Sato, Wetzel set records in Saturday 3A Illinois Top Times final session

By Michael Newman

Bloomington, Ill – There were times during the late afternoon on Saturday in the 3A Meet at Illinois Top Times inside the Shirk Center were it got hard to get excited. Yes, there were a number of 3A schools that opted to not bring their teams down to this meet because they had that choice and were getting ready for the outdoor season. You get overwhelmed in what you were hoping for. In reality, athletes getting a chance to step in the spotlight in this meet was greater than hoping for something you would not get.

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There were a number of athletes that shined in this meet as we head outdoors. The biggest were Trey Sato of Grayslake Central and Chelsea Wetzel of Dunlap setting new meet records in the final session of this meet.

The Pole Vault always gets exciting when new heights to clear are approached for the first time by athletes. It also gets exciting to set a meet record in a prestigious event like this. Wetzel is the defending champion in Class 2A when Dunlap was in that class. This year Dunlap will compete in Class 3A for at least the next two years. Waiting for Wetzel in this event was defending meet champion Joscelyn Diekman of DeKalb.

Only seven heights were attempted in the 3A meet seemingly making the event go faster. Wetzel took a chance coming into the competition long after the rest of the field had been in action. It took two attempts for Wetzel to clear her opening height of 12-3.50. Diekman and McKena Miglorini of Lockport Township both cleared that height and became the only athletes left in the competition. The pressure that seemed to be on Wetzel disappeared when she cleared 12-7.50 on her opening attempt. Dieckman and Miglorini missed all three attempts bowing out of the competition.

Wetzel got into record territory when the bar was raised to 4.05m (13-3.50). Her first two attempts were okay, not horrible, but enough to give the senior confidence entering her final attempt. She clipped the bar as she went over it in her final attempt. The bar bounced twice on the standard and looked like it would fall off. It was only a second though it seemed like forever as the bar rested back on the standard. Wetzel jumped u and down in jubilation realizing that she had just established a new meet record. The old record set by Mya Strahm in Friday’s 1A meet of 4.04m was gone in less than 24 hours.

There would be no drama in the Boys 800 Meter Run. Trey Sato had a great indoor season having run 9:10 for 3200-meters and 4:12 for the 1-Mile Run. The week before at the NLCC Championships, Sato ran 1:53.68 in easily winning the race.

Sato was waiting on the side watching how the first of two sections in the 800 would play out. Charles Blackmer of Vernon Hills pulled away to run 1:56.08 in winning the race. It was a good standard for Sato chase after. In reality, he caught that standard early in the race. The senior passed the first two laps of the race in 55.35 almost three seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Another 27.7 lap got him to 1:23.13 and on pace to get the meet record. He did not slow down on the final lap running 28.2 winning in a new meet record of 1:51.95. The 26 year-old record set by Jason Van Swol of 1:53.4 in 1998 was shattered.

Blackmer’s time from the first section held up to finish second. Doug Martin of McHenry ran 1:56.83 to finish third ahead of Owen Stahl of Plainfield North (1:57.14). Sato came back at the end of the meet running 49.7 to get Grayslake Central to second in the 4x400m Relay.

Another 3A athlete that had a great meet was Zawadi Brown of Neuqua Valley. Before the senior who also plays Lacrosse for her school and will do the same at Vanderbilt University next fall, she has unfinished business attending to in her final track & field season. She did just that as she won three titles in this meet, the most of any athlete this past weekend.

There was suspense in Brown’s Long Jump to start the meet. She was eight after her first jump before jumping 18-7 in the third round. The pressure was on as she fouled on her next two attempts. She trailed Kyla Motley of Shepard who had jumped 19-0.50 to take the lead in the second round. Brown hit a pressure jump of 19-2, an indoor personal best, to win her first title of the meet.

The 60 Meter Dash was loaded with talent including defending champion Katelyn Lehnen of Chatham-Glenwood. Brown ran 7.68 to win her heat in the event and was seeded fourth heading into the finals. The finals were dynamite as Mariyah Robinson of Simeon caught Lehnen in the final four strides to win by one hundredth of a second ahead of Lehnen (7.55-7.56). Kristyn Johnson of Bolingbrook (7.67) and Kee’Lani Whitlock of Kenwood (7.69) finished third and fourth. Brown ran 7.71 to finish fifth.

Brown had led Neuqua Valley to a 4x2 win at the Mustang Relays at the beginning of the month. Homewood-Flossmoor had the lead when they ran 1:44.78 to win the third section. Neuqua Valley had a slight lead on Neuqua Valley when Brown got the baton. She ran a 24.35 anchor to get the Wildcats the win with a 1:43.92 time.

Brown ran 24.92 to win the 200 Meter Dash in 2023. She was a little faster in her win on Saturday. Brown’s winning time of 24.79 was ahead of Tania Miller of Romeoville (24.94) and Mariyah Robinson (25.19).

