By Michael Newman, ILXCTF.com Editor

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I re-discovered some things over the two days at the Illinois Top Times Championships. Some questions that I had before the meet were answered. Others will remain yet to be resolved as we head into the outdoor season.

Here are a few things that I discovered, after looking at my notes, from the sprint and hurdle events at the 2017 Illinois Top Times Championships.

Class 3A

The Girls events did not resolve any of my questions since Amira Young of Whitney Young and Dajour Miles of West Aurora did not compete. We will have to wait until May I think before some things in the 3A sprints become clearer.

We must remember that Ozzy Erewele of Springfield finished third last year in the 3A 100 Meter Dash. She started off her indoor season running 7.70 for the 60 Meter Dash. She finished this indoor campaign with the win in the event on Saturday running 7.56. I saw Nya Carr of Buffalo Grove run the second fastest time in the state (7.13) for 55-meters at the Mid-Suburban League Invitational on March 18. She responded in this meet running 7.60 to finish second. The junior should be a factor when we get to Charleston in May.

Homewood-Flossmoor’s Jaimie Robinson might have still won the 200 Meter Dash on Saturday if Young or Miles were entered. In her fourth event of the night, Robinson ran an indoor best 25.00 to win the event ahead of Danville’s Ameia Wilson (25.18) who had finished third earlier at 60-meters. Robinson got the baton with a big lead in the 800 Meter Relay and extended it with a 24.4 anchor split. Her team ran 1:42.43 to win the event two seconds ahead of DeKalb, Proviso West, and Bolingbrook. We did not have O’Fallon in this meet but they could be the best of all these schools in either this distance or the 400 Meter Relay.

I think we are heading for a Dajour Miles / Kylie Welch showdown at Charleston in May if Miles is healthy and chooses to run this event. The Bloomington senior, the defending 3A champion at this distance, opened the lead in the first 200-meters and she held on to run 57.13 to win by more than a second. It would have been fun to see Ololade Ayoola of Lincoln-Way East run in the last section. She ran 58.32 easing up at the end to win Section 3. Lincoln-Way East, according to some, were supposed to have an off year after losing some of their core base in the sprints. The 2017 group is coming on strong as evidenced by their more than two second win in the 1600 Meter Relay also anchored by Ayoola. The Griffins are seeing that group slowly improving every meet. We could see them peak by the time we get to the state series in May.

Mya Robinson of Thornton edged Naperville North’s Halle Bieber for the 60 Meter Hurdles by one hundredth of a second. Kayla Walters of Bolingbrook was third only four hundredths of a second behind Bieber. The 100 Meter Hurdles final in May should be just as close.

Marcellus Moore of Plainfield North does not run like a freshman even though it shows that on the meet program. With most of the major 3A sprinters in attendance, the freshman one-upped them with a pair of wins in the sprints. Moore had only the fifth fastest prelim time in the 60 Meter Dash putting him in Lane 2 for the finals. You could say that he snuck up on some of the others in the middle. But, you can’t deny the start he had in that race that gave him the win (6.86) ahead of Tyler Elmore of Bolingbrook by just three hundredths of a second. Declan Rustay of Hoffman Estates did not have his best race in the finals (6.96) finishing sixth. I would not count him out in the longer sprint distances outdoors.

Moore got off to a better start in the 200 Meter Dash which he needed especially with Brad Garron of Evanston Township on his outside. A month earlier at the Lockport Township Open, Garron won the race between the two with only an eight hundredth of a second difference. The margin was the same in this race but this time it was Moore that was ahead at the end.

The action will really pick up in the 400 Meter Dash. Garron, who had the fastest returning time heading into his season, did not run the 400 in this meet. Antonio Davis of Bloom Township had a good night winning the event (50.12) just ahead of St. Charles North’s Luke Sutherland who also ran an indoor personal best of 50.39. Davis anchored Bloom’s winning 1600 Meter Relay as they ran the fastest time in the state (3:25.14) to finish three seconds ahead of Plainfield North. With East St. Louis-Senior, Lyons Township, and Neuqua Valley absent from this meet, I still think Bloom will contend outdoors for the state title.

The 800 Meter Relay did not give us an idea what to expect outdoors or if there is one favorite. Crete-Monee ran 1:31.43 to edge Evanston Township by 14 hundredths of a second for the win. It does tell us how close it will be when we get outdoors with these two teams among about 10 to 15 schools that could be under 1:27.8 in the 800 Meter Relay and 10 to 12 schools under 42.2 in the 400 Meter Relay.

Travis Anderson of Edwardsville was not in this meet. We did see that Landon Keefover of Antioch could push Anderson outdoors. Keefover’s time of 8.12 for the win is still slower than the 8.00 that Anderson ran under roof. The two will be closer when we get outdoors.

Class 2A

I was really looking forward to watch Peoria Central’s Derria Edwards run in the 60 Meter Dash after her breakthrough race at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. She had the fastest seed time going to the finals but that was only by thousandths of a second ahead of Dunlap’s Kiara Pauli. There was more of a gap in the finals. Edwards does need to work a little on her start but she did explode 15 meters into the race. She ran 7.57 in the finals two tenths of a second ahead of the field. She could run under 12 seconds outdoors.

Nicole Sreenan of Kaneland came back to win the 200 Meter Dash after finishing second in the 60 Meter Dash. Her win over St. Viator’s Elizabeth Drab in the 200 as only by one hundredth of a second. Drab was in control in the 400 Meter Dash winning the race by almost a full second ahead of Eisenhower’s Tina Martin. The junior did not have the best of meets having been disqualified in the prelims of the 60 due to running out of her lane.

