Boys Track: Geneva wins Upstate River championship

The budding rivalry between St. Charles East’s Jeff Mazanke and Geneva’s Peter Archibald continued to grow on Thursday as the two runners dueled in the 800-meter race at the Upstate Eight River track meet in Geneva.

Mazanke got the better of Archibald this time around, winning in an Upstate Eight Conference record time of 1:53.47.

The previous record of 1:55.0 had been set by Brian Johnson of Glenbard East in 1965 and tied Rick Bell of Naperville Central in 1971.

Archibald set a meet record of his own in the 800 last week when he topped Mazanke at the Kane County meet at West Aurora.

“We’re so close. Peter is an awesome competitor, awesome athlete,” said Mazanke, who also won first place in the 400 (48.90). “We’ve got a five-round fight. County, conference, sectionals and two rounds of state, hopefully, if we can make it.”

The two seniors say their rivalry is a friendly one, and they may even be teammates next season. The Loyola-bound Mazanke is trying to convince Archibald to join him on the Ramblers track team.

“It’d be fantastic to go there (Loyola) and be fantastic to run with him next year,” said Archibald, who took first place in the 1600 (4:25.81). “To carry on this and work together, it’d be awesome.”

The two won’t have to wait long to face off again with both St. Charles East and Geneva competing at the St. Charles North sectional next Thursday.

Archibald and Geneva captured the UEC River title on their home track. The Vikings led with 162.33 points, while Batavia (135), St. Charles North (103.33), St. Charles East (79) and Elgin (44) rounded out the top five. Streamwood (25.33) and Larkin (2) followed.

Geneva had two double champions in Ben Rogers (triple jump and long jump) and Kyle McNeil (shot put and discus). Rogers also took second place in the 200.

“Our core group of seniors can really get the job done,” Rogers said of the Vikings. “Along with our juniors, sophomores and our two freshman jumpers, we seem to be peaking at the right time here. We’ll see what happens.”

Second-place Batavia had two individual champions — Brandon Clabough in the pole vault (14-3) and Marquise Jenkins in the 200 (22.92).

St. Charles North’s Oshay Hodges ran anchor on the North Stars’ first-place 1,600 relay. The senior also placed first in the high jump (6-5), second in the triple jump (45-1) and third in the long jump (20-3).

“I’m happy with everything, but I know I can do a lot better,” said Hodges, who has been battling a heel injury in recent weeks. “I expect to do better next week come sectionals. Hopefully I’m 100 percent and see a lot more (personal records) out of me.”

St. Charles East’s Nick Devor claimed the UEC River crown in the 110 (15.21) and 300 (40.70) hurdles.

Elgin sprinter Terrell Campbell edged teammate Dennis Moore to take first place in the 100. Campbell teamed up with Moore, Devante King and Derek Moorman to finish first in the 800 relay and second in the 400 relay.

“I was just trying to beat my teammate,” Campbell said of the 100. “We’ve been having a week-to-week competition to see who can win the 100 when we both make finals.”

Streamwood’s 400 relay team of Blake Holder, Art Beese, Sean Patterson and Austin Mugnai took first place with a time of 43.04 seconds.

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