Larmore goes out with a bang at State

Greg Larmore of the Warriors tosses the discus in Saturday's finals at the IHSA state track meet. He placed ninth with a personal-best 160-4.
(Jon Durr/For STNG)

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BOYS TRACK -- Greg Larmore ended his high school track-and-field career with a thud.

But it wasn't a dull result at all; the thud in this case was the sound of a discus hitting the ground.

Deerfield's senior unleashed a personal-best throw of 160-4 during Saturday's IHSA Class 3A state meet in Charleston -- on his very last fling. The Warrior bowed for a ninth-place medal after the effort.

He advanced to the finals after tossing the discus 153-6 in Friday's preliminaries. Lake Park's Dan Block wound up winning the event with an astounding 205-8 chuck.

"It was an amazing performance by Greg," Deerfield track coach Jeremy Kauffman said. "Most guys, when they compete against a guy like Dan Block, stop and watch him compete. But Greg didn't star-watch; he was focusing on his own technique, on being patient. He was never too high, never too low. Greg is such an intelligent athlete, and he showed a tremendous amount of maturity during the competition."

It marked the second straight spring in which a Warriors thrower collected a state medal. Chris McIntyre placed ninth in shot put last year.

Kip, Kip, Hooray: Kauffman praised Deerfield throws coach Kip Gasper for his work with the Warriors' outstanding weight men this spring.

"He did another unbelievable job for us," Kauffman said.

Two More: Deerfield's 3200-meter relay team of Pat Wylie, Dan Gold, Billy Malmed and Ilan Kedar finished 22nd (7:58.95) at state in a fast preliminary field.

"Most years, that time is good enough for a medal (top 9)," Kauffman said. "It was a very good time, but you needed a great time to medal this year. I'm very proud of the boys' effort."

Warriors senior Austin Friedman, the reigning Lake County and CSL North champion in pole vault, placed 19th (13-0) in the event at state.

"He was pushing hard, running hard. The adrenaline was pumping like never before," Kauffman said. "He looked really good on an attempt at 13-6. Austin proved that he deserved to be competing among the elite."

Next Up: Larmore plans to throw the discus at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.