Popenfoose had feeling he’d hit 200

Huntley’s Marcus Popenfoose set a Palatine Relays record in the discus Saturday in Palatine. Popenfoose, who will throw at Auburn next season, threw 189 feet, 4 inches to win the meet. A day earlier at the Crystal Lake Central Invitational, Popenfoose unleashed a personal-best toss in the discus of 202-4. (Joe Cyganowski – For The Northwest Herald)

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Huntley assistant track coach Chris Maxedon sensed something spectacular was coming.

Red Raiders senior thrower Marcus Popenfoose had a big day in Thursday’s practice with several discus throws of more than 200 feet.

“He said, ‘Tomorrow’s the day it’s going to happen,’ ” Maxedon said.

Popenfoose was right. He cranked three throws of 198 feet or better, including his personal best of 202 feet, 4 inches, to win the competition at the Crystal Lake Central Invitational at Owen Metcalf Field. Popenfoose had been knocking on the door of the magical 200-foot mark for more than a year.

“It was kind of a relief,” Popenfoose said at Saturday’s 78th Palatine Relays, where he threw a meet-record 189-4. “It was nice to win [at Central], but I didn’t feel like I had my best throw. It was a decent throw and the wind took it.”

Popenfoose said the wind, kind of a crossing breeze, was good, but not the best for discus.

Throwers much prefer throwing into a headwind.

Popenfoose’s previous best was a 199-8 effort at last year’s Class 3A discus preliminaries at the IHSA Boys State Track and Field Meet. He held the meet record overnight, but Lake Park’s Dan Block threw 205-8 in the finals to win.

Block has one other throw of 200 feet in his career. Champaign St. Thomas More’s Brandon Noe, who will compete in Class 1A, recently threw 203-5, the second-longest throw in state history, according to the
IHSA’s website. Popenfoose’s throw ranks third.

“He’s been more consistent in the last three weeks,” Maxedon said. “He’s been over 190 feet four times.”

Now if they only could get Popenfoose’s shot put problems figured out. Popenfoose had a streak of nine consecutive throws in which he fouled before a 57-1 throw Saturday at Palatine. He said he believed he should be throwing close to 60 feet, but his best throw this season is about 2 feet short of that.

“It’s mainly balance,” said Popenfoose, who will throw at Auburn next year. “We’re working on it. I know I have it in me.”

Popenfoose was Class 3A runner-up in both the shot and discus last year.

Nice addition: Huntley’s girls team has received a nice boost this season from senior Carrie Quinn, a rookie to track. Quinn, a former gymnast, decided to come out for her senior season because she will not compete in gymnastics in college.

“I like it a lot, it’s really been fun for my senior year to contribute to a team for my school,” Quinn said. “They’ve been trying to get me out for three years.”

Finally, Quinn decided to come out for track with friend Kacey Keegan. They are close to Amy Fanella,
Ashley Moreano and Jennifer Kearns, who already were on the team. Quinn is proving how proficient gymnastics athletes can be in other sports.

“Gymnastics builds you up strong and you can apply that to about any sport,” Quinn said.

In track and field, gymnasts often thrive in sprints, jumps and pole vault. Quinn took fourth in the 100-meter dash and fifth in the 200 at the McHenry County Meet. She is among the top five on the
Northwest Herald Track and Field Honor Roll for each race.

Quinn used to train for gymnastics at HUGS in Huntley and later trained at 5 Star Academy in Crystal Lake for tumbling and trampoline.

“I never expected to be this successful as a rookie,” Quinn said.