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Lake Park runs away with repeat
Updated: May 29, 2011 5:18PM
CHARLESTON, Ill. — Zach Ziemek’s message came through loud and clear on Saturday afternoon.
The leader in the Class 3A triple jump after Friday’s preliminaries at Eastern Illinois’ O’Brien Field, Ziemek came out and twice improved his mark. After the last effort — 50 feet, 6.75 inches — Ziemek turned to the visiting grandstand and shouted, “Told you so!” several times.
That was for the doubters, few of whom could be found after triple champ Ziemek and twins Jermaine and Jeremy Kline led Lake Park to a successful defense of their Class 3A title. The Lancers won five of the six field events to outdistance runner-up York 74-43. Thornton and Belleville West tied for third with 39 points each.
Ziemek had a point to prove to some unnamed coaches who had skeptical reactions to the suggestion that he’d pass 50 feet in the triple jump. “They all said, ‘No, he wouldn’t,’” said Ziemek, who went on to even greater heights in the pole vault.
He clinched first in that event by going 15-6 and then cleared 16-0 and 16-6, each on his first try. The bar went up to 17-1.5, an inch above the state-meet record set 19 years ago by Edwardsville’s Daren McDonough. Ziemek couldn’t clear that, but had no regrets after winning three events and outscoring all but four Class 3A teams by himself. His 23-8 long jump effort from Friday held up for first in that event.
“[Lake Park coaches] told us to come out here and compete,” Ziemek said. “We had all the right tools to win the state championship again.”
“We knew he had [three titles] in him,” Lancers coach Jay Ivory said of Ziemek. “But to do it on the biggest stage, the biggest meet of the year is special.”
Jermaine Kline won the Lancers’ other two titles. His state-meet and all-time Illinois outdoor record of 66-5.75 achieved in the prelims held up for the shot put title. Then he popped a 188-1 on his next-to-last discus throw Saturday to beat out his brother Jeremy, who was second in that event (185-10) and third in the shot (61-9.5).
Thornton senior Timothy Faust joined Ziemek in winning three titles, sweeping the short sprints and anchoring the first-place 800 relay team. He ran 10.49 seconds in the 100 and 21.21 in the 200.
“The 100 surprised me,” Faust said. “That’s usually my weaker race.”
Winning that was a double-edged sword, boosting Faust’s confidence and providing motivation for his rivals. “I knew it would make some of the other athletes mad and they would come after me,” he said.
York senior Jack Driggs won the distance double. His late kick won the 3,200 in 9:06.25, edging Oak Park-River Forest’s Malachy Schrobilgen by .55 and Maine South’s David Eckhart by .65. He came back to win the 1,600 by .18 over East Moline’s Cody Webster, running 4:13.31.
“The [metric] mile means so much more than the 2-mile to me,” Driggs said. “I always thought of myself as a 2-miler. ... At 200 [meters to go in the 1,600] Cody still had two steps on me. I asked myself, ‘How bad do you want it?’ ’’
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