Redhawks' Thayer answers Bell

Neuqua Valley's Chris Youngstrom (left) and Oswego's Martin King (middle) can't keep up with Thornton's William Lindsey who wins the 100m high hurdles.
(Stacia Timonere/For the Sun-Times)

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Naperville Central senior Evan Thayer didn’t think the Redhawks were going to run at Saturday’s John Bell boys track invitational at West Aurora, because temperatures were in the low 40s, it was raining and windy.

But the meet did go on, one of the few in the Chicago area that did on Saturday. Thayer took advantage of the opportunity to come from behind to win the 1,600-meter run in 4:30.06. Thayer also ran the anchor leg on Naperville’s winning 3,200 relay team, which finished in 8:14.37.

It was the first outdoor meet of the season for Thayer and the Redhawks.

“Tuesday’s meet was cancelled and it’s weird because we’re halfway through the outdoor season,” said Thayer, who is recovering from a sinus infection. “I would have liked to have had a little faster time, but I’m happy and it’s just really good to go outside.”

Thayer said he made his move with half a lap left and was running in about third place.

“I wanted to see what I had left and I went out slow,” Thayer said. “I felt pretty tired but I wanted to work my way up and work through it. [Usually] you find that with 200 meters to go you’re in a good position to race someone.”

Host West Aurora won the meet with 86 points, followed by Neuqua Valley (77.5) and Wheaton Warrenville South (66).

Neuqua Valley, the preseason No. 1 team, was competing without its four top runners -- Chris Derrick, Jim Riddle, Danny Pawola and Aaron Beattie. The foursome and head coach Mike Kennedy were at a meet in Arcadia, Calif. Assistant coach Steve Saul was taking over for Kennedy.

“Aaron ran the two-mile [Friday night] in 9:24.0 and the other guys are running this evening,” Saul said. “I think this was a good day and everyone is having a postitive attitude despite the weather, and we’re not too focused on times.”

Saul was pleased with his team’s depth, but singled out triple jumper Tim Chung whose leap of 40-6 3/4 was a personal best. And in the 400 and 800 relays, Saul praised Nate Pena, who led the Wildcats to two runner-up finishes in those events.

Neuqua’s Sam Wildeman won the pole vault with a clear of 12-4.

Thornton’s William Lindsey was a double winner in the 110 high hurdles and 300 low hurdles. Lindsey won the 110s in a commanding 14.75 seconds over Oswego’s Martin King (15.17). Lindsey won the 300s in 40.73.