By Michael Newman

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Reflections of 2019

 

As this year and decade come to an end, here are a few events that have come to my mind from the past year. I have written about these subjects. I would just like to expand a little more on some of these events.

 

It was a matter of time

Covering the IHSA State Meet can be a grind. Every hour at the top of the hour, a race starts. If you have seen something exciting, you have to put it in a side pocket of your brain so that you can concentrate on the next race. At the end of the meet before I head back home, I take out a notebook and scribble a couple of notes. Sometimes I will go back and look at them when I get home. Most of the time, it is a good reminder in my brain that I do not have to look.

The 3A Girls race had finished. I found Katelynne Hart talking to her coach Paul Hass after winning her fourth straight state championship at Detweiller Park. I knew she was not ready to talk.

“Can we chat after the awards,” Katelynne asked. “Of course” was my reply.

I sat down on a bench at the southeast corner of the course before heading back to my spot at 400-meters on the course. I watched York stretch. I saw the teams head to their assigned boxes.

I cleared my brain from the last race and started going through the scenarios of the final race of the day.

How would the teams run? Who would get out fast? Would the strategy change? One of the last things that I thought of as I headed north on the course was how Josh Methner would run. I had a strong sense that he would win. Would anyone be with him?

The one thing that I look back on now is that Methner ran as fast as he did in Peoria in September as he did in his state race of 2018. I regretted that I did not put that emphasis on that fact when I was writing my preview. Methner and his coach Kevin Young had.

I thought that this young man from Hersey ran such great tactical races. When would he bolt from the pack? Would he wait until the end?

The gun goes off. Methner is at the front of the pack.

I head to my spot near the one mile mark. As I am jogging to that point, I stopped and watched the race develop as they approached 880 yards into the race. I looked at my watch. Methner went past in 2:06!

Arthur Graham of Naperville Central was right on his shoulder. Graham said the following week in Terre Haute that he bit on the pace and went after Methner. The junior paid for that hectic pace and finished 78 overall. It will be a lesson that he will use in 2020.

This was not adrenaline that had run amuck for the defending state champion. The pace truck was coming by earlier than it ever had before.

4:25…4:26. I looked again at my watch. That can’t be right. Media in the past had always announced that a runner had a chance to go after THE RECORD. Is 13:50.6 within reach? There was Lukas Verzbicas and the “heavenly” gust of wind that hit his face as he approached the finish. He would only run 13:54.

Dylan Jacobs and Danny Kilrea were thought to go after the record. Jacobs had run 13:57 earlier in the year. He was under the weather on that state day. Kilrea had to push the pace running on a soggy course.

It had been breezy on the five races before Methner toed the line. The course was firm. The temperature was near 50 degrees. PERFECT! Just before the start of the final race of the day, the wind died down.

Was this a sign from above?

I jogged towards the finish line after the race had passed the mile. I kept thinking is this the day.

Methner passed 2-miles by himself in 9:13 with Tyler Cushing now close to 20 seconds back in second.

My camera was running. I kept looking at Methner as he passed the finish line with one more time around Detweiller Park. His face was relaxed. His stride matched his face. The pace had slowed to 4:47 in the second mile. All he had to do was cover the final loop in 4:36. My camera was on the rest of the pack. I turned to watch Methner make the left turn around the tree.

He picked up the pace on that turn.

I turned off the camera and headed to my step stool at the finish line. Ken Popejoy, Richie Brooks, and Mike Durkin (three Illinois running legends) were standing behind the fence at the finish line. “It was 9:13 at 2-miles,” I told them.

Do you think he will get it?” Pope asked me. I nodded my head yes. Then Popejoy made a comment that got me to laugh as I climbed to the top of my ladder.

Methner was charging up the hill. I turned on my camera early just to make sure that it would turn on.

13:25…..

Craig Virgin moved past me to a spot 15 meters before the finish. It was a tradition after the race for Virgin to congratulate the winner and tell them they made a good effort towards the record time.

13:40….

