This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Alex Brend Wins 800-Meter While Breaking School Record In State Championships

Records broken in several events, including 1,600 and 1,600 relay.

Lake Zurich High School track star Alex Brend not only won the 800-meter race at the state championships in Charleston on Saturday, he also set a new school record with is time of 1:52.18. He also became the first-ever male track and field champion at Lake Zurich. Brend was jubilant yet in a state of disbelief at what he had just accomplished. Afterwards, he said he was able to run the race according to how he had planned, which is something that doesn’t happen too often.

Lake Zurich finished 15th overall in the team race with 21 points, the best ever in school history. Junior Pat Juras also broke a school record in the 1,600 with his ninth-place finish with a time of 4:17.29, good enough for an all-state spot. Juras had previously copped a cross-country all-state spot last fall. In the shot-put, Mark Tabaka earned a sixth-place medal with a best effort of 56-0.25. Yet another school record was shattered in the final race of the day, the 1,600 relay, which was also one of the most thrilling. The team of Brend, Jacob Brinlee, and Mike and Chris Rantis placed fourth with a time of 3:18.00.

The Lake Zurich Bears’ baseball team scored a thrilling come-from-behind victory last Monday over Barrington, but on Wednesday, they encountered a much tougher adversary in their IHSA Class 4A semifinals game. The Bears lost 9-1 to Mundelein, and as the score indicates, they were never really in this one. That was almost the case in their quarterfinals game on Monday, when starting pitcher Ben Gullo spotted the Broncos a six-run lead by the top of second before Sean Eder’s towering three-run shot cut the lead in half in the bottom portion of the inning. The Bears and Broncos continued to trade runs until Lake Zurich knocked out starting pitcher Greg Gerrard in the sixth inning when they scored four times, knotting the score at 8-8. Bears relief pitcher Parker Asmann held Barrington in check in the top of the seventh, setting the stage for Sean Eder’s heroics: a game-winning walk-off homer, giving Lake Zurich an exciting 9-8 win.

Find out what's happening in Lake Zurichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Unfortunately, whatever momentum the Bears built up from that game did not carry over to spell victory against Mundelein. Winning pitcher Ben Mahar went the distance, yielding one run and scattering six hits, though Asmann and Eder each hit a double for Lake Zurich. None of the Mustang’s nine hits were for extra bases. Mike Lutz suffered the loss for the Bears. Lake Zurich finished their season 16-17; considering that their record stood at 4-12 at one point, they accomplished quite a turnaround.

The Lake Zurich Bears girls soccer team were lost 4-2 to Barrington on May 18 in their IHSA regional semifinal contest. The Bears came out aggressively, scoring two unanswered goals, but were shut out the rest of the game. Lake Zurich scored their first goal courtesy of Brooke Sill. Sophomore Vanesa Abad, who emerged as one of the Bears’ top players in her debut season with the varsity squad, set up Sill’s kick with a long run before passing off to Gina McCoy. Lake Zurich’s next goal was the result of a penalty kick, as was the Fillies’ first point.

Find out what's happening in Lake Zurichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Bears finished the season with a 10-7-3 record. With 13 of their players graduating, Lake Zurich will have a lot of new talent on their roster next season, although coach Meghan Kolze will have the luxury of Abad playing on the team for two more years. Abad was by far the most improved player as the season progressed, leading the Bears with 11 goals and 11 assists.

“She more than fulfilled our expectations,” said Kolze. “She improved so much as the season went on.”

Abad will undoubtedly emerge as her team’s premier player next year, where her leadership skills will be tested with a young and relatively inexperienced group. Junior Maisie Cox, a mainstay on the girls varsity basketball team as well, will also be back next year, as will sophomore Catalina Abad.

Lake Zurich High School track star Amy Polhemus may have lost the race, but she set a school record in the hurdles during the IHSA Class 3A Buffalo Grove Sectional on May 13th. Polhemus, who led for much of the race but ultimately lost to Zion-Benton’s Chelsea Maxey, finished with a time of 44.7, her best ever, which afforded her with an excellent state finals seed. Not bad for the converted sprinter, who initially took up hurdles at the suggestion of Bears coach Lance Pasternick. Polhemus went through a difficult transition when she first started in 2009, but her recent solid showings have validated what her coach saw in her two years ago when she was a sophomore.

By taking third place in the 400 with a time of 58.8, Marissa Wagner punched her ticket to the state finals that were held May 21st. Wagner placed behind Carmel Catholic’s Megan Paul (57.8) and Palatine’s Laura Schweikert (58.4). Lake Zurich’s team of Kelly Doheny, Teagan Hough and Lindsey Moritz finished second in the 400 relay with a time of 49.1, earning them a trip to the finals as well. In the 800 relay, Doheny, Moritz, Polhemus and Emily Trittschuh qualified by taking second with a 1:45.9 time. And finally, in the 1600, the team of Madeline Jordan, Moritz, Trittschuh and Wagner placed second with a time of 4:04.5 to gain entry to the state.

Lake Zurich also sent Trittschuh to Charleston in the pole vault (second, 10-3) and Moritz in the 200 (fourth, 25.5).

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Lake Zurich