Raiders Track And Field Finish Strong In Glasgow

It was a clear, nearly windless day for the opening meet of the 2014 track and field season for the Hinsdale Raiders.

Something that was missed for the better part of last season.

First up for the Hinsdale girls was Bethany Lacock with a near repeat performance from last year, winning the 100-meter, 100 hurdles, pole vault and the triple jump. She finished in third place in the high jump.

Courtney Capdeville placed second behind Lacock in the pole vault adding points to the team total.

For the boys it was a good first meet. Pablo Pascual was the only one on the boys team to win an event when he blew away the field in the 300 hurdles even though he stumbled over the last two.

Pablo also took fifth in the 100 and fourth in the 200. Good job Pablo!

Brett Johnson was second in the grueling 3,200 coming in just 11 seconds behind the front runner Chance Hyatt of Bainville. The run was just nine seconds short of Brett's PR who showed a very strong push coming out of the final turn.

He still had gas in the tank when he crossed the finish line.

Lukas Johnson won his flight in the shot put and took fifth place overall besting his last year PR by a whopping four feet. Shot put is all a matter of imagining your body as a giant compressed spring. At the same time you must think of the heft of the shot as merely that of a softball.

Using upper body, legs and arm in unison while imaging the spring is uncompressing at the same time can add another 10-15 feet to your throw. Wyatt Pattison finished third behind second place teammate Brett Johnson in the pole vault.

With Dallas Capdeville, the divisions number one vaulter and fourth place finisher in last year's state meet out for the season it's up to Wyatt and Brett to carry those colors.

The Raiders finished fourth in the 400 relay with just a single minor bobble with the first hand-off. It was Val Robert, Hannes Seifert, Pablo Pascual giving a very short lead to Brett Johnson who gutted-it out staying just a fraction of a second ahead of the fifth place team.

These guys are just going to get better as the season rolls on and should make the podium several times.

It was a good start for the Raiders of Hinsdale. The 12 boys and four girls did very well indeed and it looks like it's going to be another great year for the Maroon and White.

That's it for now folks. Thanks for listening.