Methner was closer than I thought he would be. I wish the I was steadier with the video at that point. But this was happening. I never thought I would see it but here he came closer to the finish line.

I was asked weeks later if I had thought what I would say at that moment.

I had nothing planned. It just came from the heart.

What made that moment even more special is as Methner got closer to the finish line, a huge smile formed on his face. He said after he knew he was going to get it looking at the clock at the finish. He just had to cross the line.

“HE GETS IT! HE GETS IT! HE GETS IT!”

Virgin looked at his watch and seemed to be in disbelief. That is what it looked like as my camera went back to capture the finish of the rest of the runners. I walked back through the finish area to find Methner. I passed Virgin.

“I did not see that coming,” Virgin said.

Only Methner and Young did.

One of the most significant moments in Illinois High School Cross Country history and I had the privilege to witness it. I had three pages of notes from the race that I had as I waited for the York team to return from Peoria.

It would be a long night. It would be the first thing I would write about as I put together the videos from the six races.

I was exhausted. My eyes wanted to close. Yet, I had to get these published.

I had contacted RunnerSpace about the race and sent them my article and video so that they could feature it.

Once I was done with my writing and video obligations, I looked on Twitter and saw the finish of that race for the first time on the website.

I was happy for Methner on what he had accomplished. He was humble in his interview about that moment. I was happy for the people in that park that saw history happening.

I was just happy that I was there.

Methner Recap | Class 3A Video Race Highlights

 

Nothing would stop him

The IHSA made a good decision in the Boys State Track & Field Finals in changing the direction of the sprints especially the 200 Meter Dash. It happened the week before during the Girls finals. We had seen the 100 Meter Dash and 110 Highs run with the wind at the backs of the competitors. Never the 200. The gusts of the southernly wind at the end of the May always were a factor for the half lap race.

This would not be the case on May 25, 2019.

Marcellus Moore had entered this season as the state record holder in the 100 Meter Dash when he ran 10.31 in the 2018 state finals. He would enter the 2019 state finals as the defending state champion in both the 100 and 200.

Questions would be swirling around the Plainfield North camp after he did not run in his conference meet. A couple of the Southwest Prairie Conference coaches sent me messages that it looked like Moore was injured.

I contacted his coach Anthony Holler. The reply I received from Holler when I asked him if Marcellus was ok was “Maybe”. He replied a minute later that his star pupil would be running in the sectional meet at Ottawa.

The defending champion did what he needed to do to make it back to state running under control to win both races at Ottawa. No relays.

The state prelims did not show signs that he was injured cruising to the finals in both the 100 Meter Dash and 200 Meter Dash.

Moore showed the same acceleration that he displayed in his state record performance of 2018 as he ran 10.39 to defend his state title. He had run 10.31 the year before. He was close to that time less than a tenth of a second. “Sure he is injured” was the thought that kept running through my mind.

He just had the 200 to go.

Not too many people would be able to see the final 100-meters of that 200 Meter Dash final in all three classes.

I was tired when I got to the northeast corner of the Eastern Illinois track where the 200 Meter Dash race would finish. It had been a long weekend, but I would not miss this race for the world.

The main grandstand was packed. The smaller stands on the back straight had some coaches and fans waiting for the race. There was plenty of room for anyone to move to that side.

The injury kept floating through my mind before the start of the race. I don’t know why. Maybe I was already preparing in my head the articles that I would have to write when I got home.

The gun went off. Moore got off to a great start as he came of the turn and the first 100-meters of the race. He had the advantage ahead of a great group of sprinters led by Collinsville’s Jermarrion Stewart.

“Moore has this won,” I thought as he started down the final straight.

A grimace of pain shot across Moore’s face 60-meters from the finish as he seemed to pop up in the air. It was the hamstring.

My inner thoughts slipped through my brain and out of my mouth.

“NO. NO. NO.”

The one thing that I was reminded off on the way home was how special this young man was. Any ordinary sprinter would have crumpled to the track at that moment. An extreme pulse of pain shoots through your leg into your brain. The first thing you think of is stop.