3A Boys Track Highlights

What was surprising is that Amari Alexander of Hinsdale South was the final runner to get to the finals of the 60 Meter Dash. He got out of the blocks quickly the week before at the WSC-Gold Meet to run 6.52 to win the 55 Meter Dash. The finals would be tight with the eight finalists within eight hundredth of a second of each other. Alexander got off to a great start in the finals, but he was out of sight of some starting along the Center’s wall. While everyone was looking in the middle, there was Alexander with the lead and eventually with the win in a huge personal best of 6.94. Da’jion Riley of Wheaton-Warrenville South, who had not lost a race in either the 55 or 60 Meter Dashes this indoor season, ran a personal best of 6.97 to finish second. Tervous Graves of Proviso West, who had finished fifth the week before at the WSC-Silver Meet, ran 6.99 to finish third.

Braylen Anderson of DeKalb held on to win the 200 Meter Dash. The sophomore ran 22.40 to hold on for the win with Caleb Schulz of Oak Park-River Forest running 22.44 to finish second. Tyran Bender of Bradley-Bourbonnais ran 22.58 to finish third. If the finish of the 60 Meter Dash was close, the finish oof the 400 Meter Dash was extremely snug with the top four runners separated by under a tenth of a second of each other. They all crossed the line together. Thank goodness for FAT Timing. Micah Hall of Barrington ran 50.40 to claim the win. Samuel Elliott-Barnes of Alton (50.42) and Dontrell Young of Oswego (50.46) finished second and third ahead of Easton Miller of Plainfield North (50.49).

Quinton Peterson of Lemont won the 60 Meter Hurdles as he ran 8.16 for the title. Kamil Kokot of Marist (8.19) and Patrick Kuprewicz of Glenbrook South (8.25) finished second and third.

Lakes Community was in charge during the first three legs of the 4x800m Relay. In fact, the Eagles had a four second lead half way through the race. Bolingbrook came on strong on the anchor leg. Hussein Almousawi ran a 1:57.24 split to help Bolingbrook win the race (8:00.66) with Lincoln-Way Central (8:02.06) and Belvidere North (8:06.00) finished second and third. Lakes Community ran 8:08.21 to finish fourth just ahead of Conant (8:08.35).

Tommy Nitz of Huntley and David Valkanov of Kaneland pushed each other to great times in the 3200 Meter Run. The top nine runners ran indoor personal bests in this race. Valkanov and Nitz led a pack through 1600-meters in 4:35. Valkanov and Nitz separated from the pack opening up a three second lead on Quinn Davis of Plainfield North, Jack Jennings of Fremd, and Nate Wehner of Highland Park three to four seconds behind as the two leaders passed in 6:56 entering the final four laps. Valkanov was patient waiting to make a final move. He opened up a one second lead in the next to last two laps before running a 30.8 finale to win the title with a 9:10.89 time. Nitz ran 9:14.12 to finish second. Jennings is just a freshman but runs like an experience senior running one of the fastest indoor times ever indoors for a freshman with a 9:16.63 to finish third with Davis (9:21.62) and Wehner (9:26.76) finishing fourth and fifth.

Rory Gaan of Fremd took the lead after the first lap of the 1600 Meter Run and never looked back. Evan Nosek of Kaneland ran a great race staying with and pushing Gaan. The break in the race came with two laps left when Gaan threw in a 31 second lap dropping Nosek and Jacob Barraza of DeKalb. Gaan cruised in across the line in 4:16.53 for the win. Nosek (4:21.20) and Barraza (4:22.23) finished second and third. Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South ran 4:23.63 to finish fourth.

The standard was set early in the four section final of the 4x200 Meter Relay. Grayslake Central ran 1:32.10 to win the first section ahead of Crete-Monee (1:32.29). Naperville North came close running 1:32.12 to win the third section. It was Belleville West that had the final say in this event as the Maroons ran 1:30.59 to easily win the event. Grayslake Central and Naperville North finished second and third.

The lead changed hands quicker than baton exchanges in the 4x400 Meter Relay. Bolingbrook opened up with the lead in the second section of the event. At the end before the second exchange, Plainfield North took over finishing the meet with the win. A 49.58 anchor leg by Easton Miller gave the Tigers the win (3:24.78) ahead of Grayslake Central (3:26.03) and Kenwood (3:27.62). Bolingbrook was close behind finishing fourth (3:27.79).

Girls 3A Track Highlights

One of the most exciting finishes in the meet was in the final section of the 400 Meter Dash. Mariyah Robinson of Simeon had the lead entering the final curve. She came out of the curve with Morgan Navarre of York and Alaina Steele of Lincoln-Way East. Navarre had to swing to the outside of Lane 3 to get past Steele. Navarre ran an indoor personal best of 57.77 to win the event with Steele running 58.08 to finish second. Gabrella Manzano of New Trier ran 58.42 to pass Robinson (58.59) in finishing third and fourth.

One of the bigger surprises was in the 3A Meet was in the 60 Meter Hurdles. Sophie Amin of Huntley ran a huge personal best of 8.82 to lead all qualifiers into the finals. Amin got off again to another great start but nipped the third hurdle. It opened the door for Mauricia Harris of Thornwood. The senior crossed the finish line in disbelief as she ran 8.84 for the win. Amin ran 8.93 to finish second with Aisha Kazeem of Platine finishing third (9.06).

