Illinois HS Track & Field Weekend Highlights - April 22, 2024

A number of runners took a morning run before heading south after successful races on Saturday night at Distance Night in Palatine (Daniel Nalley Photo)

By Michael Newman

It was a busy weekend for some teams and athletes that headed out of state Friday and Saturday. Most headed back to Illinois with successful performances. The colder weather and higher winds were difference makers over those two days.

Distance Night in Palatine was the main meet that some people had an eye on over the weekend. There were a number of great performances this weekend. Some of those meets will be included in highlights below.

Eastern Relays at Louisville KY

Benton’s Gavin Genisio and Gabriel McLain along with Dylon Nalley of Marion made this weekend a double run in this meet and then took a six hour drive to Palatine for Distance Night. Ethan Hogan of Columbia made this meet his debut in the 3200 Meter Run. All four runners left Louisville with great performances. Nalley led the first seven laps of the race with Genisio part of the pack which included Andrew Hauser of Rock Bridge MO and Will Conway of Floyd Central IN. Nalley held the lead until the final lap. Hauser passed Nalley on his way to a 8:51.10 for the win. Conway 8:52.58 to finish second. Nalley set a new school record running 8:63.55 to finish third. He now has the fastest time in the state.  Genisio ran 9:05.91 (IL #5) to place sixth. Hogan and McLain finished lower in places but ran great races in the process. Ethan Hogan ran 4:31 for the first 1600-meters of the race, then negative split the second race with a 4:26 to finish 9:07.98 (IL #9) to finish tenth. McLain ran an even split 4:32/4:31 to run a personal best of 9:13.14 to finish 16th (IL #13). East St. Louis-Senior also ran in this meet running 3:25.67 (IL #9) in the 4x400 Meter Relay.

Oregon Relays at University of Oregon, Eugene

Prospect and York’s Girls team competed in this meet over the weekend. Elaine Paul of York ran 12.25 in the prelims in the 100 Meter Dash to make the finals. Paul came back to finish seventh in the finals. Anna Niebrugge of Prospect ran 25.11 to finish sixth in the 200 Meter Dash. Morgan Navarre of York ran 58.68 to finish 11th in the 400 Meter Dash. She also finished 11th in the 200 Meter Dash (25.40). Meg Peterson of Prospect ran 2:15.36 (IL #9) to finish 13 in the 800 Meter Run. Sophia Galiano-Sanchez of York was in the event running a seasonal best of 2:16.53. Veronica Znajda of Prospect ran 5:01.87 to finish 13th in the 1 Mile Run. Prospect ran 48.36 (IL #8) to finish fourth in the 4x100 Meter Relay. York ran 1:43.23 (IL #7) to finish fifth in the 4x200 Meter Relay. Prospect ran 9:36.71 (IL #5) to finish fourth  in the 4x800 Meter Relay. York was right behind running 9:38.72 (IL #7).

Kansas Relays at Lawrence KS

Arion Hill of Centralia lowered his state best down to 14.22 with a tailwind of +2.3 m/s to win the 110 Meter High Hurdles. Mya Strahm of Elmwood cleared 13-3.5 to win the High School Pole Vault. She has the top clearance in the state currently at 13-6.50.  Lane Tech also attended this meet 8:00.63 (IL #6) to finish fifth in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Lane Tech also ran 18:14.80 to finish 14th in the 4x1600 Meter Relay as well as running 10:30.75 to finish fifth in the Distance Medley Relay.

