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player ready...Neuqua Valley senior Jake McEneaney has tasted success at the highest levels possible.
He was a member of the Class 3A state championship cross country team, helping the Wildcats qualify for the national championship race.
“Obviously, we had a phenomenal season,” McEneaney said.
But the North Carolina recruit will experience something new for his last weekend as a high school athlete.
“This will be my first time at the state track meet,” McEneaney said.
Behind four state-qualifying relays, the Wildcats captured the 3A Naperville North Sectional last week.
Neuqua also has eight individual qualifiers among the 15 local entrants at the two-day state meet this weekend at O’Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois.
McEneaney, a member of the 3,200-meter relay that won the sectional, made the state cut in the 1,600 as well. He missed virtually his entire track season as a junior due to a stress fracture in his tibia.
“It was hard, especially because junior year is so important for college recruitment,” McEneaney said. “I thought I could have done a lot of good things at state.”
McEneaney will skip Friday’s 3,200 relay preliminaries to focus on the 1,600.
“If we make the finals (in the relay), I will be running on Saturday,” McEneaney said. “The team score with the relays is going to take precedent.”
McEneaney is the ninth seed in the 1,600.
“It’s a very deep field,” McEneaney said.
“There are some great milers in Illinois,” Neuqua distance coach Paul Vandersteen said.
The Wildcats took first in the 3,200 relay in 2014.
Isaiah Robinson, a Southern California-bound senior, Josh Mollway and Tyler Bombacino will compete in the 3,200 relay this weekend. Robinson ran on two other state-qualifying relays as well.
“I haven’t decided on the fourth kid yet (in the relay),” Vandersteen said of the Friday prelims. “If we find a fourth guy who can run a (2-minute), 56 or 57 (seconds), we can be pretty dangerous.”
The Wildcats’ 3,200 foursome at Naperville North ran the fourth-fastest time among state qualifiers.
Neuqua has high hopes for trophy contention behind its stable of distance runners, Donovan Turner in the 110 hurdles and Myles Gascon in the 100.
If it were a poker tournament, the Wildcats would be going all-in with their relays.
“My real hope is that all four relays are going to be All-State,” Neuqua Valley coach Mike Kennedy said.
JaQuere Williams, a senior, is the lone returning member of the Wildcats’ defending state-champion 800 unit.
The Wildcats’ central aim this weekend is bringing home a trophy.
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“But what we are focusing on is getting guys on the podium,” Kennedy said. “You can’t get a trophy without scoring points.”
McEneaney is up to the challenge.
“Neuqua Valley is all I have known athletically and academically,” McEneaney said. “The best approach, for the seniors, is business as usual. We are trying to come home with a trophy.”
Among the other local state qualifiers, Naperville North senior Kristoffer Heinz advanced in the high jump and 400. The Huskies’ Doug Howard is the fifth seed in the long jump.
Tre’Von Petty in the 100 and Wes York in the 800 are Waubonsie Valley’s hopefuls.
Naperville Central senior Peter Villanova won the sectional to advance in the 800.
Metea Valley also has one qualifier out of the Hoffman Estates Sectional in 100 specialist Alonzo Taylor-Jones.
Kevin McGavin is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.