Track and Field

April 21, 2007

Spring Bloom!

"Lane Tech... is seeing a resurgence in its track programs"- Daily Herald

Lane Tech Boys Track Team Takes Highland Park Invitational

It's been really cold this spring so far. However, on the first beautiful night this spring with perfect running temperature of about 64 degrees, the hard work Lane Tech has done the last few months has finally begin to bloom.  Lane Tech out battled Lake Zurich 119-101 to take the second annual Highland Park Twighlight track meet. What made this victory especially wonderful was that this meet was described by coach Roof as an "elite meet", meaning there was some serious competition. Participating in this meet was New Trier, Highland Park, Lake Zurich, Vernon Hills, Lakes, Mather, and Warren.

    This meet was Lane Tech's only 5th meet of the outdoor track season but only the first one with suburban competition. Lane stepped up to the challenge. Lane Tech won first place finishes by Troy McAllsiter  in the long jump () x, and Fuad Salami in the 100 meters(10.7). Lane also scored big points by Jay Jordan in the 110 meter high hurdles (2nd place), Sam Pelligrino in the discus (2nd place), among others.  Amazingly, Lane Tech won despite not having Gerald Turner, their top hurdler. According to Lane Tech Assistant coach Anthouny Jones, Turner was visiting potential colleges (maybe Hampton).

    The highly touted Lake Zurich boys track team was Lane's biggest challenger all night in sprint events.  But it took Lake Zurich breaking two meet and field records in the 400 relay and the 800 relay in order to beat Lane Tech.  In the 400 relay, Lake Zurich's football star Dan Kalcsics edged Lane Tech sophomore Chrsitoper Kyles to set a field record with a time of 42.2. The 800 relay was again won by Lake Zurich. Lane Tech had the lead on the first leg of the race when Fuad Salami gave Lane a good start. But Lake Zurich took the lead and anchor leg Christopher Kyles could not make up the difference.

    Fuad Salami's winning time of 10.7 in the 100 meter dash is not only one of the fastest times run outdoors in the state this year, but also set Highland Park High School twighlight meet record and the all-time record ever on the Highland Park High School track.

Video Interview with Fuad Salami:

Lane also crushed Public League rival Mather in this meet. Both team ran their best runners in this Invitational. With this victory over Mather, Lane Tech is now clearly the favorite to win next months city track championship. Next up for Lane is the last regular season meet of the year as they travel next Friday night to Mt. Prospect for the Prospect Invitational where one of the area's top track team York awaits them. This may be Lane's year. The last time Lane Tech won the Prospect Invitational was likely n 1988 when Lane Tech led by sprinter Dwight Gunn, out battled York for the team title.

Complete results, Videos, and Pictures coming soon...

Lane Tech's Jay Jordan (Center) battles with Lakes freshman Marcell Kirkmanbey in the Prelims of the 100 meter High Hurdles. www.LaneTechFan.com

Fuad Salami broke the field record in the 100 meter dash with a time of 10.7 seconds. www.LaneTechFan.com photo

Fernando Arroyo (right) on his way to victory in the frosh-soph 3200 meter run. www.LaneTechfan.com photo