Broken meet records on first night of Illinois Top Times

By Michael Newman

Bloomington, Ill – The first of three sessions of Illinois Top Times inside Illinois Wesleyan started off with a bang with three new meet records including an overall meet record in the Pole Vault Friday night.

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Mya Strahm of Elmwood has been the top athlete in the state in the Girls Pole Vault all of the indoor season. Strahm set a new meet record of 4.04m (13-3) to win the event. The old record set by Sarah Bell was 4.0386 meters, also 13-3. Strahm played it cool in this event waiting to enter the competition when eventual second and third finishers Reagan Gibson of Indian Creek and Teagan Johnson of Seneca both cleared 11-10.50, their final clearances of the meet. Strahm entered at the height of 12-2.50 on her first attempt while Gibson and Johnson exhausted their three attempts at that height. Strahm cleared 12-9 on her opening attempt and set the record at 13-3 on her second attempt.

The first record on the track came in the first final of the night in the Girls 3200 Meter Run. Isabella Keller of St. Anthony ran a solo 10:19 at Illinois College two weeks before. She had company in this race early on with Molly Farrell of Marshall and Kate Foltz of Tuscola with her for the first 1000-meters of the race. Keller started dropping the two runners opening up a five second lead on Farrell passing 1600-meters in 5:09 five seconds ahead of Farrell. Keller kept her pace the rest of the way running the second half in 5:10 to run a personal best of 10:19.03 for a record setting win. Keller’s time was 30 seconds faster than the previous record of 10:49.2 set by Kelsey Hildreth.

Keller’s win set up a showdown from three weeks ago at Charleston between the freshman and Elana Rybak of Father McGivney. The two ran fresh in the Charleston meet. Inside the Shirk Center, Rybak would be coming back from the 4x8, Keller the 3200 Meter Run.

Rybak said after the race she was hoping Keller would push the pace. Keller, however, in the first two laps was caught in a pack. Keller got to the outside and was side by-side with Rybak at 400-meters. The two went past 800-meters at 2:30 with Farrell one second behind. Rybak started to slowly pick up the pace dropping all but Keller. The two were even entering the final lap. Rybak made a final move that Heller responded to.

Rybak went on to win the race in 4:52.17. It was announced that she had broken the meet record of the legendary Anna Sophia Keller. In fact,  the meet record that was in the meet program was 4:52.15, not the 4:52.2 that was announced. Isabella Keller had a great double running 4:54.84 to finish second.

Rybak had a great night as she was involved in both of Father McGivney’s relay record wins. The threesome of Kaitlyn Hatley, Lily Gilbertson, and Jane Cummins had an 11 second lead on Shelbyville when Rybak got the baton. Rybak responded with an electrifying 2:10.61 split to bring home the team win and the meet record with a 9:33.08 time. Shelbyville (10:01.17) and Chicago Christian (10:02.82) finished second and third.

It was the same scenario in the 4x400m Relay where the same threesome opened up for a lead again for Rybak. She closed the race in 57.8 to give Father McGivney their second record of the night (4:06.57) to finish ahead of Monmouth United (4:14.84) and Pleasant Plains (4:18.05).

Boys 1A Track Highlights

One of the big stories of the first day in this meet was the dominance showed by 1A State Cross Country Champions Tuscola winning all three Boys Distance races. Jackson Barrett and Will Foltz had company in the front for the first two kilometers of the 3200 Meter Run with Elijah Teefey of Pleasant Plains and Weston Forward of Rockford Christian staying close. The two Tuscola runners worked together to shake away the rest of the competition. Foltz pulled away on the final 250-meters to claim the win (9:20.57) ahead of Barrett (9:25.95). Teefey (9:39.16) and Forward (9:47.18) finished third and fourth.

The rest of distance races belonged to Tuscola’s Josiah Hortin as he captured wins in the 800 Meter Run and the 1600 Meter Run. The 800 race came down to a dual between Horin and Isaiah Hill of Elmwood. Hill was the runner that pushed the pace throughout with Hortin staying close. Hortin off the final curve made hiss pass on Hill. The two were side-by side approaching the finish with Horin the edge (1:57.04) just ahead of Hill (1:57.13).

Pack running was the name of the game in the 1600 Meter Run with Foltz, Barrett, and Hortin pushing the pace ahead of the rest of the field. Hortin’s move on the final lap gave him the win (4:22.91) ahead of Foltz (4:23.18) and Barrett (4:27.38).

Pre-race favorite in the sprints Reece Curtis of St. Anne pulled up towards the end of his heat of the 60 Meter Dash. His injury forced him from the rest of his events opening the door for some new faces to step into the spotlight.

