Casey collects Niles North’s lone state medal

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Niles North's Devonier Casey competes in the 400-meter dash during Saturday's state finals in Charleston. | Patrick Gleason~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: August 1, 2011 12:20AM

BOYS TRACK — Niles North hoped for more last weekend in Charleston.

The Vikings qualified twice for the finals at the State Meet, but Devonier Casey and Zheng Fang finished lower than expected. Casey took fourth in the 400 meters and 11th in the triple jump, and Fang finished eighth in the 110 high hurdles.

“I’d say we’re not 100-percent happy with the weekend,” Niles North coach Paul Swanson said. “You’re always happy when you get guys to place, and I am happy about that. We just hoped for higher places than they ended up.”

Casey ran the fastest 400 time in the preliminaries at 48.26. He followed that up with a 48.17, but the time was only fourth best Saturday. Thornwood’s London Hawk won the title in 47.91.

“Devonier’s goal was to break 48 seconds,” Swanson said. “He fell short there.”

Casey’s mark in the triple jump in the finals was 44-feet-1 3/4, which matched his prelim leap. Both were short of his 45-0 jump at the sectional.

Fang ran both hurdles’ events at O’Brien Stadium. The senior didn’t get past the prelims in the 300, but he made it to Saturday in the 110 and ran a 14.79, which was slower than his sectional time of 14.56.

“We wanted him to beat that sectional, but it speaks to how to difficult it is just to get to the finals down there,” Swanson said.

Kosta Papazoglou was the final Viking to compete Saturday. The senior’s 9:31.02 was good for 15th in the 3,200.

“He didn’t have his best day, but he didn’t have a horrible,” the coach said. “His first five laps looked solid, but he faded on the last couple of laps.”

Despite only competing in Friday’s prelims, junior pole vaulter Ethan Velasquez enjoyed a strong season. The junior cleared 13-0 at the State Meet and gained experience.

“It was great for him to get down there because it’s going to make a huge difference,” Swanson said. “The environment is competitive and can be intimidating. But he now knows what it’s like, and he knows what a big deal it is.”