peterson split 2:16.8 and 2:14.7 respectively. Peterson in particular was incredible for the Knights, I don’t think they would’ve won if she didn’t show up the way she did. Their middle two runners of Mary Laba and Ireland Wildhart split 2:19 apiece and that was enough to secure Prospect the win. St. Ignatius’ success largely came from the unbelievable splits of Annika Swan and Ally Shutler. Shutler lead off for the wolfpack in a jaw-dropping 2:13.0, they were leading for the first two legs of the race. The Schaeffer sisters ran second and third, Elle split a 2:22.1, Greta split a 2:24.0. Annika Swan anchored home hard for the Wolfpack. She ran the fastest split in the field of 2:12.7, there was truly nothing more she could’ve done. Downers North was 3rd with a 9:19.7, they are currently US #21. Ava Gilley really swung it for the trojans, she had their fastest split of 2:15.1. Plainfield North, Minooka, Naperville Central, and St. Charles North were all under 9:30. Naperville Central’s anchor, Lola Satre Morales, had the second fastest split time, she was 2:12.74 (Swan 2:12.72), she moved the redhawks up from 11th to 6th all by herself. This race saw all of the IL top ten spots get taken, 22 out of the top 25 were taken as well. It was so insane, Prospects B team would’ve been IL #10 and DGN’s B team would’ve been IL #15. If these are the times that we’re going in March, just imagine what they will be able to do at the state meet.
4x400m
Once again, it was Prospect stealing the show and taking home the new IL #1. The Knights clobbered the field with a 3:55.77 over Plainfield North in 3:58.56 (IL #2). They were the only team in the field with every athlete under a minute, with their fastest split coming from Amina Hadziahmetovic in 57.95. Plainfield North had a quality race as well, they chopped their season best by almost 14 seconds. Batavia and Lincoln Way East both had terrific anchor legs but third place went to Batavia, 4:01.34 to 4:01.70. Elizabeth Wende was able to hold off Alaina Steele by just a hair, both split 56 seconds (56.6 for Wende, 56.4 for Steele). The three teams that beat Lincoln Way East better be feeling pretty good right now because the Griffins ran the exact same relay that won them the state title last year. This was LWE’s season opener with their returning champs in the 4x4. If I had to guess, Lincoln Way East just has some rust on their racing gears. Once they start running the 4x4 more often, things will be very different. Downers North took 5th with a squad of mostly distance runners who doubled back from the 4x8. They ran 4:02.40 for IL #6. The top 4 teams here are currently the top 4 teams in the state, this event was absolutely loaded.
4x200m
Plainfield North sniped the trifecta out of Prospect’s hands with their win in the 4x2. The Tigers took the win in 1:40.63 over Prospect in 1:40.79. Plainfield North was happy to see Lauren Dellangelo back to their squad, she was what made the difference for them. The quartet of Taylor McClain, Aniya Poindexter, Kaiya Bradshaw, and Lauren Dellangelo are currently IL #2 and US #14. The Prospect quartet of Anna Niebrugge, Nikki Niebrugge, Amina Hadziahmetovic, and Samantha Skowronski are IL #3 and US #15. Prospect really showed off their team depth. The fact that they were .16 seconds from winning all 3 relays is insane, there isn’t another team that can do that in Illinois. The rankings will reflect it, but the Knights are making their case for a state title right now. Downers North and Batavia had a similar battle for third, only .09 separated the 2 teams. DGN just leaned Batavia out, 1:44.58 to 1:44.67. They are currently IL #9 and #10 respectively. A great race overall and a real statement by Plainfield North in their denial of the Prospect takeover, this event brought fireworks to the Mustang Relays. Both team were under the meet record which was set by the legendary Lincoln-Way East squad.