Moore didn’t.

He dug deep. I had never seen anything like that. He had a goal that nothing was going to stop him.

Moore was running with one good hamstring with the other leg basically useless. It was hard to describe. He found his way to the finish holding that lead. He crossed the line in 21.22. Stewart screamed in aggravation after he finished just seven hundredths of a second behind the state champion. He just could not pass Moore.

Moore afterwards said, “I was going after the state record in the 200 today. I felt good after the 100 finals. I felt my hamstring go with about 50-meters left. I felt my form go. It was a heart thing just to get across the finish.”

A healthy Moore would have broken that record. Holler speculated after the race that he could have run under 20.6. I believe that.

That was the final race that Moore ran in a Plainfield North uniform. He announced in July that he would attend Purdue University to play football and to run track at the Big Ten school. He would graduate early to start college in January of 2020 forgoing his final senior season of track & field.

For those that had the privilege to be on the back straight away to see Moore run that final 50-meters, I am sure it will be a memory ingrained in their minds.

Nothing was going to stop Marcellus Moore on that day. It is a mindset that will carry him to bigger things in college and beyond.

Moore Interview | Finish of 200 Meter Dash

 

The Triple

It was March 10 and I was sitting in my living room uploading the New Balance Indoor Nationals into the meet page on Athletic.Net. I had just watched Katelynne Hart run 9:58.42 to finish second in the 2-Mile Run behind the 9:51.05 that Katelyn Tuohy had run to win the national title.

The thought that ran through my mind was what would Hart do at state? What events would she run?

We got an indication of her plans at the Illinois Top Times Championships on March 23. Hart would run the 800 Meter Run and then 1600 Meter Run almost with one hour of rest in between.

Before she went to New York for the national meet, she ran in an 800 Meter Run race at Proviso West. Hart was frustrated afterwards only running 2:13.46 to win the race. It was more like a time trial for her as her closest competition was 14 seconds behind.

“I’ve been stuck on 2:13 for a long time now,” Hart said afterwards. The question she kept asking herself was when she would get past that 2:13 barrier?

It happened at Top Times against some of the top 800-meter runners in the state. The gun went off. Hart blasted away from the rest of the field with only Marne Sullivan of New Trier daring to stay with her. Hart blasted past that barrier running 2:10.63 more than two seconds ahead of Sullivan. It was another three seconds before the next runners would cross the line led by Downers Grove South’s Erin Reidy.

An hour later, Hart was back on the track again showing her superiority against the rest of the field. She had never been beaten by an Illinois runner during the track season. It would not happen this time.

Hart took the lead as expected and never looked back. She had run a solo 4:44 1600 Meter Run the week before at the WSC-Silver Meet. That was her only race on that night. In this big meet with little rest, she ran 4:48.06 to win by nine seconds.

That was the moment that I thought Hart could accomplish that triple.

It would not be an easy task. No Girls runner in the big school class had ever accomplished that at the IHSA Girls State Meet. It is an incredibly tough triple. You have to run prelims in the 800 and 1600 with an hour to spare on that Friday afternoon. In the finals the next day, run a 3200, recover and back on the track an hour later for the 800, and then close to 90 minutes later to run in the 1600.

READ ABOUT HER STATE MEET EXPERIENCE.

She would have to get to Charleston State Meet first. Hart would have to qualify out of the Naperville North Sectional that feature some of the top distance runners in the state.

If Hart could accomplish that triple, it would give her a huge confidence boost for next week’s state meet.

The time of rest would be similar to what she went through at Illinois Top Times. The conditions would be worse with temperatures in the low 40’s with a steady wind throughout the meet. This time she would add the 3200 to that Illinois Top Times Schedule.

She made the 3200 Meter Run look easy pulling away from the pack early and running 10:18.41. She won by 25 seconds ahead of two-time cross-country All-American Alex Morris of Naperville North.