Washington was towards the back during the first two legs of the 4x800m Relay in eighth after 1600-meters of the relay. Plainfield North had the advantage of the race until the final leg. Then Sophia Ramirez took charge. The sophomore  from Washington ran a 2:15.42 split to give her team the win (9:29.14). Hersey (9:35.23) and Lincoln-Way Central (9:36.71) finished second and third.

It was evident early in the 3200 Meter Run that Liv Phillips of Naperville Central would win this race. She was the top seed with no runners within 25 seconds in this race. The Central senior passed the first 1600-meters in 5:16 with a six second lead. She kept her pace the rest of the way growing the lead even larger. Phillips ran a best of 10:31.46 to claim the win. It was close for the next four spots as the runners were separated by a little more than a second. Shania Tandon of Naperville North and her sister Rianna ran a solid race in the front that paid off at the end. Shania ran 10:56.13 to finish second just ahead of Brea Counihan of Lincoln-Way Central (10:56.39). Rianna ran 10:57.05 to finish fourth. Sofia Arcuri of Maine South was ninth after the first mile. She moved in the second half of the race finish fifth with a 10:57.98 time.

The same held true for Annika Swan of St. Ignatius College Prep in the 1600 Meter Run. Swan used this race more of a tune-up for the mile at the Arcadia Invitational in a couple of weeks. The sophomore led from the start. She wanted to pass the first half of the race between 2:24-2:25. She actually passed 800-meters in 2:23.85. The margin on Swan and the rest of the pack was six seconds. It closed in the final lap of the race. Swan got the win with a 4:56.25 time. Five runners ran under five-minutes in this race. Prospect’s Veronica Znajda (4:58.79) and Meg Peterson (4:59.07) finished second and third. Stella Davis of Evanston Township ran 4:59.62 to finish fourth. Julie Piot of Naperville North ran just under 5-minutes with a 4:59.97 time to finish fifth. Liv Phillips doubled back to run 5:02.23 to finish sixth.

Emma Berres of Naperville North had command of the 800 Meter Run for 770-meters of the race. Janellisa Oceguera of Joliet West and Marley Andelman of St. Charles East started to run down Berres on the final lap. Andelman came out of the curve in an all out sprint catching Berres just before the finish. Andelman ran 2:15.65 to edge Berres (2:15.81) and Oceguera (2:15.97) for the win. Sophia Ramirez came back after the 4x8 to run 2:16.83 to finish fourth.

Prospect did not have their regular quartet intact in this meet. Their win in this race showed the depth that the Knights have. Prospect ran 3:59.96 to claim the win with Batavia running 4:00.59 to finish second. Chatham-Glenwood came from fifth to finish third behind the 54.8 anchor split from Katelyn Lehnen.

3A Boys Field Events Highlights

One of top field events in Class 3A on this afternoon. Kaden Garland of Oak Park-River Forest was fire in this competition. The senior had four of his six attempts over 60-feet. The other two attempts were fouls. His state leading put of 62-8.75 in the third round was the attempt that got him the win. Jaiden Gary of Proviso East had a brief lead with his 58-8 put in the second round. Gary ended up finishing second.

Dedrick Richardson Jr of Lincoln-Way East had a monster jump of 24-2 in the third round to win the Long Jump. Kwabena Osei-Yeboah of Oak Park-River Forest had a 23-6.75 best in his fifth round jump to finish second. The Triple Jump produced a great series of jumps by Malik Allen of Edwardsville. Allen had five fair jumps in this meet all of which were over 45-feet. His best though was a massive personal best of 49-4.25 to win the event. Enoch Appiah Kubi of Loyola Academy finished second (47-3.25) ahead of Jack Andersen of Rolling Meadows (45-9.25) and Osei-Yeboah (45-8.75) finishing third and fourth.

Kosta Zografos of Wauconda and Voldy Makabu of Champaign Centennial both cleared 6-6.25 in the High Jump. Zografos won the event on fewer misses. Zach Galvicius of McHenry cleared 15-9 in winning the Pole Vault. Nathan McLoughlin of St. Charles North, Sean Mullen of Grayslake Central, and Heath Hawkins of Pekin all cleared 15-5 placing second, third, and fourth.

3A Girls Field Events Highlights

Dominique Johnson of Huntley set an overall meet record winning an event for three years in a row. The junior led the from the start when she led after the first round with a 38-11.75 jump. Her jump of 40-1.25 in the fourth round was her best. Gabi Karvelis of Neuqua Valley jumped 38-2.25 to finish second. Johnson in the Long Jump had a best of 18-9.25 in finishing third.

Marco Reynolds of Normal Community had a final round mark of 41-7-25 good enough to win the Shot Put. Laila Richardson of Minooka achieved a personal best of 40-9.50 to finish second ahead of Emily Sykes of Granite City (40-0).

Zariah Burnett of Rockford Guilford cleared 5-7 on her first attempt to win the High Jump. Jordan Dimke of Rockton Hononegah and Samantha Yeh both cleared 5-5.75 and tied for second.