During the cross country season, Minooka High School was primed for a record-setting performance at the Class 4A state meet in Detweiller Park in Peoria.
It didn’t happen.
All that did was fuel the fire inside the Indians track and field team to a record performance Saturday.
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Minooka earned its highest finish in 34 years and won the 3,200 relay.
The Indians scored 24 points and tied for ninth place with fellow Southwest Prairie Conference member Plainfield South.
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Seniors Danny Bahret and Joe McAsey, junior Dan Popek and sophomore Joey Santillo ran a 7:43.42 in the two-mile relay to become the first state-champion relay team in school history.
It was the third state championship in program history.
Speaking of history, McAsey became the most decorated track and field runner in school history by running a 1:53.49 to place third in the 800. He was fourth in the event as a junior in 2010.
McAsey ends his career with four state medals, which is more than any other Minooka runner in the program’s 57-year history. Donnie Lesniak won two state medals in the 100 and 200 at the 2006 state meet.
Senior Kevin Dorenkamper earned a fourth-place medal in the 300 hurdles in 38.36. It’s the best finish ever by an Indian in a hurdle event. The Indians’ 1,600 relay team of sophomores Dan Ingram and David Wykes and seniors James Salahuddin and McAsey took ninth in 3:22.26.
Joliet West’s Calvin Edwards became the district’s most decorated track and field runner by winning three medals.
The 400 relay of seniors Anthony McCullough, Jon Smith and juniors Steven Austin and Calvin Edwards placed eighth (42.98).
Individually, Edwards took ninth in the 100 (10.98) and the 200 (22.78). He is the third runner in the school’s history to win three or more all-state awards in the same year.