The 800 Meter Run would again be her biggest challenge. She would have less than 45 minutes in between the 3200 and the 800. Hart again took the lead and kept it holding off Erin Reidy for the win. Hart’s time of 2:11.99 was almost two seconds ahead of Reidy. A smile grew on Hart’s face. She just had the 1600 Meter Run to go.

The final race on her schedule was different from what we had seen before. Hart broke away from the field during the first lap of the race. The rest of the field had seen that before and let the state champion go.

By 800 meters of the race, Emma Watcke of Hinsdale Central was nine seconds behind Hart. She was the only runner that had the goal of chasing Hart down.

The gap started to shrink as Watcke was within seven seconds of the lead. It was something that we had not seen before. There was a runner that was gaining on Hart.

It was the first time that the Glenbard West runner had attempted this triple. Perhaps it was the cold weather, perhaps it was the short rest between the first two races. Hart was feeling those first two races. Watcke, who had moved to Hinsdale from Minister, Ohio just before the start of the second semester of the school year, had raced against Hart a handful of times.

She refused to believe the Hart mystique as the gap continued to shrink on the final lap. Only three seconds separated the two runners with Hart running 4:51.40 and Watcke achieving a personal best of 4:54.91.

The 10:18/2:11/4:51 triple showed that Hart could do that triple. It was that cold night in Naperville that gave her the confidence for the following week.

Two weeks later at the Magis Miles, Katelynne Hart had just run an all-time Illinois Girls High School best of 4:39.57 to win the 1-Mile Run. As she was talking to friends and media, her father Chris Hart said, “I really don’t know what else she can accomplish?”

With her state title in November, she has now won 11 state championships putting her among the All-Time Female elite runners in state history.

So what is next? Another triple in May? Maybe we see her in the Olympics. We joked about her falling over the creek at Hinsdale in September. It could be that the steeplechase is the next event she is ready to conquer.

All I can say is what it has been an honor to follow this running career of the future University of Michigan Student/Athlete. I can’t wait to see what she achieves next.

 

Finally…

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 10 years since I have switched job occupations going from management to following a passion of mine. I am blessed with the choices I have made during this time. I am thankful that John Dye and Bob Geiger gave me an opportunity to join DyeStat in 2009. At first, it was maintaining the TFX Database. It has grown to such more. When DyeStat was dropped by ESPN and then picked up by RunnerSpace a couple of years later, it was Mr. Dye that called RunnerSpace CEO Ross Krempley about me. I talked to Ross for close to three hours after that.

Now here I am. I am lucky to be where I am at right now with such great “teammates” and an organization that feels like a family.

I thought about with this being the end of the decade, I could do the top runners of the decade or perhaps a list like that. I decided not to. I have one but I will share that only to myself. Not everything goes public.

Maybe this segment is more about change. We are changing into a new decade. Instead of looking at moments that were the best or who was the best, maybe we should reflect on things that have changed us for the better.

Here are a few of my favorite things:

The Interviews – What keeps me young is the interaction that I have with high school athletes. I think more importantly watching the growth of a student/athlete from their freshman year to the time that they graduate high school.

There was one time that I interviewed a sophomore from York, Nathan Mroz. After the interview, Mroz told me “I am not good at interviews.” By the time he was a senior, he had controlled that aspect and we would have good talks. Now he is doing great things in this world. That was growth that I smile about.

Ja’Mari Ward was a tough interview when he was a freshman. When he got to his senior year, I loved talking to him hearing his progression in his athletics. The moment when he broke the National High School Record in the Triple Jump. His smile that he gave right after that record jump will be something that I will always remember.

I have been asked about why am I not in interviews? Simple. It’s not about me. It’s about the athletes that I am talking to that should have the spotlight.

In the movie Broadcast News (1987), Albert Brooks’ character said about a fellow reporter, “Let's never forget, we're the real story, not them.” It is a quote that lives in me when I do an interview. It is about those kids that I am talking to.

