Title a pleasant surprise for KV

Updated: May 19, 2011 11:02PM

The numbers do lie sometimes.

Can’t account for the human variable that makes a difference when the competition begins.

Kankakee Valley was looking at maybe second place going into the Rensselaer Sectional in terms of seeding and position if the Kougars had a good night. Maybe.

It was a big deal for the team and coach Dan Roberts when they pretty much lapped the field Thursday, piling up 120 points. Hebron finished second with 85 while Winamac was third with 82.

“I’m ecstatic really,” Roberts said. “On paper, we came in here expecting to battle it out for second place. My kids really overachieved.”

It was one of those classic cases of getting points where they least expected it and then mostly doing well where they thought they’d do well.

The Kougars didn’t excel in the verticals — the high jump and the pole vault — something Roberts was surprised by.

But they went second (Bo Vanderwoude) and third (Michael Smith) in the 200 and second (Vanderwoude) in the 100. They were unseeded in both of those events.

“That was 28 points we didn’t expect to get,” Roberts said.

Roberts said he had a meeting of the mind with some of his seniors (Vanderwoude and Bobby Hearod) in the locker room on Thursday, telling them it was time to perform. The little talk paid off.

They also set a school record in the 400 relay, running a 44.98. The old record was 45.4.

“I’ve been gearing for that for a decade,” Roberts said.

Hearod was big for the Kougars also.

He won the 110 hurdles and finished third in the 300 hurdles.

Hearod was mostly happy about running on a picture perfect night. There was very little wind and it wasn’t unbearably hot or cold.

“Seems like every time I ran this year the wind was in my face,” he said. “Tonight was very nice.”

Hearod was hoping to pull off a double victory in the hurdles but he injured himself slightly on the second hurdle in the 300, pulling his groin.

“I just felt it a little,” he said. “I still ran good. I just wanted to make sure I qualified for regionals. I’ll get healed up and run next week.”

Isaiah Thomas of Morgan Township, just a sophomore, had a good night. Thomas won the 100, the 200 and the long jump.

Thomas was relieved to get it all over with. He was expected to win all three and he did.

It’s the first time he had been in that position where he was the favorite. Last year, Thomas focused only on the 400 relay.

“I was nervous, “ he said. “Last year wasn’t a good day.”

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