PREP BOYS TRACK: Vikings win 79th Urbana Open

Apr. 16—URBANA — Just being good isn't good enough for the Danville boys track team.

On Saturday morning the Vikings won six events including the 400- and 800-meter relay on its way to the championship in the 79th Urbana Open at McKinley Field. Danville made it a clean sweep, winning the JV title as well.

But, there was no crazy celebration and no one dumped a jug of water on the coach. Instead, the Vikings calmly collected their medals and the championship trophies. They posed for a few photos and boarded the bus for Danville.

"We came out worked hard, jumped hard and competed hard," said Danville senior Davari Boyd. "I'm proud of my boys, we did our thing."

So, why not celebrate it?

"We still have work to do. The job is not over yet," he said. "This was a real eye opener. We have a lot of potential."

Boyd was a member of both the 400 and 800 relay teams, as well as taking first in the long jump and the second in the triple jump. That sounds like a pretty impressive day.

"Our relays turned out really good, but we still need to fix our handoffs," he said. "Overall, I'm proud of my team because we ran pretty well."

And the jumps?

"I was more consistent on the board," he said. "I know I haven't been consistent all season until today."

In addition to Boyd, the Vikings got a first in the 200 from D'Mario Jackson to go along with a second in the 100 and he ran the anchor leg on the 400 and 800 relay teams.

"The results were good, but I'm really proud of how the team developed and worked today," he said, after listening to his senior leader. "Our handoffs can definitely be better."

But, Danville won both relay races and the 400 relay came down to an outstanding anchor leg by Jackson to edge out Urbana's Terrell King. Actually, the Vikings and the Tigers had the same time 43.30 seconds but Jackson won the photo finish.

"That race was an adrenaline rush," Jackson said. "I was just trying to catch him — and I came up there and did it. I was pretty shocked."

So, what kind of improvements are needed in the handoffs?

"It's just developing our chemistry," said Jackson, noting that he and Jerry Reed III are new members this year, joining Boyd and sophomore Jayden Rowell. "I think we will definitely get better the more times we practice them and run them in meets."

Both Boyd and Jackson admitted that Saturday's weather was ideal for a meet in early April.

"We have been running in pretty cold weather until today," Jackson said. "We are looking forward to more meets with this type of weather.

"I didn't have to keep taking off my sweats and then putting them right back on after my events. I was able to stay warm without them."

Other victories for the Vikings on Saturday came from Reed in the triple jump, and sophomore Matt Sherman in the pole vault. Danville actually scored points in 15 of 18 events, including multiple scorers in six events.

"I'm glad my kids said that, because there is a lot of work to be done," said Danville coach Tyler Arnholt. "We have a lot of kids doing new things and we have a lot of kids doing a lot of hard things.

"They just keep getting better, which is the way it is supposed to be."

So, what does a win at the historic Urbana Open mean for this program?

"It's great for the confidence," Arnholt said. "Going into the meets we have coming up, I think this is going to pay dividends."

Arnholt just wants to see his team continue to improve their consistency.

"We get some big marks and fast times, and then, sometimes, we fall flat," he said. "We need to find a way to be consistent every day, every meet, every event."

At McKinley Field

79th Urbana Open

Varsity team scores — 1. Danville 140, 2. Champaign Central 138, 3. Urbana 85, 4. Summit Argo 65, 5. Urbana University High 64, 6. Peoria High 38, 7. Chicago Heights Bloom Township 22.

Varsity individual results

100 — 1. Melvin Jenkins (Peoria) 10.98, 2. D'Mario Jackson (Danville) 10.99, 3. Terrell King (Urbana) 11.34, 4. Jayden Rowell (Danville) 11.56, 5. TQ Webb (Peoria) 11.64, 6. Jose Saldana-Ruiz (Argo) 11.74.

200 — 1. D'Mario Jackson (Danville) 22.43, 2. Melvin Jenkins (Peoria) 22.75, 3. Cedric Sabin (Urbana) 23.00, 4. Abraham Lenear (Urbana) 23.03, 5. Jerry Reed III (Danville) 23.84, 6. Samuel Nicolette (Central) 24.11.

