Two Tigers vault their way to state

Elmwood Park's Lonny Daniels clears the bar in the pole vault during competition at the Class 2A Glenbard South Track and Field Sectional Championship on Friday. Daniels won the event to qualify for the state finals.
(Dan Luedert/Staff Photographer)

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BOYS TRACK-- When it comes to the pole vault, Elmwood Park has two of the best. Lonny Daniels and Bart Marcyzk both qualified for this weekend's IHSA Class 2A State Finals after finishing 1-2, respectively, at Friday night's Glenbard South Sectional. Daniels won the final competition with a leap of 13 feet, while Marcyzk was runner-up with an effort of 12-3.

Joining Daniels and Marcyzk at state, which is at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, is Matt Plata, who made it in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.44 seconds (fourth place). Daniels also qualified for state in the 110-meter hurdles.

"I still have three (athletes) left to coach one more week," head coach Matt Weldon said. "This was a great group of kids and it's a shame that I'm losing several top seniors."

Because the IHSA added a class in boys track this year, Weldon said he could not compare this year's effort to previous seasons. In 2007, Elmwood Park was seeded in the same sectional with powerhouse York, which finished second in the state. Thus, the Tigers did not fare as well. Weldon says the increase in classes created more balance and made it easier for Elmwood Park to qualify more competitors.

This is the first trip to state for the three from Elmwood Park. Daniels says it is a good chance to continue practicing and staying sharp.

"I'm speechless," said Daniels, who is a senior. "It's a great feeling to make it in my last year. I got only one day of practice in this week on the pole vault. I wasn't sure how I would do. I made it on my last vault. I'm also thrilled with my time in the 110."

Marcyzk missed his first attempt at 12-9 and said he wasn't sure if he had enough energy to make another attempt.

"It was close," Marcyzk said. "If R-B (Matt Waas of Riverside-Brookfield) made it past 12-9, I wouldn't be going downstate. If he missed it, I would be there."

As it turned out, Waas also finished at 12-3, but missed qualifying because of the number of misses he had.

"There was good competition and there were people who I didn't think could clear some of the heights," Marcyzk said. "I thought I could do better, perhaps 12-9, but I'm satisfied."

Marcyzk missed making the cut in the 100- and 400-meter dashes, taking fifth in the 100 in 11.56, while finishing the 400 in 52 seconds for third place.

Plata had to play the waiting game, as he wasn't sure if he made it until the meet was finished and the stadium lights were turned off. Then came the announcement.

"I'm proud of myself," Plata said. "I gave it my all in the 200, pushing myself as far as I could go."

Plata also competed in the 100, and the 400 and 800 relays.

"I didn't do well in the 100, but I still got fourth place," Plata said.

Samih Asfour was eighth (5:07.00) in the high jump, and seventh in the discus (120-05), while Jacob Dabrowiecki finished 10th in the long jump with a mark of 18-04. He also placed fifth (38-10.25) in the triple jump.

Adam Grutz placed fifth in the shot put with a toss of 44-04, while teammate Tom Majczan was seventh (40-10.50). Martin Bednarczyk ran the 3,200-meter run in 11:00.72, and Kevin Castro ran 800 run in 2:17.91.

Elmwood Park's two state qualifiers performed well at the state finals last weekend in Charleston, but they still fell short of making it to Saturday's finals.

Ali Filbin vaulted 9 feet in Friday's preliminaries and just missed advancing to the finals. She placed 13th out of 27 competitors. She cleared 9-0 on her first attempt.

"She ends her season as a state qualifier and a school record holder," head coach John Kingsmill said.

Alexa Kucera ran the 100-meter hurdles in 17.1 seconds to finish 22nd out of 27.

"Alexa also finished the year as a school record holder and a conference champion," Kingsmill said. In fact, Alexa has been the conference champion in both hurdles (100 and 300) for the past three years. She has been the most dominant athlete in the conference and the most successful athlete at Elmwood Park."