 

Moments /Non Moments – There are moments in time where you want to know what someone is thinking after a bad experience in a race.

Those are the moments when you take a step back and say no. When I ran, I had some bad races and I remember I did not want to talk to anyone. I try to remember that. When Katrina Schlenker did not make it to the finals in the 1600 last May at state, that was not the time to do an interview. I remember that pain. The same thing with Katelynne Hart after this December’s NXN race. I knew that the interview was not the right thing or the right time. Not everything needs to be public knowledge.

The pure emotion can be powerful. Talking to Judy Pendergast after she broke the state record in 2015 was a moment I will remember. Her teammates were around her. It was just the right moment to talk to her. The moment showed in her voice.

The same held true for Katelynne Hart after this year’s NXR Midwest Regional. I have been interviewing Katelynne for four years. We usually wait till later giving her a chance to cool down. I will ask “Later?”. She gives me a thumbs up and says, “sounds good Mr. Newman.”

The NXR race this November was different. She had finished second but had broken the course record by 10 seconds. I asked her if she wanted to wait. She said, “Let’s do it now.”

The interview was emotional. She was almost in tears sharing how she felt at that moment. That race meant so much to her and you could see that. Good or bad times, KK has always showed class and dignity representing this sport. We will miss that when she takes her next step up with those interview moments. It gave me a chance to grow from those experiences.

 

Things I miss – We lost some great people that were associated with the sport over the past decade. I would go to some meets with my Dad when he was an IHSA official. I enjoyed that fact he was enjoying what he was doing on the track. He passed away in April of 2018. When I get down, I think of those things which get me to smile.

I miss phone calls that I would get on Saturday nights during the cross country season. Mr. Newton would always call me around 7PM asking me: “Do you have time to talk to the ol’ coach?” My answer was always yes. He was never internet literate. He knew I would get the results. He was always a sponge trying to get more knowledge about the sport. It challenged me to know what I was talking about. Who I am now is because of my experiences with my Dad as well as Mr. Newton, Al Carius, and Ken Popejoy who both coached me at North Central College.

I miss the simpler times. In that I mean, it seems that everyone is an expert on everything. If you notice that I am not on social media much, it is because of those things. Everyone needs their opinion known maybe more so as an ego boost to make them feel better about themselves. You know who you are. There have been a couple of times where I have stepped back and stopped things that I was doing on my site. Sectional State Rankings won’t be on anymore. Too many people complaining about a school that is not on that list. I am willing to close some doors that I wasn’t when I started doing what I do.

 

As we change into a new decade, maybe we should not look at the best of the decade. I hope it would be how those forever moments that you experienced have made you a better person. There have so many people that have touched me in following this passion. Some good. Some bad. One note I received the day after Mr. Newton passed. I received a note in better times from someone. Both notes are on my office wall reminding me to take a deep breath before I step forward in a relationship.

There are some notes that are thanking me for what I do. It’s not necessary but they also remind me of why I do things now.

Just like last year, a big thanks to the following people:

Laura Duffy does a great job with photos on ILXCTF.com and DyeStat. She is a great teammate who makes what I do even better.

Thanks to Roland Hopkins who has just completed his third year of running ILSpeedRatings.com. I treasure the messages back and forth as we try to figure out the Illinois cross country season.

Brenda Cohoon of Downers Grove South is in her second year of writing a great blog on ILXCTF.com. It amazes me of her choice of words, choice of topics, and more so sharing her feelings with all of you. I will miss reading her blogs every Wednesday morning next fall as she will be at Iowa State University.

A big thanks to the national staff at RunnerSpace.com and DyeStat.com. Chris Nickinson and Parker West do a fantastic job of publicizing Brenna’s blog and some of the things I publish on National media giving Illinois athletes even more exposure. Thanks to Doug Binder also for allowing videos and articles up on DyeStat. 

One decade almost over. Another one ready to begin making that change to the 20’s. How will those memories change you to do better in the new decade?

Be a change maker in this new decade. We can use more people like that in our world.