West Aurora wins Beacon-News Invite

West Aurora's Aviance King glides to a win in the high jump Friday at Oswego. 
(Mary Beth Nolan/For Sun-Times Media)

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OSWEGO - West Aurora boys track and field coach Cortney Lamb feels he has a far more versatile team than he had last spring. The Blackhawks showed that off in style in running away with the 12th annual Aurora Beacon-News Invitational at Oswego on Friday.

West Aurora took first place in eight different events spanning all different skill sets in putting up a dominant 233 points for the win. Aurora Central Catholic was second with 136 points.

"We're a much more well-rounded team than we were last year," Lamb said. "It's fun to watch everything come together. It's a very good meet for us to kind of sharpen up before we head into the championship part of the season."

Tony Ellison got things going in the throws before the track finals were in full swing, winning both the discus (148-9) and the shot put (53-3) by wide margins. Matt Lynn and Joe Chollet finished second and third in the shot as West swept the top three spots.

"He's kind of been struggling with his release (in discus), but he got one out there," Lamb said. "Shot is more his thing. His goal is to stay above the state qualifying standards so that when sectionals roll around, we're not sweating."

The sprints got the track portion of the meet rolling for the Blackhawks. West was dominant in the 400 relay (43.04), winning by nearly two seconds over Oswego. Matt Souvannasing, Zach Woods, Jarrick Phillips and Leon Spears combined for the win.

"First leg, (Souvannasing) was fighting it off the curve, but he gave me a good handoff and I heard Cortney tell me to go," Woods said. "It was a perfect handoff, so we had to take advantage of it. Leon just brought it home, did what he does best."

Woods and Spears also won individual events at the meet. Woods took the 400 (51.19), holding off East Aurora's Sergio Vargas by 0.2 seconds. Spears took the 200 (21.71) and was second in the 100.

West flexed its muscle in the distance events, too. Vontrell Hawkins won the 800 (2:05.85) and the Blackhawks took the top three spots in the 1,600. Ryan Bartell won it in 4:31.00, streaking past teammate Matt Muth in the final stretch. Steve Loran was third.

"Those guys are running so well and they ran a good time in not-so-good weather," Lamb said.

In the field, Aviance King and Demarlon Rayford went 1-2 in the high jump. King jumped a 6-6 for the win. ACC was paced by senior Paul Beeler, who won both the triple jump (40-4) and the long jump (20-9½). The long jump was nearly a foot longer than his previous career best.

"I think the wind helped me, actually," Beeler said of the howling winds that affected the meet. "When I was up in the air, I was feeling really good. We feel pretty good (as a team). We came into the meet thinking that we may get third place."

The Chargers' other wins came from Joe Reuland in the 110 hurdles (15.64), the 1,600 relay (3:34.85) and the 3,200 relay team of John Jochum, Jimmy Spencer, Dan Kottkamp and Alex Duncan (8:46.59).

Oswego took third with 105 points, paced by a win from Jared Konrardy in the 3,200 (10:36.42). East Aurora was fifth in the six-team field with 43 points, but had no event winners.