WW South, Wheaton North roll at DVC

Updated: May 13, 2011 10:43PM

You don’t score 119.5 points at the DuPage Valley Conference championship meet without a multidimensional team performance.

Friday, West Aurora got strong showings from both its track and its field events. The Blackhawks finished third in the DVC, behind only Wheaton Warrenville South and Wheaton North. Those schools turned in efforts of 148 and 124 points, respectively.

“I was very proud of the team tonight,” West Aurora coach Cortney Lamb said. “We came in here and we knew we were going against some quality teams—I mean, the Wheatons are very, very good. The guys came in and, in all areas, at all levels—both frosh/soph and varsity, competed very well and I was very proud of the way they came in and just showed a lot of heart. And it’s a great thing going towards the sectional meet next week. It gives us a lot of confidence and you know what, we’re going to go out there and try to get a sectional title next week.”

Marcus Waller took home the DVC title in the 110 meter hurdles, finishing in 14.97 seconds in the final. That bested his first-place preliminary mark of 15.25.

Waller also won the 300 meter hurdles in 39.51.

Teammate Patrick Schultz (39.86) finished second in the 300 hurdles and Matt Muth (4:28.08) placed second in the 1600 meter run.

The Blackhawks’ 3,200 relay team of Calvin Robinson, Zach Truckenbrod, Vontrell Hawkins and Omar Gomez combined for an 8:14.26 race. They finished second only to Wheaton Warrenville South’s team of Carl Anderson, Luke Schroer, Dan Krob and Collin Fedor.

West Aurora also made a splash in the field events, where the team captured two first-place finishes and one second place. Senior George Malina pole-vaulted to a finals-best height of 13-09.00. Alex Chollet (168-04) and Elawrence Langston (156-07) finished Nos. 1 and 2 in the discus.

Malina said physically and mentally grueling practices helped prepare him for the demands of the DVC meet.

“They were physically exhausting practices,” he said. “They were good practices, just kind of rough physically.”

The mental part of stretching his performance limits may have helped him the most amid the stiff DVC competition.

“Just being able to get the height in practice was just getting me ready to know that I could do it here when I got to that point,” Malina said.

He had one regret: “I wish I would have gotten 14 (feet) today but it just wasn’t there. Maybe next week at sectionals I’ll get 14-03.”

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