4 x 800 meter relay - Saturday finals
This was the race of the day, as far as Sandburg is concerned. The team had been training all year for this event and the excitement was at a fever pitch after they ran the fastest time in the Prelims.
On a beautiful day in Charleston, the starting gun fired and sophomore Chris Torpy carried the baton on the opening leg. Racing against some of the best 800 meter runners in the State, Chris waited for his opportunity and accelerated over the last 200 meters to put Sandburg in great position. His 1:55.4 split was his fastest of the year. Senior Matt Hetzler took the baton from Chris and cruised the first 600 meters, staying in contact with the leaders. Entering the home stretch, he put on the afterburners and pulled away from everyone with a 1:55.5 leg. Matt handed off to sophomore Sean Torpy. As with the first 2 legs, Sean carefully paced the first 400 and then slowly began to widen the gap on the field. By the time he finished with a 1:54.6 split, it was clearly down to a two team race. Neuqua Valley was trailing, but had a tough anchor in Ty Moss. Sean handed off to Sandburg's stud senior, Denis O'Callaghan, and the race was on. At the exchange, it was apparent that both teams were on pace to take a shot at the State Meet record of 7:40.02 set by Jacobs in 2006. Moss gradually closed the gap and it came down to the last 100 meters with both runners straining to hold on to the finish. In the end, Neuqua Valley edged out Sandburg with a winning time of 7:40.21. The Sandburg time of 7:40.77 goes down as the third fastest time in State meet history and broke the old school record (set the day before) by almost 6 seconds. What a great effort by this team, with everyone running their best time of the year!
1600 meter run - Saturday finals
Having spent everything he had in the 4 x 800 meter relay, Denis O'Callaghan doubled back in the 1600 meter run. Although it wasn't his best race, Denis gave all he had left, finishing 12th with a time of 4:29.11.
We're all extremely proud of what this team accomplished this year. We will certainly miss the senior leadership of Denis and Matt and wish them well as they move on to competing at Southern Illinois University and the University of Illinois respectively. Thanks guys!