Boys
4x800m
I expected Downers North to win, I did not expect the absolute masterclass of a performance that went down at North Central. The Trojans won in an outstanding time of 7:43.28 for IL #1. They are currently US #2, but they are the fastest relay run on a 200 flat track by a country mile. In fact, they are the only team in the top 25 that have run on a 200 flat track. DGN was not leading through leg one, but they swiftly stretched their lead out to a calm 3 seconds by the end of Will Surrat’s leg. Phillip Cupial and Grant Schroeder ran virtually by themselves, and they ran 1:53.8 and 1:54.1 respectively. It is going to be very hard for anyone to stand up to them, not just in Illinois, but in the country. It wasn’t even like the rest of the field did bad, these boys just destroyed everyone. Second place went to Plainfield North, all thanks to Quin Davis’ fantastic anchor leg. Thomas Czerwinski, Aiden Connors and Gavin Hall all did their part. All three were right by the 2 minute border, Hall was just under in a 1:59.9. Davis took the stick and moved the Tigers up to second with a 1:56.3 anchor leg. Plainfield North ran 7:57.43 to take IL #2 over Berwyn Cicero. Berwyn Cicero probably had the most surprising race of the day. They came into this season completely unranked but they didn’t let that bother them. They have been quietly running some unbelievable times in the 3200 and 1600, this was the first time they’ve let it rip in a 4x8. They ran 7:58.02, with another terrific anchor leg from Alex Rodriguez. Him and Orlando Sandoval both split amazing times, 1:56.0 and 1:57.4 for each respectively. The only thing they struggle with is the 4. Christian Valadez is not used to running up from the 400 yet, he split a 2:04.8. It’s always hard to predict where a sub 50 second 400 runner would be at when they move up to the 800. Some adjust nicely and end up in the 1:55s, others don’t and run in the 2:10s. Valadez seems to be right in the middle. If he can tip that towards the 1:55 direction, Morton could be lethal later on this year. 2 other teams were sub 8. Palatine and Naperville Central both had great team races and both are IL #4 and IL #5 respectively. The reason I would say that the girls race was faster is because this race didn’t dominate leaderboards quite as much as the girls race did. Chicago Payton and Lakes were able to survive the purge and keep their top ten positions, while everyone else was replaced. Easily the most impressive individual relay performance came from this event, and there were still 7 out of the top 10 times set here. It’s always a great time in the 4x8 at Mustang Relays, this year did not disappoint .
4x400m
Downers North came away with another win in the 4x4. The team of Emmanuel Murphy, Phillip Cupial, Grant Schroeder, and Thimotee Denou took home the gold in a 3:25.62 over Naperville Central’s squad of Kyle Clark, Lukas Probst, Chad Earl, and Patrick Clune. Naperville Central was able to pull off an IL #5 3:26.61 with 2 sophomores. Kyle Clark and Chad Earl might not even have their driver’s license yet, and these kids are already smoking the older competition on the track. Both of them split 51s, Clark was 51.05 and Earl was 51.36. The future is bright for the Redhawks, we will see more of their youth in the 4x2 section later on. Yorkville was third for IL #10, largely due to Owen Horeni’s monstrous anchor leg. He has had a somewhat quiet start to his season, he’s been floating around the 1:58 mark in the open 800 and has only been running to win. On Monday, he split a 1:55.1 in the 4x8 to bring his team back from the brink to take 6th. He then came back in the 4x4 to run a lifetime split PR of 49.7 to anchor his team to a third place finish. In my opinion, Horeni had the best double of the day. He is currently the first distance runner to break 50 seconds in the 400 this season, expect him to be lethal for the rest of the season. Bolingbrook took 4th with a 3:29.42 and Lockport was dragged to 5th by Nolan Lamoureux in a 49.15. We haven’t seen Lamoureux race very much this season, this is his first time under the 50 second mark so far.
4x200m
It was a very close race, but Naperville Central took home the title in the 4x2 over Glenbrook North. One tenth of a second separated these two teams, Naperville Central ran a 1:31.15 over GBN’s 1:31.25. Once again, Naperville Central was running on nearly all frosh athletes. Chad Earl, Aiden Clark, Kyle Clark, and Eron Kennedy were the 4 youngsters who ran for the Redhawks, Aiden Clark was the only senior on that roster. I don’t know what they are putting in the water these days, but it seems like Naperville Central has some serious talent in their new-comers. GBN ran an impressive race for second place with a new season best and IL #9. Plainfield South, out of nowhere, came and took third with a 1:31.55. Anthony Vilcek and David Obadein have been sneakily running some decent 200 times, you might’ve seen this coming if you were paying attention. Minooka was the last sub 1:32 team, they ran 1:31.75 to take 4th. Minooka always finds a way to be good at sprints, this year it looks like Max Smith is the new star for the Indians. Smith is only a sophomore, and he has run an impressive 7.04 and 23.15 so far already. With such a strong program like Minooka, I have no doubt that he will turn out to be a threat someday.
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