400 — 1. Ronald Baker III (Central) 52.46, 2. Sorrell Darough Jr. (Urbana) 53.08, 3. Jackson Greenwold (Central) 53.70, 4. Jose Saldana-Ruiz (Argo) 54.51, 5. Kaden Vance (Danville) 55.08, 6. Jonathan Tavares (Bloom) 55.21.

800 — 1. Jakob Riley (Central) 1:58.51, 2. Pieter Duursma (Uni High) 1:58.85, 3. Mohammed Amrani (Urbana) 2:08.69, 4. Anthony Miranda Diaz (Argo) 2:09.40, 5. Brian Barajas (Argo) 2:19.83, 6. Malakai Page (Peoria) 2:20.20.

1,600 — 1. Hudson Coady (Urbana) 4:35.97, 2. Angelo Esparza (Argo) 4:52.24, 3. Benjamin Sutton (Central) 4:57.00, 4. Kelby Svendsen (Uni High) 4:57.14, 5. Jonathan Smith (Central) 4:57.48, 6. Marcelino Rivera (Argo) 5:08.33.

3,200 — 1. Caleb Mathias (Central) 9:34.24, 2. Kelby Svendsen (Uni High) 10:50.81, 3. Luke Fahnestock (Uni High) 10:57.30, 4. Damian Ramirez (Bloom) 11:07.86, 5. Enrique Beuschlein (Central) 11:11.05, 6. Antonio Gutierrez (Bloom) 11:22.14.

110 hurdles — 1. William Hardy (Central) 15.24, 2. Lavelle Richardson (Bloom) 15.53, 3. Josiah Hoskins (Danville) 16.74, 4. DeVante Johnson (Danville) 17.06. 5. Evan Kolb (Central) 19.07, 6. Fenix Foy (Peoria) 19.24.

300 hurdles — 1. William Hardy (Central) 42.25, 2. Lavelle Richardson (Bloom) 42.34, 3. Donovan Dorsey (Urbana) 44.23, 4. Tristen Ting (Uni High) 45.69, 5. Gabrial Bandeen (Danville) 46.41. 6. Evan Kolb (Central) 50.01.

400 relay — 1. Danville (Davari Boyd, Jayden Rowell, Jerry Reed III, D'Mario Jackson) 43.30, 2. Urbana (Goines, Lenear, Sabin, King) 43.30, 3. Peoria High (Porter, Flowers, Webb, Jenkins) 45.41, 4. Central (Baker, Rouse, LeFaivre, Clifton) 47.10, 5. Uni High (Barreto, Nzinga, Lee, Tu) 48.79, 6. Argo (Ashford, King, Crawford, Vazquez) 50.73.

800 relay — 1. Danville (Jayden Rowell, Davari Boyd, Jerry Reed III, D'Mario Jackson) 1:31.79, 2. Urbana (Lokango, Miller, Goines, Wells) 1:33.26, 3. Central (Clifton, Rouse, LeFaivre, Nicolette) 1:39.51, 4. Uni High (Mynatt, Davis, Allanah, Galvez) 1:41.97, 5. Argo (Ashford, Crawford, Vazquez, King) 1:48.73.

1,600 relay — 1. Central (Baker, Riley, Greenwold, Bright) 3:33.77, 2. Uni High (Duursma, Galvez, Tang, Newman) 3:35.40, 3. Urbana (Miller, Mushengez, Amrani, King) 3:37.33, 4. Argo (Esparza, Miranda-Diaz, Saldama-Ruiz, Mitchell) 3:48.43, 5. Danville (Christian Davis, Manasseh Moore, Tristan Populos, PerSirus Menifield) 4:04.97.

3,200 relay — 1. Central (Barker, Sutton, Smith, Bright) 8:42.34, 2. Argo (Barajas, Miranda-Diaz, Rivera, Esparza) 8:43.44, 3. Uni High (Rota, Ulozas, Lee, Kraatz) 9:25.04, 4. Urbana (T.Coady, Jahiel, Allison, Bell) 9:46.44, 5. Danville (Manasseh Moore, Tristan Populos, Peter Vitek, Quran Woods) 10:21.37.

