Riverside Brookfield High School senior Jack O’Brien has high hopes for reaching his third Class 3A boys track and field state meet. As usual, some early outdoor answers will come Saturday with the boys and girls teams playing host to the annual Bulldog Relays.
“This one has always been the first true-test outdoor race and you want to make a statement on your home track because that’s where your family, friends are,” O’Brien said. “It’s obviously one of the big outdoor meets for us.”
O’Brien and seniors Hayden Marrs and Will Kallas return from the Bulldogs’ Class 3A state-qualifying 4 x 800-meter (24th, 8:04.20) and 4 x 400 (25th, 3:26.31) relays. Junior Brady Norman qualified in the 3,200 (43rd, 10:04.01) and ran a lifetime-best 9:33.72, March 23, just shy of the new 9:33.35 state-qualifying standard. O’Brien ran 1:59.43 in the 800 on March 8.
Senior Will Smithing was a 2022 state qualifier in the 300 intermediate hurdles (21st, 43.65). O’Brien and Marrs first gained 2021 state relay experience with the 4 x 800 (24th, 8:25.71) and O’Brien with the 4 x 400 (21st, 3:36.82).
The distance group also has contributed to winning the 2022 2A state cross country championship and returning to state in 3A, Nov. 4, taking 21st.
Kallas could also reach state in pole vault, clearing 4.26 meters/14 feet, March 23 and 13-8 on March 9 to break the 13-6 all-time school record from 1982. The 4 x 400 relay is chasing the 3:24.7 school record, also from 1982.
“Right now, we have five guys vying for four spots,” O’Brien said. “A school record is something that’s definitely within reach for us.”
The girls seek their first state berths under new coach Lillian Holubek, a 2016 RBHS graduate who was an assistant the past two seasons and the girls cross country assistant this past fall.
Junior Gianna Gelb has qualified twice individually for 2A state cross country in 2021 and 2022. At last year’s sectional, Gelb was fourth in the 1,600 (5:43.89) while senior Maia Nelson (3,200) and the 4 x 800 were fifth.
“Having competed in track when I went here, I am thrilled to step into the role of head coach,” Holubek said. “I have an amazing group of coaches and we’re excited to transition to outdoors.”
The boys have won or shared the last three Metro Suburban Conference Blue titles, winning the 4 x 400 relay finale with Marrs, Kallas and O’Brien (3:27.98) to share the 2023 crown with Aurora Central Catholic (128 points). The MSC consists of four teams with Elmwood Park, Ridgewood and Westmont. RBHS will join the Upstate Eight next season.
Other MSC event champions were O’Brien (400 in 51.42) and Kallas (3.65m/12-0 in pole vault), Norman (3,200 in 10:06.09) and the 4 x 800 relay with seniors Evan McMullen and Brennan Lester, Marrs and O’Brien (8:32.39). Also all-conference with top-three individual or top-two relay finishes were second-place Kallas (400) and third-place Smithing (110 high and 300 hurdles), juniors Diego Lopez-Molina (3,200) and Asa Kahle (triple jump) and Norman (1,600).
The girls (114) were second to Wheaton Academy (140.5) in the MSC and have seven all-conference returnees with senior high jump champion Morgan Anderson (1.42m/4-8), second-place senior Antonia O’Keefe (discus) and Gelb (1,600), third-place seniors Jenny Thomas (triple jump) and Sophia Singh (100 high hurdles) and the second-place 4 x 800 relay with senior Maria Dalton, junior Jorie Eggers and Gelb.
Eggers no longer splits time with soccer as he did in 2023. Sophomore Addie Vaia showed promise during cross country while splitting time with volleyball.
Other boys to watch include seniors Eamon Ryan, Khrysler Jimenez and David Kummer and juniors Matt Torrens, Wayne Torrens and Mateo Santini.
