Justin Taormina did not have the spring break he was anticipating.
The Geneva senior sprinter for the Vikings’ boys track and field team had to have his appendix removed on the eve of the outdoor season.
But Taormina returned to the fold after a three-week-plus absence last weekend as Geneva finished 11th at a national meet in Louisville, Ky.
“Justin is back,” Geneva coach Gale Gross said. “He did very well in the 4-by-1 and the 4-by-2. After missing three weeks I was very happy with that. He is recognized as one of our best (sprinters). It’s a big boost for our (sprint) relay teams, that’s for sure.”
Ryan Skibinski, Donny Fridel and Nick Carleton are the other members of the Vikings’ 400 and 800 relays. Skibinski was the lone individual to place for Geneva in Louisville, in the 100.
“He’s doing a nice job for us,” Gross said of the junior.
Two weeks ago, Geneva was second at its invitational to Class 2A power Burlington Central.
The Vikings used depth and balance to stay competitive against Burlington Central. Lucas Ege, the 300 intermediate state champion, was part of four championships for the ROckets.
“If a guy gets hurt, we have to suck it up and try to get points elsewhere,” Gross said of the Vikings’ effort while Taormina was recuperating.
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Geneva will be one of several local schools competing at the Wilcox Invitational at Oswego. The meet is essentially a renewal of the old Aurora city meet.
“We won it last year,” Gross said of the Wilcox meet.
Aquino bolsters ACC
Troy Kerber is nearing three decades as the boys and girls track coach at Aurora Central Catholic. The 1980 West Aurora graduate is building his boys team around 800 specialist Daniel Aquino.
Aquino, a senior, was a key figure on the Chargers’ 2A state-qualifying 3,200 relay last season, but he has switched his approach this year.
“He is doing more individual events this year, so that’s kind of been an adjustment for him,” Kerber said of Aquino. “We think he can be a sub-two-minute kid (in the open 800). We think that time will continue to drop (in the event).”
But Aquino has not completely forgotten about running relays. Kerber has inserted Aquino in the fray for the 1,600 relay. Joey Perez, AJ Zajac, Griffin Zajac and Richard Schwartzbauer interchangeably augment Aquino in the final event of all track meets.
“For our team dynamic we have a really strong freshmen and sophomore class,” Kerber said. “We are hoping to surprise some people as the year goes on.”
Sibling rivalry
Waubonsie Valley will welcome its two sister schools, Neuqua Valley and Metea Valley, as part of its annual invite, the Red Ribbon, on Saturday morning in Aurora.
Drawing its 14 schools from geographic areas from the far south suburbs to Rockford and the Quad Cities, Waubonsie Valley coach Kevin Rafferty pulled an additional coup by getting McHenry to participate for the first time.
The school features the top-ranked 3,200 runner in the nation in defending 3A state champion Jesse Reiser, bound for Illinois.
“We wanted to get them to come before Reiser graduated,” Rafferty said.
Waubonsie and Metea will be seeing each other for the second weekend in a row after competing at Wheaton Warrenville South last week. Metea coach Aaron Lewis hopes to have sprinter Alonzo Taylor back in the fold.
“He tweaked his hamstring at our invite (two weeks ago),” Lewis said.
McGavin is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.