Riley Smith of IC Catholic Prep took advantage the most of Curis’ absence. Only nine hundredth of a second separated the eight qualifiers in the 60 Meter Dash with Smith, Brady Anderson of Morrison, and Joshua Boahene of Holy Trinity leading all qualifiers with the same 7.08 time. Smith separated from the two other runners in the finals on his way to running a personal best of 6.97 to win ahead of Zane Hoffman of Colfax Ridgeview (7.04) and Boahene (7.05). Smith was pushed by Supreme Muhammad of Winnebago in the final section of the 200 Meter Dash. Muhammad had the lead coming off the curb. Smith ran him down running 22.39 for the win just ahead of Muhammad’s 22.45.

Brian Smith of North Shore Country Day ran 51.78 to edge Brysen Vasquez of Salt Fork (51.80) in winning the 400 Meter Dash. It was also close in the 60 Meter Hurdles as Dominic Martin of Ridgeview ran 8.14 for the win in the finals with Brady Larson of Maroa-Forsyth finishing second (8.17).

Relay power Morrison has succeeded in the past in the sprint relays. The same held true in this year’s meet. Morrison came from behind to run 1:32.74 for the section and overall win just ahead of Winnebago (1:32.93). IC Catholic Prep won their section and finished third overall. Brady Anderson ran a 49.9 anchor split to help Morrison come from behind for the win (3:31.27) just ahead of Ridgeview (3:31.36).

Lucas Simpson ran a 2:00.6 anchor split to help Sterling Newman win the 4x800m Relay finishing ahead of Pleasant Plains (8:23.89) and Rockford Christian (8:27.26).

Girls 1A Track Highlights

Alaina Lester of Belleville Althoff Catholic was the big winner in the 1A sprints winning the two of the three events. She won three events total in this meet. Lester ran a personal best of 7.74 to win the 60 Meter Dash just ahead of Kaitlyn Vahling of Teutopolis (7.78). There were two runners that ran under 60 seconds in the 400 Meter Dash. Lester ran 59.56 to edge area rival Lilly Gilbertson of Father McGivney (59.74) for the event winner.

Emma Randecker of West Carroll made a charge in the final 40-meters to take the lead and the win in the 200 Meter Dash with a 26.50 time. Lia Patterson of Tuscola (26.55) finished second. Lester finished fourth overall. Makhiya Stephen of Maroa-Forsyth was a surprise winner in the 60 Meter Hurdles (8.95) with Patterson (8.97) a close second. Another surprise was in the 4x200m Relay. North Mac stormed away early in the final section and went on to win (1:49.02) ahead of Monmouth United (1:50.40) and El Paso-Gridley (1:51.05).

Another freshman from St. Anthony stepped into the spotlight in the distance events, but it was not Isabella Keller. Her teammate Aubrey Denning took the lead at 200-meters and went on to hold off the rest of the field to win the 800 Meter Run. Denning ran a personal best of 2:20.08 for the win with Kennady Anderson of Wethersfield (2:20.65) and Emily Downing of Cambridge (2:20.70) a close second and third. Denning came back in the 400 Meter Dash running 1:01.73 to place eighth.

Boys 1A Field Events Highlights

Ben Roedl of Altamont was third entering the sixth and final round of the Long Jump. Rodel jumped 21-7.25 in his final jump for the win of the event. Rylan Alvarado of Morrison jumped 21-6.25 to finish second. The Triple Jump was also not decided until the final jumps of the competition. Keenan Powell of Lichfield jumped 44-3.50 in his final attempt to win the event. Isaac Rennecker of Petersburg PORTA came from fourth in the final round to jump 43-7.25 to finish second.

Graham Meister of Dwight was the big surprise in the Shot Put. The freshman had a 51-1.75 put in the fourth round and held on to win the 1A title. Samuel Forst of FW Parker (51-0.5)  and Vaugn Frere of Rockridge (50-11.75) finished second and third.

Four athletes: Griffin Kimbrel of Pana, Leo Cardenas of Oregon, Marcus Czapar of El Paso-Gridley, and Mason Gilpin of Carlinville, all cleared 14-1.75 in the Pole Vault. Czapar won the title on fewer misses. Finan Krenz of Bloomington Central Catholic cleared 6-3.50 in winning the High Jump.

Girls 1A Field Event Highlights

It was a great showdown in the High Jump. Audrey Phillips of El Paso-Gridley cleared 5-5 on her second attempt to win the event. Kiara Wesseh of Newark cleared 5-3.75 to finish second. Adie Stadsholt of Athens had her best put in the third round with a 38-7 mark. She went on to win the Shot Put. Natalie Hasting of Tuscola had a 38-2 best to finish second.

Kiara Wesseh and Madison Kacevicius of Greenview both jumped 17-8 in the sixth and final round of the Long Jump. Wesseh’s second best jump of 17-6.25 was better than the 16-9.75 second best of Kacevicius to win the event. Alaina Lester of Belleville Althoff Catholic jumped 37-1 to win the Triple Jump and third event in the Class 1A Meet.