The three Indian Prairie high schools bid farewell to the Upstate Eight Conference in boys track and field on Thursday night at Metea Valley in Aurora.
The schools are departing the Upstate Eight for the DuPage Valley Conference in the fall.
“The Upstate Eight, I’m going to miss it,” said Waubonsie Valley coach Kevin Rafferty, who had Tyler Kirkwood and Jeff Penny as his top seeds in the two hurdles events. “Leaving the Upstate Eight is like leaving family. It’s an incredibly competitive league. It’s not all that fun saying goodbye to the Upstate Eight, but I’m looking forward to going to the DVC.”
The schools will be rejoining longtime state power Lake Park.
“We won (the conference meet) last year because we didn’t have Lake Park,” Neuqua Valley coach Mike Kennedy said.
The Wildcats dominated the indoor conference meet behind Division I recruits Ty Moss (Nebraska) and Zac Espinosa (Stanford).
“We see some good things to come,” Kennedy said of conference realignment. “We will see some different opportunities and challenges in the DVC.”
“I just think it’s going to be a great experience to host our final meet in the Upstate Eight,” Metea Valley coach Aaron Lewis said. “We are going to bring our best competitors.”
The Mustangs were the lone program in the area not to produce a state qualifier last spring, but Lewis is confident the return of highly touted sophomore Alonzo Taylor — complemented by Jordan Cagigal, Brandon Williams and Kelvin Givantt — will transform the Mustangs’ sprint relays.
Metea also has Brett Boddy, the top seed in the shot put, to add to the fray.
Benet will be the only area program not in the DuPage Valley for the next school year.
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“I think it’s good for the conference,” Naperville Central coach Steve Wiesbrook said of the new additions. “It’s going to make an already strong conference that much stronger.”
Distance rich
Moss and Espinosa have garnered much attention for Neuqua as the Class 3A state leaders, respectively, in the 800 and 400.
But Kennedy has an arsenal of middle and long-distance runners to give the Wildcats legitimate state-trophy expectations.
Neuqua Valley was fourth last year at the state meet.
Connor Horn and Michael Widmann — both of whom were All-Staters for the Wildcats’ fourth-place state cross country team last fall — plus Daniel Weiss and Dominic Dina have won major invitational titles for Neuqua this spring at distances between 800 and 3,200 meters.
“Our distance squad is just tremendous,” Kennedy said. “They’re such a nice, close-knit group. Connor Horn went to Arcadia (a national meet last month) and showed what he can do. One of the challenges we have is that we have more quality runners than we have spots for in conference and the (Plainfield North) sectional.”
Horn and Moss are returning members of the Wildcats’ state champions in the 3,200 relay.
“We have a really strong distance team this year, without a doubt,” Kennedy said. “They are incredible team players who really gel the team together.”
DVC Meet
Naperville Central and Naperville North will travel to Wheaton North on Friday night for the DuPage Valley Conference Meet.
With West Aurora and Glenbard East no longer in the league, the six schools will have three entries each in the 14 individual events.
“Kyle Hilton is the second seed in the 300 hurdles and the third seed in the 110 high hurdles,” Wiesbrook said after the seeding meeting on Wednesday night. “What I tell the kids is the seeds just determine what lane you are in. Everything else is left to be determined.”
Wiesbrook has high hopes for Scott Hicks in the 3,200.
McGavin is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.