ILXCTF.com Illinois HS Track & Field 2021 Season Awards - Boys Sprints/Hurdles

By Michael Newman

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The choice in these disciplines were not as close as you would expect for this season. In the end, the honor belonged to Brandon Battle of Edwardsville as the ILXCTF.com Boys Sprints/Hurdles Athlete of the Year for the 2021 season.

Battle ended his high school career with the top times in the state this season for 200-meters and 400-meters and the third fastest time at 100-meters. He qualified in all three of those events for the state. He became the second athlete in state history to win all three sprint events at the IHSA Class 3A State Meet including running the second fastest time ever for an Illinois High School athlete for the 400 Meter Dash (46.48).

Battle will do great things in college at the University of Arkansas.

If it was not Battle for Sprints / Hurdles Boys Athlete of the Year, it should have been Kalil Johnson of Evanston Township.

Johnson swept both hurdle races in the Class 3A State Finals on June 19 going undefeated in both events for the 2021 season. Johnson ran the fastest time in the state (14.01) in winning the 110 High Hurdles in the 3A finals followed by running 38.08 to win the 300 Meter Hurdles.

There were five different winners in the sprints and hurdles at last June’s Class 2A State Meet. The one athlete that stood out in our eyes was Devontae Ford of East St. Louis-Senior who was our 2A Sprints / Hurdles Athlete of the Year.

Let’s forget what happened with Ford at state in the 300 Meter Hurdles where he tripped over a hurdle halfway through the race. He got up and still finished seventh overall. Ford was the state champion in the 110 High Hurdles winning in a photo finish where the top three runners were separated by only one hundredth of a second. Ford also finished fifth in the 200 Meter Dash.

He ended his season with the fastest time in the state in the 300 Meter Hurdles. Ford had times in the top six in Class 2A in both hurdle events along with the 200 Meter Dash and 400 Meter Dash.

Class 1A was like Class 2A when we approached the state series. When we got to Charleston, there was one athlete that stood out the most. Tony Phillips, a freshman from Kankakee McNamara, is our choice for the Class 1A Sprint / Hurdles Athlete for the Year in 2021. Phillips was not among the favorites when he got to the state meet. The freshman responded by winning the 100 Meter Dash and then coming back to win the 200 Meter Dash.