Harlem summer sports teams remain busy in track, wrestling

By Bob Balgemann

Reporter

Harlem’s boys and girls track and field teams are coming off a busy week in which the Lady Huskies participated in the District 117 Invitational at suburban Antioch, and then joined the Huskies in a head-to-head conference meet against Boylan Catholic.

Meanwhile, the wrestling squad had two double-dual matches against a mix of NIC-10 and non-conference opponents.

Harlem once again clustered its entries in many of the events against Boylan and two victories were the result. The Lady Huskies cruised, 92-40, while the Huskies had a closer encounter but still prevailed, 63-57.

There were 16 events in the girls competition with Harlem winning 10 of them and showed particularly strong in the field.

Junior Emma Rich won both the shot put and discus, leading the group of teammates that finished 2-5 in the shot and 2-3 in the discus. Senior Kaylin Reese was first in the high jump; senior Brynn Schlaht and company were 1-4 in the pole vault; freshman Whitney Schlaht and teammates came in first through fifth in the long jump; and senior Krista Pearson captured the triple jump. In the triple jump a Boylan entry interrupted the usual consecutive gathering of Lady Huskies, who still wound up 3-5 in that event.

Boylan won the first two sprints, the 100 and 200-meter, while Harlem recovered in the 400 behind junior Aaliyah Haun’s top finish. Goint into the distance events the Lady Vikings won the 800-meter run; Harlem senior Faith Procopio was first in her specialty, the 1,600-meter run.

Harlem prevailed in the 4-by-100, 4-by-200 and 4-by-400-relay races.

Boys results

There also were 16 events on the boys side of the dual meet with Boylan winning 9 of them.

The Vikings ran ahead in the sprints, taking the 100 and 400-meter races. The Huskies did particularly well in the 200-meter with a sweep led by junior Ethan Taylor in 26.09 seconds. 

Boylan won both the 800 and 1,600-meter distance races, but Harlem came back with senior Carter Moski and sophomore Eli Hernandez finishing 1-2 in the 3,200-meter event. Moski’s time was 11:57.68. Sophomore Donovan Turner won the 110-meter high hurdles in 19.70 seconds.

After the two schools split two relay races, the Huskies bounced back in the initial field event, the shot put, behind junior Riley Lundgren’s first place. The Singmouangthong brothers, senior Brandon and sophomore Ean, were 1-2 in the pole vault, but Boylan won the other field competitions: high jump, long jump and triple jump.

Invitational

Harlem had some good individual performances in the 13-school District 117 Invitational led by:

* Junior Hannah Bilodeau, third in the 300-meter low hurdles with a time of 49.71 seconds and sixth in the 100-meter dash, clocked at 13.32 seconds.

* The 4-by-400-meter relay team, consisting of Bilodeau, Whitney Schlaht, Procopio and Haun, who finished third in a field of 14 entries at 4:17.46. That time is eighth best in Harlem history and a new entry on the all-time list.

* Junior DeYana Franco-Daye, third in the triple jump by clearing 33 feet, 1 1/2 inches. That also dented the all-time Harlem list, putting her in eighth place. In addition, she was ninth in the long jump at 15 feet, 1 inch.

* Rich was fourth in the discus; Procopio was sixth in the 800-meter run, timed at 2:29.24; Brynn Schlaht cleared 9 feet even in the pole vault, to tie for seventh; junior Karissa Hernandez took eighth in the 3,200-meter run, in 13:19.74; senior Miranda Marocco was 10th in the 400-meter dash, timed at 1:08.47; and sophomore Gabby Xayasouk came in 10th in the 100-meter high hurdles, in 19.70 seconds.

Grayslake Central won the District 117 Invitational with 91 points, considerably ahead of runner-up Zion-Benton, at 68 points; third-place Guilford, 60; fourth-place Gurnee Warren, 57; and fifth-place Lake Villa Lakes, 53. Harlem’s 25 points put it in 10th place.

Wrestling

Young and struggling with low numbers of participants continue to affect many of Harlem’s wrestling opponents this summer.

In a recent triangular meet against two NIC-10 rivals, the Huskies defeated an undermanned Jefferson squad, 69-0, while dropping a 44-30 decision to Freeport.

The bulk of Harlem’s points came on forfeits, which were awarded to Justin Lewis at 106 pounds; Myles Babcock, 126; A.J. Sauberlich, 132; James Nelson, 138; Marshal Cunz, 160; Collin Swinney, 170; Mason Williams, 220; and Zack Hawkins, 285.

There were four actual matches featuring four Harlem victors that included Tayson Primm, who pinned his 182-pound opponent in an amazingly quick six seconds. The other winners were Donavin Vanderheyden, a pin in 58 seconds at 120 pounds; Jason Taylor, a close 9-7 decision at 145; and Michael Halifax, a pin in 46 seconds at 152.

Seven matches took place in the dual against Freeport, with the Pretzels winning six of them, at 132 pounds, 138, 145, 160, 170 and 220. Harlem won the 285 bout, when Hawkins pinned his opponent in 1:23. Forfeits were claimed by Lewis at 106 pounds; Vanderheyden at 120; and Babcock at 126.

“We knew to Freeport there were some some swing matches we needed to win, but unfortunately we only won one of those,” head coach Sam Enderle said afterward. That victory came from Hawkins, who improved his record to 5-2 so far this season.

Later in the week the Huskies swept the double-dual against Rockford Auburn, winning 66-6, and North Boone, by 57-24.

Once again most of Harlem’s points came on forfeits in the win over Auburn. There only were three matches among the 12 scheduled and Harlem won two of them. Babcock pinned his 126-pound opponent in 26 seconds; Hawkins won by a fall in 1:30.

Babcock (126) went 2-0 for the night when he pinned his North Boone foe, in just 34 seconds. Preceeding him, Vanderheyden won by a fall in 1:31 at 120 pounds.

Taylor, who won by forfeit against the Knights, had the thriller of the evening in his North Boone match, which he won, 11-9. Primm had another quick pin, in 25 seconds, at 182 pounds.