DEKALB — The Hubs track and field team competed in its first official meet of the season this past Saturday, a triangular meet with DeKalb and Belvidere at DeKalb High School.
Rochelle placed several competitors in the field events, with senior Dylan Papke finishing third in the shot put with a heave of 42-1 and senior Michael Drendel winning the triple jump with a leap of 36-11 ½. Drendel also took second in the pole vault at 12-1 and third in the long jump at 19-0. Senior Matthew Drendel landed in second in the high jump at 5-8, with junior Frantz Vardman clearing 5-4 for third place.
Matthew Drendel teamed up with sophomores Austin Walsh and Jessee Infante and senior Edwin Infante to take second in the 3200-meter relay with a time of 9:00.56, while Rochelle took second in the 800-meter relay with a time of 1:45.27 behind seniors Jake Rodriguez, Levi Johnson, Lance Huftalin and junior DiQuan Ishmon. The Hubs finished first in the 1600-meter relay with strong efforts by Matthew Drendel, Huftalin, Johnson and Walsh for a time of 3:45.75.
Rodriguez and Edwin Infante earned top-3 places in the 55-meter hurdles, with Infante taking second at 9.32 and Rodriguez landing in third at 9.40. Matthew Drendel’s 400-meter dash time of 54.38 was enough for first place, while freshman Diego Escobar’s time of 12:27.00 in the 3200-meter run put him in fourth place.
Jessee Infante and freshman Gyvanziel Quinonez led Rochelle in the 1600-meter run, with Infante taking second with a time of 5:06.91 and Quinonez taking fourth at 5:18.96. Sophomore Eddie Villalobos recorded the Hubs’ best time in the 200-meter dash (26.66), with Walsh running a 7.14 in the 55-meter dash and sophomore Connor Lenkaitis totaling 2:22.03 in the 800-meter run.