Shot put — 1. Demian Villagomez (Central) 13.08 meters, 2. Tayvion Diltz (Danville) 12.88, 3. Taeven Harris (Danville) 11.78, 4. Gabe Davis (Uni High) 11.57, 5. Jack Gaines (Argo) 11.32, 6. Muhammad Quad (Argo) 10.85.

Discus — 1. Mauro Velasquez Jr. (Argo) 39.63 meters, 2. Curtis Beasley (Danville) 37.42, 3. (tie) Gabe Davis (Uni High) and Carlos Lezama-Miles (Urbana) 34.78, 5. Demian Villagomez (Central) 33.68, 6. Muhammad Quad (Argo) 33.38.

High jump — 1. Jaylen Rayford (Peoria) 1.87 meters, 2. PerSirus Menifield (Danville) 1.82, 3. Jovon Willis (Danville) 1.62. 4. Jackson Greenwold (Central) 1.62, 5. John Jones (Central) 1.57.

Pole vault — 1. Matthew Sherman (Danville) 3.33 meters, 2. Jayce Payne (Argo) 3.03, 3. Aniyus Mitchell (Argo) 2.43, 4. John Jones (Central) 2.43, 5. Cory Oye (Central) 2.28.

Long jump — 1. Davari Boyd (Danville) 5.87 meters, 2. Makel Bell (Urbana) 5.82, 3. Ben Tang (Central) 5.73, 4. PerSirus Menifield (Danville) 5.68, 5. Cory Oye (Central) 5.43, 6. Jayson King (Argo) 5.37.

Triple jump — 1. Jerry Reed III (Danville) 12.67 meters, 2. Davari Boyd (Danville) 12.06, 3. Jackson Greenwold (Central) 11.39, 4. Deven Galvez (Uni High) 11.30, 5. Jayvon King (Argo) 11.13, 6. Tucker Gergen (Uni High) 10.49.

------

JV team scores — 1. Danville 106, 2, Champaign Central 64, 3. Urbana 41, 4. Chicago Heights Bloom Township 40, 5. Summit Argo 14, 6. (tie) Urbana Uni High and Peoria 12.

JV individual results

400 relay — 1. Urbana 45.14, 2. Danville (Aidan Henderson, Zaiiare Whitehead, Miles Littlepage, Allante Anderson) 46.69, 3. Central 47.56.

800 relay — 1. Urbana 1:36.48, 2. Danville (Aidan Henderson, Zaiiare Whitehead, Miles Littlepage, Allante Anderson) 1:37.73, 3. Bloom 1:39.18.

1,600 relay — 1. Central 3:42.94, 2. Bloom 3:46.35, 3. Danville (Aidan Henderson, DeVante Johnson, Kaden Vance, Miles Littlepage) 3:50.94.

3,200 relay — 1. Central 8:50.64, 2. Bloom 9:17.48, 3. Argo 9:58.34.

Shot put — 1. Tim Long (Danville) 12.70 meters, 2. Jeandenis (Bloom) 11.40, 3. A'Jani Davis (Danville) 11.12.

Discus — 1. Tim Long (Danville) 36.39 meters, 2. Maurice Dominick (Central) 33.07, 3. Matthew Sherman (Danville) 28.68.

High jump — 1. Victor Jones (Danville) 1.92 meters, 2. DeVante Johnson (Danville) 1.77, 3. West (Central) 1.67.

Pole vault — 1. Kolb (Central) 2.58 meters, 2. Jesse Grupe (Danville) 2.43.

Long jump — 1. Coffin (Urbana) 5.93 meters, 2. Aidan Henderson (Danville) 5.56, 3. Barnes (Peoria) 5.54.

Triple jump — 1. DeVante Johnson (Danville) 10.98 meters, 2. Kaden Vance (Danville) 10.42, 3. West (Central) 10.12.