Hagberg's hurdles lift Burlington Central to 4th

South Elgin's Deanton Failla and Burlington Central's Tommy Gast competed in the 200.

(Michael Smart/Courier News)

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A nearly hour-long lightning delay at the Kane County Boys Track Meet in Geneva on Friday couldn't have come at a better time for Burlington Central's Dan Hagberg.

After the ominous clouds cleared away and the 40-mile-per-hour wind gusts calmed down, Hagberg went on to repeat as champion in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles.

The victory in the 110 hurdles was the first event after action resumed. Hagberg cruised to the win with a time of 14.97, nearly a second better than his closest competitor.

"It was really nice to get that break," Hagberg said. "It was perfect timing. During warm-ups the wind was breaking us down, but the weather was a lot better when we came back out. I was able to get off to a good start and hold the lead."

Hagberg won the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.11 seconds.

"There's always pressure to repeat," Hagberg said, "but that's a good thing. It's a good feeling to have everybody else chasing you."

Central finished fourth overall in the meet with 56 points behind champions West Aurora (109), Geneva (98) and Batavia (62).

Ryan Phebus was a champion in the 800-meter run for the Rockets in 1:56.25. After leading the whole way, Phebus was able to hold off a late push by Max Clink of St. Charles North to win by .32 seconds.

"When I saw him pulling even with me I knew I had to do something," Phebus said. "My legs were dying so I just leaned forward and pushed a little harder."

Dundee-Crown finished a point behind Central in fifth place. The Chargers didn't have a first-place finisher, but did get a pair of second-place finishes from Aaron Reams in the 110-meter hurdles and the triple jump.

"On paper we were probably seeded the seventh team, but our goal was to get into the top five," Dundee-Crown coach Tom Smith said. "So I am real pleased with our overall performance. (Reams) stepped up and had a big night for us and the relay teams did a little better than expected."

St. Charles North finished sixth just a point behind D-C. The North Stars had a couple of first-place finishes from their distance runners -- Chris DeSilva and Mike Strasser. Strasser almost checked in too late for the 3,200 run, but went on to win the event in a driving rain storm with a time of 9:32.15.

"It didn't go exactly as planned," Strasser said. "I was a little tense and upset with myself for getting mixed up on the starting time and almost missing the race. Then the elements almost made it tough, but it was just one of those nights where I realized I wasn't going to have my best time. I just had to fight through it."

DeSilva came within just over a second of breaking his brother Matt's meet record in the 1,600 run. DeSilva grabbed the lead in the third lap and then pulled away from the pack in the final lap to finish in 4:19.64.

"I wasn't so concerned with breaking my brother's record," DeSilva said. "I got the school record from him so I'll just have to be happy with that."

St. Charles East finished ninth. Elgin took 12th. High School Boys Track