LP_052418

46 | May 24, 2018 | The Lockport Legend Sports
lockportlegend.com
Lockport boys track and field wins five events at sectional
Meyer, McCarthy
lead LTHS at
Downers Grove
North meet
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
The Lockport Township
boys track team hasn’t won
a sectional since 2012.
The Porters were favored
to break that streak last
week, but they instead fell a
point short and finished second
behind Romeoville on
Friday, May 18, at the Class
3A Downers Grove North
Sectional. It’s the fourth
time in a row and fifth time
in six seasons that Lockport
has placed second in its sectional.
This season, it was an old
rival that prevented the Porters
from capturing the sectional.
That was Romeoville,
which finished first with 73
points.
The Spartans, who won
their only other sectional
title in 1999, won one individual
title with Joseph
Otchere (22.17 seconds in
the 200-meter dash). But
they qualified two individuals
in two events, two others
in one event and advanced a
relay. Romeoville scored in
half of the events and had
multiple scorers in four.
“Our guys competed well
all year,” said Romeoville
coach Scott Harper, a Lockport
graduate who has been
the track coach at the school
since 1993. “Even with all
of the bad weather, our kids
came to compete every day,
and it showed. Everybody
worked up to their potential,
and I kind of scored it before
we got here, and I knew
where we needed to score
points, and we got lucky
and scored points where we
needed to.”
Conor McCarthy won the long jump with a mark of 22-feet-4.5 inches and also was on the
winning 800-meter (1:28.71) and 1,600-meter (3:20.81) relay teams for the Porters at the
sectional meet.
The Porters, who entered
the meet ranked No. 2 in
the state in Class 3A, won
five of the 18 events and
finished with 72 points. But
those were the only events
they qualified in. Naperville
Central (57) was third, followed
by Bolingbrook (49)
and Downers Grove North
(47). Hinsdale Central (46)
and Sandburg (46) tied for
sixth. Downers Grove South
(40), Shepard (30) and Stagg
(23) rounded out the Top 10.
Eisenhower (20), Hinsdale
South (13), Richards (13),
Naperville North (12) and
Benet Academy (9) completed
the 15-team field.
“We had some kids banged
up, but we still ran well, and
we competed well,” Lockport
coach Tom Razo said. “I
thought we had a solid meet.
We got second for how many
years now? But we didn’t set
ourselves up for that. We set
ourselves up to advance, and
we did.
“This is one of my best
groups, and I’m hoping the
very best things for them at
state.”
Lockport will bid for its
first state trophy in the sport
this weekend in the state finals.
Those are held between
Thursday, May 24, and Saturday,
May 26, at O’Brien
Field on the campus of Eastern
Illinois University in
Charleston.
Also bidding to do something
special at state is Lockport
standout John Meyer.
Now a senior, he will attempt
to become the first
boys athlete in Illinois state
history to three-peat in the
shot put. Plus, after finishing
second in Class 3A last year,
he will also attempt to win
the discus throw.
He coasted to the sectional
championships in both.
His best qualifying shot put
throw was 68-feet-1 inch,
which won by more than 14
feet. In the discus, Meyer
had a toss of 181 feet even
to win by more than 32 feet.
Romeoville junior Amiri Buchanan
was second in both.
“I felt pretty good and had
solid throws,” Meyer said of
his sectional performance.
“I’m pretty happy with how
I did. I had the throw of 68-1
on my first attempt in the
shot put. That just felt really
good and smooth.”
Of course, Meyer would
love to bring back another
championship medal for
himself, but he’d love to
help the team to its best collective
performance, too.
“As a team perspective, I
want the team to do well,”
he said. “Hopefully, we can
get a trophy. We did well at
the sectional, and the team
looked really good. [Personally],
I just have to stay
relaxed and keep positive
thoughts in my head. My
Lockport’s John Meyer dominated in winning the shot
put and discus events by more than 14 and 32 feet,
respectively, over the next closest competitor on Friday,
May 18, at the Class 3A Downers Grove North Sectional.
22nd Century Media File Photos
goal is to once again win
the shot put and do as well
as I can in the discus.”
Senior Conor McCarthy
won the long jump with a
mark of 22-feet-4.5 inches.
“I was pretty happy with
our performance overall
as a team,” said McCarthy,
who also qualified in
the long jump last year. “I
wasn’t feeling 100 percent
this whole [last] week since
I was sick, but that’s no excuse.
You have to go out
here and do what you have
to do, and I feel that we can
definitely do more.”
McCarthy was also on the
winning 800-meter (1:28.71)
and 1,600-meter (3:20.81)
relay teams. The other members
on both teams were
senior Gabriel Amegatcher,
along with sophomores Michael
Walkosz and Kyle
Langellier.
“From day one, we knew
that we had to keep pushing
each other,” Amegatcher
said. “The seniors have to
show the sophomores on the
relays how it’s done and lead
by example. We got first but
didn’t [personal record], so
we’ll wait to get to state to
show what we’ve got.”