I’m satisfied again the way that Brooks College Prep’s Imani Carothers ran on Saturday that she is the best hurdler in the state regardless of classification. She proved that again running a personal best 8.67 to win the 60 Meter Hurdles. Winning by four tenths of a second in this race is like winning by 100 meters in the 1 Mile Run.

Dunlap and Springfield Southeast traded places in the two sprint relays. We should see the two teams facing off outdoors in Charleston. Dunlap improved their season’s best time down to 1:45.06 to edge Springfield Southeast (1:45.37). It was the Spartans turn for the win in the 1600 Meter Relay as they ran 4:06.90 to win by a little more than a second ahead of Dunlap (4:07.95).

The short sprints are up for grabs in 2A Boys. Ronald Reed of Decatur MacArthur ran 6.95 at the New Balance Indoor Championships on March 10. He looked to be the favorite in the 60 Meter Dash in this meet. He did get the win (7.00) but I came down to a photo-finish in which only one hundredth of a second separated between Reed, Da’Kari Smith of Hillcrest, and Bret Schenk of Princeton.

It could be Juwan Denton of Morgan Park that we keep an eye on when we get outdoors. The senior ran 22.50 to easily win the 200 Meter Dash ahead of Bret Dannis of Peru S. Bede and Josh Diekhoff of Peoria Richwoods. The three athletes were the only ones under 23-seconds in this event. Denton was also a part of Morgan Park’s winning 800 Meter Relay that crossed the line in 1:33.36 more than a second ahead of second-place Urbana (1:34.73). 2A list-leader Cahokia had problems in the race with a bobbled connection on the second exchange. He Comanches came back as expected in the 1600 Meter Relay controlling he race from the outset to win in 3:25.92 finishing three seconds ahead of Thornridge (3:28.98). Cahokia still owns his event where they are rarely defeated in 2A competitions. I am sure we will see more of the same once we get outdoors.

Bret Dannis was the 1A champion last spring in both hurdle races. If you had any doubts that he could handle himself in a larger classification then you would be wrong. Dannis controlled the 60 Meter Hurdles in this meet running a state best of 7.92. The one thing that impressed me about Dannis is that he has improved his start. He is getting to the first hurdle faster than the rest of the field. 13.7 or faster for the 110 Highs is a possibility for him this spring.

Dearis Herron of Springfield Lanphier won Section 3 of the 400 Meter Dash in 51.45 but had to wait about three minutes before he knew if he won the entire event. Isaiah Hunter of Lisle won the last section of the event by just one hundredth of a second ahead of Dunlap’s Trey Chamberlain. Hunter’s time, however, was 51.95 and a half of a second behind that of Herron.

Class 1A

Defending 100/200 champion Courtney Sockwell is ready to defend her titles outdoors. Two runners were under eight seconds in the finals of the 60 Meter Dash with Sockwell up front defending her meet title (7.83). Junior Bella Uscilla of St. Edward was a surprise when she finished second with a personal best (7.91).

Four hundredths of a second separated the first three runners in the 200 Meter Dash. Taylor George of Warrensburg-Latham ran 26.27 to win just ahead of Luther North’s Kayla Armstrong (26.29) and another two hundredths ahead of Sockwell.  Armstrong had a big night finishing second in that race and third in the 60. In between, she ran 1:00.58 to win the 400 Meter Dash.

St. Joseph-Ogden ran 1:48.87 won the 800 Meter Relay by more than a second ahead of Clifton Central’s 1:50.24. The places changed in the 1600 Meter Relay when Clifton Central’s 4:12.20 edged St. Joseph-Ogden by more than a second (4:13.30) for the win.

Parker Francisco of St. Joseph-Ogden won the 60 Meter Hurdles but it was closer than expected. Francisco’s time of 9.11 was a personal best and good enough for the win. It was only seven hundredth of a second ahead of Fisher’s Alayna Slater (9.18).

The 1A Boys sprints were hard to predict heading into this meet. Even after the conclusion on Friday night, it is still difficult to determine the outcome. One of the top sprinters in 1A Khalil Wassil of New Berlin did not compete in the meet due to a foot injury. His return status is unknown at this point. 

It left the door open for Easton Bianchi of Sterling Newman to have a good night of sprinting. He had the fastest time in the prelims but just one hundredth of a second ahead of St. Teresa’s Jason Duncan. Bianchi got off to a great start in the finals holding off Jordan Rowell of IC Catholic Prep to win by three hundredths of a second (7.04 – 7.07). Bianchi had the upper hand on Rowell in the 200 Meter Dash. The problem was that there were two athletes ahead of Bianchi as the junior finished third. Camden Coleman of Urbana University ran 22.99 for the win just nine hundredths of a second ahead of Colfax Ridgeview’s Tate Walcott. Rowell finished sixth in that event.

Ben Buresh of Wethersfield was a surprise in the 400 Meter Dash as he ran 51.88 for the win ahead of Colfax Ridgeview’s Mason Barr (51.90) and Rowell (52.16). Coleman finished fourth overall in the event (52.47).

Barr found redemption with his finish in the 400 and fourth place finish in the 200 Meter Dash. In his specialty the 60 Meter Hurdles, Barr lost his balance after hitting the second hurdle in the prelims and did not finish. Connor Artman of Illini West was in control in the prelims and the finals. He is getting comfortable in the higher hurdles as he ran 8.45 to win by nine hundredths of a second ahead of Mercer County’s Mike Neeld. Arman enters he outdoor season as the favorite in both hurdle events.

It was Rockford Christian that ruled the 1A relays. The Royal Lions won the 800 Meter Relay running 1:34.68 finishing ahead of Illini West (1:34.90). Rockford Christian came back to win the 1600 Meter Relay (3:32.22) winning by more than two seconds ahead of Pleasant Plains (3:34.58).