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Sports
Three athletes rise to challenge : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisThree athletes rise to challenge
| Three athletes rise to challenge
| by Kristin Sharp
| 5/19/2011
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It was no surprise to see the Plainfield South boys' track and field team atop the Southwest Prairie Conference standings.
The Cougars won the 2011 title last Thursday at Plainfield East with 143 points, ahead of Minooka (121), Plainfield North (105), Plainfield Central (59) and Romeoville (58). More than 100 points behind the champion Plainfield South sat Oswego (39) and Oswego East (10) in sixth and eighth place, respectively.
"The times were not where they should have been," Oswego head coach Jeff Edwards said.
Oswego finished with three All-Conference athletes. Oswego East scored in four events and finished without an All-SPC honor.
Oswego
The Oswego distance crew scored 22 of the team's 39 points. Sophomore Caleb Beck finished second in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4 minutes, 33 seconds and junior Zack Kingsbury placed second in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:31.53 as both earned All-Conference honors.
Beck was also a member of the fourth-place 4x800-meter relay along with sophomore Christian Bartell, sophomore Nick Couch and senior Jacob Hampson, finishing in 8:21.26. Junior Adam Lowry also scored for Oswego with his fifth-place finish in the 800, clocking in at 2:05.83.
"(Assistant) coach (Dan) Whipple has been getting a lot of compliments from the Minooka coaches and Plainfield South coaches with how well his guys are running and coming from those guys means a lot because they have such strong programs," Edwards said. "With Zach and Caleb and some of the other distance guys and how well they've been doing this year, it's nice knowing we've got them all back again next year. It's very promising. Zach is about two strides away from the state-qualifying time and if we get a nice night like we're supposed to get, he's got a great opportunity to make it downstate."
Sophomore Alain Dixon placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 42-2 to also receive All-SPC accolades.
Senior Brandon Lang scored two points in the 200-meter dash with his fifth-place finish in 22.65 seconds after posting the sixth-fastest time in the prelims.
"He coasted in on the prelim too much and he ended up getting a bad draw for the final and he was in lane seven," Edwards said of Lang. "It's hard doing anything from out there with the speed we have in our conference. Once those guys are by you, it's hard to make it up. He's already made up his mind that in prelims at sectionals he's going to go all out to guarantee a spot in the finals and hopefully get a good lane draw. He was upset with himself afterwards, but he knows that this week is the most important week. It's nice to do well in conference, but sectionals is where you have to really do it."
The 4x100-meter relay team of junior Steve Baker, sophomore Ryan Hodges, Lang and junior Julian Mendez placed fifth in 44.32 seconds, the 4x200-meter relay, comprised of Baker, Dixon, Hodges and Lang, finished fourth in 1:36.68, and the 4x400-meter relay team of junior Darion Browning, Lowry, senior Jake Massey and Mendez placed sixth in 3:35.27.
Oswego will now enter the 16-team Class 3A Plainfield North Sectional today, Thursday. The field events begin at 3:30 p.m. with the track prelims scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and the finals at 6:30 p.m.
"It's a large sectional and it's loaded, so if you're getting first and second in that sectional you're pretty dang good," Edwards said. "We're banking on having to run state-qualifying standard time just to make it."
Oswego East
Three Oswego East relay teams helped the Wolves muster 10 of its 11 points at the SPC Meet, led by the 4x800-meter relay team's third-place finish - just one place shy of an All-SPC finish.
Junior Dylan Coonradt, junior John Devries, sophomore Andrew Holm and sophomore Chase Skenandore posted a time of 8:20.78 for a season-best finish.
"The four guys that ran, that's only the second time those four have run together," Oswego East head coach J.R. Wilson said. "That's our top four guys and they beat our previous best time by 14 seconds with two juniors and two sophomores in there. That looks to be very competitive next year."
The 4x400-meter relay team of Coonradt, senior Erek Drew, Holm and Skenandore finished sixth in 3:35.27 while the 4x200-meter relay team of sophomore Cory Briggs, junior Amani Bugg, sophomore Oliver Czopek and sophomore Andrew Earnest finished sixth in 1:38.53.
Sophomore Aaron Jordan finished sixth in the pole vault, clearing 10-9.
Wilson also noted junior Dakoda Skenandore's finish in the 400-meter dash as he crossed the finish line in 52.17 seconds.
"Even though he got 11th, Dakoda Skenandore ran a very respectable time and he's only a junior, too," Wilson said. "We only had one senior compete in the 100 - Kendall Lyons - and he did a good job. Everyone is pretty much coming back next year, so we'll be building on what we learned for next year."
Oswego East will join Oswego at the Class 3A Plainfield North Sectional today, Thursday. The top two finishers in each event and those meeting or exceeding the state-qualifying standards will advance to O'Brien Stadium on the campus of Eastern Illinois in Charleston.
"In the 800 we have Chase Skenandore and Andrew Holm and Chase is probably one of our closest guys (to qualifying), but he's probably four or five seconds off," Wilson said. "This will be a learning year and next year they'll know what to expect."
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