West Chicago senior Jim Foreman had an uncharacteristic performance last weekend.

He finished 10th at 14 feet, 6 inches. Foreman placed fourth as a junior.

“I think in order to place higher, he needed to jump bigger,” West Chicago pole vault coach Paul Omi said. “He wasn’t quite on. Disappointment is part of pole vaulting, and so is determination."

Foreman’s career-best was 15-3 during the indoor season this year. He cleared 15-0 at the sectional.

“In practice, he had good jumps,” Omi said. “He couldn’t put that out there on a consistent basis.”

The Wildcats’ Ken Klein ran 16.29 in the 110 high hurdles prelims.

Wheaton South

A year ago, Wheaton Warrenville South’s 4 x 800-meter relay was something of a surprise for making the finals.

Last Saturday, the Tigers undoubtedly shocked onlookers as the state runner-up in the event.

“It was a three second (season-best),” Wheaton Warrenville South senior Joel Morrison said of the 7:49.90 clocking. “We were all pretty proud. This year, we all dropped time. We knew more about what we needed to do than we did last year.”

Senior Evan Possley, senior Greg Weigand, Morrison and junior Randall Babb entered the Class AA state meet as the No. 6 seed, but turned in the second-best time (7:47.82) in the fastest prelim heat last Friday in Charleston. They held their ground in the finals last Saturday in the finals at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium.

They trailed only Glenbard South (7:47.68) after the prelims. York changed its lineup for the finals and won in 7:49.37.

“We came in going for third and hoping for second,” Babb said. “We’re just happy.”

Possley had the Tigers in fourth place through 400 meters but fell off to sixth by the first exchange in the highly competitive field. Weigand turned the baton over to Morrison in seventh place, but WWS didn’t stay there long. By 200 meters, the senior had taken fourth and third by the final straightaway.

On the last exchange, Morrison had the Tigers in second place.

“When I got the baton, we were right up on York’s runner,” Babb said. “Joel always comes through at the end of the season. It’s pretty great. God’s been good to us.”

Possley also competed Friday in the 1,600, running a fully automatic time of 4:22.37. It was a slight improvement on his manual time from the sectional (4:22.5) and further evidence of the senior’s steady improvement throughout the year.

“It was good,” he said, “but all of my focus was on the (4 x 800 relay). I’m so excited about the 4 x 8.”

Wheaton North had two competitors on Saturday.

Senior Pat Trofimuk set a season-best 54 feet, 2 inches in the prelims to make the shot put finals. It meant that he wasn’t able to attend his graduation ceremonies, but the school had a special graduation for track athletes last Thursday.

He had been struggling until the St. Charles East sectional and went to see sports psychologist Mark Anderson, who’s on Wheaton North’s staff. He couldn’t improve on his prelim throw and finished 12th.

“We just worked on when something bad comes up, refocusing and not panicking,” Trofimuk said.

Trofimuk, who plans to walk on at Illinois State University, had season-best throws in his last two meets.

“As soon as the team competition stopped mattering, I did better,” he said. “Indoors and outdoors, I knew the team needed my 10 points (for first place).”

Wheaton North

Falcons junior Chase Kadlec continued to shine in the most important races. He earned all-state honors with a 21st-place finish in cross country last fall. Kadlec passed several runners in the last 400 meters to take 14th in the 3,200 (9:25.42) in a career-best time.

“Before state cross country, I thought that all I had to do was latch onto somebody good,” Kadlec said. “That’s what I tried to do here. I don’t think I got out well at first, but it turned out well. It’s a good ending for the season.”

In the 800 prelims, Wheaton North junior Graham Farnsworth was 14th (1:56.43), St. Francis senior Johnny Wright 16th (1:56.90) and Wheaton North senior Kyle Kunz 17th (1:56.94).