Sanchez collects 3 1st-place medals

Richmond-Burton's Ian Sanchez pulls away from the pack on the final straightaway of the 800 meter run during Thursday's BNC Boys Track & Field Championships at Stillman Valley High School. Sanchez won the race with a time of 2:00.26. (Travis Haughton - thaughton@nwherald.com)

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STILLMAN VALLEY – Richmond-Burton boys track coach Paul Zelle has an appropriate tag for junior Ian Sanchez.

“He’s been our iron man,” Zelle said. “He’s been doing the 4x800, the 800, the 1,600 and the 4x400 all year for us.”

Sanchez took three first-place medals and one third at the Big Northern Conference Boys Track and Field Meet Thursday at Stillman Valley to lead the Rockets to fourth place in the team standings with 77 points.

Oregon ran away with the title, scoring 143 points. Winnebago (106) and Burlington Central (941⁄2) took the next two spots. Following R-B was Harvard (29) and Marengo (26).

Sanchez teamed with Marcus Bland, Jake Hill-Male and Sean Baker to win the 4x800 relay in 8:13.30. He ran away from the field in the second lap of the 800-meter run to win in 2:00.26, then held off Harvard’s Carlos Huicochea to win the 1,600 in 4:39.65.

“I went out there and did my job,” Sanchez said. “I did what I had to do and dealt with the pain when it came. The toughest part was the second 800. After that I just got used to the pain and kept rolling with it.”

Sanchez didn’t look as though he was hurting when he bolted away from the pack in the 800 and won by almost 3 seconds. Later, he and Huicochea broke from the pack in the 1,600.

Huicochea took the lead in the last lap, but Sanchez quickly grabbed it back and held it, winning by more than 3 seconds.

“That’s usually my do-what-you-can race,” Sanchez said. “I just kept up my pace. I figured since I’m an 800 runner I could keep it up the last two laps.”

R-B’s Kyle Wismer (high jump) and Matt Marzahl (high jump) also won BNC titles. Wismer also took fourth in the 400 and sixth in the high jump, along with running a leg in the 4x400.

“That’s insane what [Sanchez] did running the mile [1,600] and then coming back in the 4x400 [with one race in between],” Wismer said. “I could never do that.”

Wismer was consistently close to 21 inches in the long jump, with his winning jump at 21-2 1/2.

“I could have done better [overall],” Wismer said. “I know I can get in the 22s [for long jump]. Today was a pretty good day for us.”

Marzahl and Rockford Lutheran’s Earl Grigsby both cleared 6-0 and missed at 6-2 in the high jump, but since Marzahl had not previously missed, he won the title.

“I just clipped 6-2 a couple times with my legs going over,” Marzahl said. “It felt good before that.”

Harvard’s Cody Kramer took third in the 200 and fourth in the 100, while Miguel Flores was third in the discus and sixth in the shot put. Kramer had a busy day with preliminary and semifinal heats in the 100 and 200, along with a leg in the Hornets’ 4x100 relay. In all, he had seven races (four 100s and three 200s).

“I was happy with my 200,” Kramer said. “I thought I might get fourth, but I was able to get third there. I’ll do my best at the sectional [next week]. I feel pretty confident about getting to state.”

Harvard will compete in the Class 1A Plano Sectional.

Marengo’s Elijah Velasquez took second in the 800 and Hampshire’s Ray Quesada took second in the 300 intermediate hurdles for their schools’ best finishes.