MONDAY MORNING FINISH LINE

February 12, 2024

What it was, what is to be…

By Michael Newman

It is tough to write early in a track season when you have to scrape and look through results finding something that stands out. I felt that way before the start of the Super Bowl is if there is something that stood out from the weekend. It gave me a lot of thought as the game was going on knowing I would be writing this when I woke up.

This is what I came up with when my eyes opened this morning.

There are small meets that surround us in the first month of the Illinois season. One of the better venues in the Chicago area is Wheaton-Warrenville South High School. The meets that I attend there are run efficiently. They have their own timing company. I know when I get home I do not have to worry about the results because 99% of the time there are no problems.

It is not a 200-meter track that we see more and more of throughout the state. The school has a 178 meter track (9 laps to the mile). You may wear spiked shoes but no implements in the shoe. You still see fast times on that track.

Wheaton-Warrenville South hosted a dual meet with Downers Grove North on Friday night. There were some great performances. Da’jion Riley of Wheaton-Warrenville South ran a state leading 6.53 to win the 55 Meter Dash. The week before in the team’s intrasquad meet, the senior ran 6.57.

Josiah Narayanan and Aiden Noel of Wheaton-Warrenville South put up some fast times in the 1600 Meter Run. The two juniors were the only runners under 5-minutes as Narayanan ran 4:31.29 (IL #10) for the win, Noel ran 4:34.19 to finish second.

I was able to watch the Girls meet at the facility the next morning. I was impressed with Prospect. I have them in my sights as the team to watch for in Class 3A this May in Charleston. They are deep in talent, deeper than I figured. The two distance races were impressive. Veronica Znajda and Lily Ginsberg of Prospect, Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South, and Taya Gummerson of Minooka broke away early from the rest of the pack.  Poglitsch and Znajda broke the other two runners at 1200-meters. Znajda pulled away from Poglitsch to take the win in 5:18.94 (IL #10). Poglitsch finished right behind in second (5:20.54 (IL #11) ahead of Ginsberg (5:24.13) and Gummerson (5:28.48).

Meg Peterson of Prospect had a great opening season meet. She was in control throughout her winning the 800 Meter Run. Peterson’s time of 2:22.19 (IL $4) finished just ahead of teammate Sophie Fransen who ran 2:22.90 (IL #7).  Peterson was busy at this meet running 63.45 to win the 400 Meter Dash and ran 28.85 to finish second in the 200 Meter Dash. Not bad for someone who has been all-state twice in cross-country.

The best double of the weekend belonged to Ahry Comer of Pope County. The senior who will attend LSU next fall still has unfinished work to do on the high school scene. It showed in the Eastern Indoor Championships in Louisville on Saturday. Comer started her day by running 5:04.84 to finish seventh overall. Comer came back running the state’s fastest time in the 800 Meter Run early this season (2:12.11) to finish second. Comer’s time in a personal best indoors.

Molly Farrell of Marshall started her season running 11:09.67 to finish seventh in the 2 Mile Run. Farrell’s time is currently ranked #4 in Illinois for that distance.

Plainfield South hosted a meet on Friday on their home track that is similar to Wheaton-Warrenville South. The 1600 Meter Run race stood out with four runners under 4:30. Dylan Maloney of Plainfield South led the way running 4:24.1 for the win. Teammate Gavin Borger was next (4:26.8) followed by Zac Close of Neuqua Valley (4:27.7) and Plainfield South’s Joaquin DeAlba (4:28.6).

The top field performance of the weekend came Saturday at Huntley. Dominique Johnson of Huntley had the longest jump in the state this season (19-6.75) to win the Long Jump. She also has the longest mark in the Triple Jump. Johnson is currently ranked #9 nationally in the Long Jump.

Some good opening season performances at a six team meet at Proviso West. Parrish Hartley of Kenwood jumped 22-0.25 (IL #2) to win the Long Jump. The state leader in the event is Shamar Allwood of Hampshire when he jumped 23-0.75 last week at Rockford. Logic West of Kenwood cleared 6-5 (IL #2) in winning the High Jump. It was close in the 60 Meter Dash as Tervous Graves of Proviso West ran 7.06 (IL #11) to edge Cash Langley of York who ran 7.08 (IL #12).

Brady Golomb of York took the first two laps out in 61 seconds pulling away from the field in the 1600 Meter Run. The senior ran a personal best of 4:19.10 (IL #2) to win the race by 22 seconds. Gaven Corpin of Conant ran 2:00.26 (IL #4) to win the 800 Meter Run ahead of York’s Max Zangan (2:00.71, IL #6). Three runners were under 10-minutes in the 3200 Meter Run. Emmet Bradford of York ran 9:55.30 (IL #4) to win the 3200 Meter Run edging teammate Zach Saltiel (9:56.74, IL #5) and Quinn Davis of Prospect (9:57.71, IL #7).