McHenry wins 1st FVC title in 28 years

Huntley junior Tor Larkin (second from left) sprints on his way to winning the 100-meter dash in 11.72 seconds Friday during the Fox Valley Conference Boys Track and Field Meet at Crystal Lake Central. Larkin also was part of Huntley’s winning 4x100 and 4x200 teams, and he finished third in the 200. (Justin Edmonds - jedmonds@nwherald.com)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – McHenry alleviated any drama about which team was going to win the Fox Valley Conference Track and Field Meet championship.

The Warriors grabbed a lead early with 48 field-event points and cruised to their first team title in 28 years Friday at Crystal Lake Central’s Owen Metcalf Field. McHenry finished with 1131⁄2 points, comfortably ahead of sprint-heavy Huntley, which had 93.

“It’s our first in 28 years, I can’t believe it,” said coach Dave D’Angelo, who was a member of the 1981 Warriors team, McHenry’s last to win an FVC team title. “It’s so sweet as a coach, with all the assistants that have been with me for four years [John Beerbower, Mike Quinnett, Jim Wheeler].”

McHenry got its usual boost from Ryan Michel in the field events. Michel won the high jump and took seconds in the long and triple jumps for 26 points. Tyler Helton experienced a scare in the long jump when he wiped out on a slick board, but still won that event, then took third in the 100-meter dash.

Huntley’s Marcus Popenfoose (discus, 174 feet, 1 inch), Crystal Lake Central’s Zach Siegmeier (pole vault, 14-9), Dundee-Crown’s Anthony Manfrin (1,600, 4:18.81) and Crystal Lake South’s 4x400 relay team of Victor Adenakan, Steven Rogers, Kenny King and Emmanuel Gamez (3:23.14) set meet records.

Michel hoped to shoot for the meet’s oldest record, the 6-71⁄2 high jump mark set by Dundee’s Craig Everett in 1981, but the high jump and pole vault were moved inside because of the rain throughout Friday.

“Whenever it rains, it’s colder, and it’s never the greatest to jump when it’s cold,” Michel said.

“It was different with the high jump inside, but we couldn’t wear spikes on our shoes jumping off the [basketball] court. Without the spikes you slipped a little bit. I like to jump in my spikes.”

Michel, who cleared 6-10 indoors and made 6-8 outdoors this season, won the high jump at 6-2.

Popenfoose set the discus mark on his second throw and nearly set the shot put record as well with his 58-10 3/4, which was just short of Jacobs’ Matt Whalen’s 2002 record throw of 58-11 1/2.

“It was hard to know how to gauge your spin,” Popenfoose said of the wet ring. “I’m happier with my shot performance than my discus, but it was a nice day. I’m trying to work up to peaking at sectional and state.”

Siegmeier broke the two-year-old record of Crystal Lake South graduate Brock McAnally with a pole vault of 14-9. McAnally was in Central’s Fieldhouse to see his friend break his record.

“It felt easy [at 14-9],” Siegmeier said. “When I went over I thought I could get 15-3. I have to work on a couple things. I thrive on pressure like that. I like it when people are watching, I seem to perform better.”

Manfrin, a sophomore, broke the 1,600 record of Jacobs’ Evan Jager (4:22.3) set in 2006. Woodstock’s Marshall Happ, who won the 800, pushed Manfrin for three laps before Manfrin pulled away.

“I came through [the first two laps] in 2:09 and I wanted to be at 2:07,” Manfrin said. “In the final lap, I felt smooth and my legs felt fresh. The competition was great today with Marshall and [Cary-Grove’s] Phil [Fairleigh].”

Huntley’s Josh Sivila, Jeremy Hansen, Matt Hammer and Tor Larkin won the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. Larkin and Hansen finished 1-2 in the 100, then Hammer and Larkin finished 2-3 in the 200, which was the closest race of the meet.

Johnsburg’s Steve Seydel came from behind to edge Hammer in a photo finish. It took meet officials several minutes looking at their fully-automatic timing system, magnified in slow motion, to declare Seydel the winner.