The Aurora Greenmen track & field teams defended their home track as the boys recaptured the John Kudley Invitational title by scoring 157.0 points and the girls repeated as champions for the fourth straight year, scoring 140.0 points last Thursday evening at Veterans Stadium.
“The guys were ecstatic that they got the title back that they lost last year to Streetsboro, so being able to come back and win the meet on our own track, all of the stars aligned, and it was a great night for everybody,” said boys’ Coach Chris Radtke.
The Greenmen boys were fueled by their depth, having athletes place in the top eight in eight individual events and excelled in the relays, by winning three of the four events.
Senior Luke McGovern paced Aurora in the sprints, winning the 100-meter dash by setting a personal record 10.90 seconds, taking second place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.37 seconds and finished as the runner-up in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.99 seconds, and was also a member of the first place 4×100 relay team.
“I could talk about Luke until tomorrow because he is great kid,” added the nine-year coach. “Just when I think we have coached him to a point where I don’t think that there is any more meat on the bone and he can get any better, he finds another 1/10th of a second. To go those four races, it is not easy and to win two of them and be second in two of them, he earned the MVP.”
The team of sophomores Carson Aardema, Oliver Nenedal, juniors Brayden Stenger and Austin Tong won the 4×800 relay with a time of 8:35.43.
Junior Alex Buleski captured fourth place in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking 17.24 seconds followed by senior Josh Guzy who took seventh place at 19.20 seconds.
The quartet of seniors Dorian Gooden Johnny Trivisonno, junior Aaron Choong and sophomore Jayden Orr snagged 3rd place in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:33.79.
Senior Nathan Eminian won the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:33.94 and captured first place in the 3200-meter run by clocking 9:52.88.
“Nate is a great kid, so easy to root for,” noted Radtke. “He is the heart and soul of the distance team, always positive, always pushing guys and the younger guys see how hard he works and want to be just like him, so he is great all of the way around.”
Seniors Luke Geyer and Quincy John teamed up with Gooden and McGovern to win the 4×100 relay, setting a meet record of 42.37 seconds.
Guzy came in second place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.30 seconds, followed by Buleski who wrapped up sixth place by clocking 46.17 seconds.
Stenger took sixth place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:58.25.
Junior Cooper Ertle placed fifth in the 400-meter dash with a personal best 53.85 seconds.
Junior Charles Lang came in sixth place in the 3200-meter run by clocking 11:09.11.
Aardema finished as the runner-up in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:05.09, followed by Tong who came in third place with a personal record 2:05.42.
Senior Nicholas Felice joined forces with Ertle, Aardema and Orr to take first place in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:30.40.
Trivisonno won the long jump by recording 21 feet, 2 inches and placed second in the high jump, clearing the bar at 6 feet, 2 inches. Gooden placed fifth in the long jump with a jump of 19 feet.
Sophomore Jacoby Schadle earned third place in the shot put, throwing 47 feet, 2½ inches.
Senior Xavier Board came in eighth place in the discus throw, recording 127 feet, 6 inches.
Sophomore Lucas Emrich snagged sixth place in the pole vault by clearing the bar at 9 feet, 6 inches, followed Lang who took eighth place at 9 feet.
The Aurora girls reigned as the John Kudley Invitational champions again by winning eight events, including setting seven meet records to win their second consecutive invitational in less than a week.
“It is not easy to win any invitational and to pull off two wins in a very short amount of time makes it difficult,” said girls’ Coach Greg Cicero. “We had some tired legs on Thursday, but it was the home invitational and they wanted to perform well.”
Senior Isabella Cicero sparked Aurora by winning the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.45 seconds and the 400-meter dash, setting a meet record 58.47 seconds, was a member of the first place 4×400 relay team and placed third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.06 seconds. Senior Isabelle Leindecker flanked Isabella in 200-meter dash by taking fourth place at 27.19 seconds and finishing as the runner-up in the 400-meter dash with a personal record 58.79 seconds.
“Right now, the key is consistency and right now she is turning in consistent, great 400-meter and 200-meter dashes,” noted the four-year coach. “It is just that resilience, we need her at times, and it also helps that if one our seniors is out there doing that, our freshman picks up on that and they dig into it as well.”
Freshman Lela Buleski wrapped up seventh place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 54.27 seconds, followed by freshman McKenzie Kilroy who came in eighth place by clocking 54.87 seconds.
Freshman Claire Jenkins won the 800-meter run with a meet record 2:19.26, followed by freshman Evelyn Jenkins who took second place with a personal record 2:28.51.
Evelyn won the 800-meter run by clocking a meet and personal record 5:15.32, followed by senior Abigail Rogonjic who earned third place with a personal best 5:31.90.
Freshman Audrey Miller captured first place in the 3200-meter run, clocking a meet and personal record 11:01.70, followed by senior Brooke Palian who snagged third place with time of 12:40.93.
The team of Evelyn, Rognjic, Miller and Claire won the 4×800 relay with a meet record 9:42.93.
Leidecker joined forces seniors Brooke Pierce and Olivia Leon and sophomore Sydney Langham to place second in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:49.53.
The quartet of sophomore Khloe Hayward, freshman Madaline Williams, Langham and Pierce came in third place in the 4×100 relay, clocking a time of 52.28 seconds.
Claire, Leon, Leindecker and Isabella formed the winning team in the 4×400 relay with a meet record 4:04.28.
Senior Riley Verespej captured first place in the pole vault, setting a meet record by clearing the bar at 11 feet, 1 inch.
“Riley is one of the toughest competitors I have ever been around,” added Coach Cicero. “There is a lot of growth just in her approach this year and her mental growth is huge. She can still picture last year and how her season ended, and she does not want that to happen again so she is out there and she is competing and she is pushing herself.”
Hayward netted sixth place in the long jump with 14 feet, 6½ inches, followed by Leon, who placed eighth with 14 feet, 5½ inches.
After a home dual against Suburban League American Conference foe Kent Roosevelt on Wednesday, the Greenmen will host Hudson for a crossover league duel on April 28 at Veterans Stadium at 5 p.m.