Red Grange Invitational at Wheaton-Warrenville South

Wind and cold conditions slowed some of the athletes in the some of the races. Amari Williams of Wheaton-Warrenville South was a double winner in both hurdle events. Sean Mullen of Grayslake Central had a false start to disqualify him from the A Division of the event. Williams went on to run 15.52 for the win just ahead of Coen Lee of Hononegah (15.57). Williams did not have state list leader Myles Ellis of Homewood-Flossmoor in his race as Ellis scratched from the event. Williams went on to run 39.43 (IL #5) to win the event. Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South used this race as a tune up for his race Saturday at Distance Night. Narayanan broke the race wide-open with a 64 second third lap to win the 1600 Meter Run (4:20.45) by 11 seconds ahead of Aidan Murphy of Wheaton North (4:31.70). Four teams finished under 43 seconds in a close 4x100 Meter Relay. Homewood-Flossmoor had the slightest of edges running 42.64 to edge York (42.65) by one hundredth of a second. Naperville North and Grayslake Central had the same time (42.86) finishing third and fourth. York also ran 1:30.84 to win the 4x200 Meter Relay ahead of Naperville North (1:31.36). Cash Langley of York ran 11.01 to win the 100 Meter Dash just ahead of Mason Ellens of Glenbard West (11.06) and Dai’jion Riley of Wheaton-Warrenville South (11.10). Homewood-Flossmoor was the team winner combining the three divisions with 165.5 points. Grayslake Central (146 points) and Evanston Township (116 points) finished second and third.

Sue Pariseau Invitational at Glenbard West

The team title of this meet came down to the final event with four teams within five points capable of winning the team title. Oak Park-River Forest pulled away in the final 400-meters to win with a 4:07.03 time. New Trier finished second (4:09.57) with Glenbard West placing third (4:12.76).  New Trier ended up scoring 73 points to claim the team title with Glenbard West (71.5 points) and Oak Park-River Forest (70 points) a close second and third. Lake Zurich (68 points) and Whitney Young (61.5 points) finishing fourth and fifth. Charlotte Price of Lane Tech was the only multiple event winner in this meet. Price and Cici Stennett of Barrington came cross the line in 12:45 with Price determined the winner. The Lane Tech senior came back to run 25.59 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Glenbard West ran 9:36.26 (IL #2) to win the 4x800 Meter Relay ahead of New Trier (9:48.73) and Barrington (9:49.34). Mackenzie Gilbert of Glenbard West ran 5:21.27 to win the 1600 Meter Run with teammate Alexa Novak finishing second (5:22.76).

Winston Brown Invitational at Edwardsville

Host Edwardsville claimed the team title with 122 points with St. Louis University (108 points) and Plainfield North (101 points) finishing second and third. Easton Miller of Plainfield North continues to drop his times in the 400 Meter Dash. Miller ran a personal best of 49.25 (IL #7) to win the event ahead of Jayden Pennington from Cahokia (49.94) and Plainfield North’s Alex Brennan (50.11). Plainfield North’s Owen Stahl ran 1:55.94 (IL #8) and won the 800 Meter Run with Eli Greenstreet of O’Fallon placing second (1:58.02). St. Louis University swept the first two places in both the 3200 Meter Run and 1600 Meter Run. Jackson Miller, who finished third in the 800 Meter Run, ran 4:28.69 to win the 1600 Meter Run ahead of teammate Alex Bendana (4:29.79). U-High’s Mason Scargall ran 9:31.05 to win the 3200 Meter Run three seconds ahead of teammate Charles Murray (9:34.25). Devin Habermehl of Collinsville achieved a personal best of 56-10.25 (IL #8) in winning the Shot Put ahead of Caleb Smith of Salem (54-9.75). Smith came back to throw 179-5.25 to win the Discus. The day before at the Buzz Bradley Invitational, Smith threw a personal best of 180-6 (IL #4) to win the event. Devon Hill-Lomax of Edwardsville cleared a personal best of 6-7.25 (IL #5 tie) to win the  High Jump. Matt Pluff of Freeburg jumped 22-6.5 in winning the Long Jump. Edwardsville swept the top two spots in the Triple Jump. Malik Allen jumped 49-0.25 to win the event with teammate Gino Montgomery jumping 44-9.50 to finish second. Plainfield North improved on their #2 time in the state in the 4x400 Meter Relay. The Tigers ran a seasonal best of 3:22.01 to win the event by over seven seconds by a pack led by Chatham-Glenwood (3:29.59), Mascoutah (3:30.15), and Cahokia (3:30.46). O’Fallon ran 42.50 (IL #9) to win the 4x100 Meter Relay ahead of Plainfield North (42.90). Mascoutah ran 1:28.64 (IL #3) to win the 4x200 Meter Relay. O’Fallon ran 1:28.99 (IL #9) to finish second.