West shows progress at Prospect Relays

Maine West's Jared Golojuch prepares to deliver the shot put during Saturday's Prospect Relays. The veteran senior helped the Warriors place third in shot put with a team-best toss of 47 feet, 8 inches.
(Dan Luedert/Staff Photographer)

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Maine West remains upbeat when other teams in a similar situation might not. The Warriors faced a rebuilding year and learned last week that senior Dan Hardt -- its top performer and one of two returning State qualifiers -- is likely out for the season with a recurrent hamstring strain.

"We can still accomplish a lot this year as a team and as individuals while helping the program for next year," said veteran senior distance runner Brian Katamay. "The older guys came in with a positive attitude and a good work ethic. That has rubbed off on our underclassmen, who are really shining."

There are already signs of progress. West finished last in the CSL North indoor meet March 14 at Maine East. But the Warriors posted a respectable fifth-place showing during Saturday's highly competitive Prospect Relays, an eight-team event won by the host Knights.

West may have lost Hardt, but it still boasts the double-barreled star-power of juniors Martin and Juan Chavez. The twin brothers smoked the last two legs of the 1600-meter relay and 1600 medley relay Saturday to lead the Warriors to two of their four third-place finishes.

Juan Chavez qualified for the state meet last spring in the 1600-meter relay. Martin gained State experience on the same relay by replacing then-senior Marino Jozic, who missed out because of illness. This year, Juan missed the first half of the indoor season with a sprained ankle. He returned for the league meet and helped the Warriors place first in the 1600 relay --with Martin Chavez, senior Akash Patel and junior Pawel Mirek.

"We'd like to go back to State again in the (1600) relay, but after Martin and Juan, we need to determine the other two spots among six or seven kids," said Maine West head coach Andy Trotter. "Martin is having a super season. He's very enthusiastic. In Juan, we have more of a known quantity. This is Martin's first year doing track full-time, and it's made all the difference in the world. He played volleyball his freshman year and split time between volleyball and track last year."

Fast approaching State-qualifying paces, Martin ran his 800 medley relay leg in 2 minutes, 0.1 seconds and his 400 split in 51.2 seconds on Saturday.

"I want to make State in the (1600) relay and also in the 800. I'm faster this year, but I think I can improve quite a bit," said Martin as Juan nodded approvingly.

Seniors Jared Golojuch and Alex Dumitriu led West to its other two third-place finishes at Prospect -- in the shot put and discus. Golojuch tossed the shot 47-8.

Anchoring both hurdles relays, senior Eric Nash displayed State potential. Nash is one of the candidates for a spot in the sprint relays. So is sophomore Stephan Marrone, who ran two strong splits Saturday.

Katamay recovered from an injury last fall and finished ninth in the cross country conference meet. He ran a strong 1600 leg in the 3200 medley Saturday and is a threat in every distance event.

West's future looked bright as four youngsters combined for fourth place in the 6400 relay. Sophomore Kevin Schaefer turned in a 4:50 split, and freshman Tim Bugajsky came in at 4:56. Sophomores Olgar Somo and Oscar Gomez also ran well.

Long jumpers Brian Sloma, Dominick Bagneschi, sophomore Carlos Trejo and freshman Jezz Buluran added a fourth-place finish. Also placing fourth were Buluran, Patel, Ben McGuiggen and Brian Waters in the 800 medley relay.

"I thought we did well (Saturday). The quality of the meet was the best it's ever been," Trotter said. "Our goal was to improve when we got outdoors and then keep improving. We still have to make big strides, but we can be a competitive team."

The big Prospect event was only the second outdoors for Maine West, which competed in a cold, unscored meet at Glenbrook North April 1.

The Warriors opposed host Maine South and Maine East on Wednesday, and will visit Lyons Township April 16 before competing in the Huskie Relays at Hersey April 18.