Bolden sets 2A Long Jump Record on her way to 4 titles; Powell sets 2A Boys 3200 Meter Run record

 

By Michael Newman

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Bloomington, Ill – Springfield Southeast’s Serena Bolden was a busy athlete Saturday morning during the 2A Meet in the Illinois Top Times Championships. You would see her for a minute on the horizontal runways in the Shirk Center. The next thing you knew, the senior was in the starting blocks readying herself for the 60 Meter Dash.

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Bolden was out of breath after leading off for Southeast’s 800 Meter Relay team. She ran a 24.5 split putting the Lady Spartans in position to win the event and break the two-year old 2A Meet record set by Dunlap by running 1:44.94. Lindblom Academy (1:46.51) and Carbondale (1:47.98) were a distant second and third.

Now here she was, back on the jumps runway with her legs up trying to recover. Trying to get here mind set ready for getting back in the Triple Jump.

“I’m not going back into that yet,” Bolden said to one of her teammates. “They cannot push me to get back in there until I am ready.”

She was the lone survivor in the Triple Jump. All of the athletes that competed were done taking all six attempts. Bolden had only taken two jumps and was in second-place.

She had work to do. She did not have to wait in line with other athletes to jump. It was her against the board.

Her third attempt was a rust-buster again getting used to the speed of the runway. She jumped 39-1.75 that still kept her in second-place. She had to surpass Evergreen Park’s Tiera Robinson-Jones and her 39-4 best.

Bolden got right back on the runway ready four her fourth round jump less than three minutes after the completion of her third. No waiting for others to jump. She set the terms of when she would go.

38-6.50 in the fourth round did not better her situation but she was getting closer. Bolden talked to her coaches on what she needed to do. A deep breath and back to the end of the runway.

The fifth-round jump was almost perfect. Her step was right on as she bounded to an event leading 39-11.75 effort. She had the win. One more jump at 39-7.50 and her day was over. She smiled and joked with her coaches. Her day of competition was over.

Bolden’s day started perfectly on the same runway in the Long Jump. She only needed two attempts to win the event since she had the best mark entering the meet by close to a foot. The first jump that Bolden took at the end of the first round was close to perfect. She hit the board dead on while jumping 19-5.75 to give her the lead close to three feet ahead of the rest of the field.

There were no real adjustments made when she stepped up for her second turn. Again, she hit the board and got a little more height in her jump. She landed in the pit and then bounded out. She knew that was the jump. Officials measured it and then asked for a steel tape. That happens when a record is performed.

The jump was 19-9.50 breaking Erika Furbeck’s record that was set last year by just an inch.

It was off to get ready for the 60 Meter Dash in which she was the favorite. She won her preliminary section with the fastest of all qualifiers in 7.68. Bolden was ahead of her closest competition Treasure Keyes of Lindblom Academy by 22 hundredths of a second (7.90). 

The final of the event had the same outcome. She drove out of the blocks nicely and was ahead by 30-meters. Her time was almost a tenth behind her seasonal best of 7.58. Her winning time of 7.65 gave her the win by almost two tenths of a second ahead of Richwoods’ Seven Hicks (7.84) and Keyes (7.91).

“It is fun to come in first. In the Triple Jump, I had to work for it. That break after the relay gave me a chance to focus,” Bolden said. “I was super excited about the Long Jump. All year I have been jumping in the 18’s. I knew I could do better than that. When I got that first 19-foot jump today, I told myself keep it going, keep it going. You are on a roll now.”

She was favored to win three individual events and a favorite in the relay that she ran in. She left the shirk Center with four gold medals. Maybe this is a story that will be replayed when we get to Charleston in May.

Powell waits for the moment to set a record

It had not been the best of winter training seasons for Mathias Powell of Mahomet-Seymour. Little illnesses and a hamstring injury had slowed the 2A State Cross-Country Champion down. He finally got to the track to run the 3200 Meter Run at the Charleston Invitational for his first race since the Foot Locker Midwest Regionals at the end of November.

The 3200 race at Charleston was a rust buster getting his racing legs back under him. Powell ran 9:30.17 in that race to win by 39 seconds lapping the field.

Powell was confident as heading towards the starting smiling and having short chats with people in the area.

This was not going to be as easy as last week’s Charleston race. He was the second seed in this race with Garrett Dixon of Monticello having the top incoming time (9:24.11). It was expected to be a dual between the top two 2A runners and then everyone else. The race met expectations.

It was a pack of three in the first mile of the race as Rock Falls’ Dawson Smith stayed close to Dixon and Powell. It was Dixon who was the task master setting the pace as the trio went through 400-meters in 67.6, 800-meters in 2:17.6, and 1200-meters in 3:27.1. Powell and Smith were just hanging on to the pace that Dixon was setting.

Smith started to drop off the pace by four seconds in the next 400-meters as Dixon and Powell crossed 1600-meters in 4:36.8. The race had begun.

Dixon was trying to shake Powell off his side but that was just not happening on this day. He picked up the next 400-meters in 69.7 at 5:46.5 but Powell was still there. Powell took the lead with a kilometer in the race, but it was not a defining move. This time Dixon held close with the two passing with 800-meters left at 6:57. Powell ran a 70 second 400 from 2400-meters and 2800-meters but was not making Dixon go away.

When he passed 2800-meters in 8:07.2, Powell made his move moving away from Dixon. This was a move that Dixon could not respond to. Powell covered the final two laps in an effortless 65.6 seconds as he crossed the line in 9:13.79. He broke the 2A Boys meet record that Clay Elward set in 2010 (9:13.84) by five hundredths of a second.

Dixon was drained as he approached the finish line. He defined this race. He made this race with setting such a fast pace. He still ran a personal best of 9:22.29 to finish second. The pack that defined the other race in this race was led by the third-place finish of Kyle Bell from Providence Catholic (9:42.62) with freshman Alex Partlow of Carbondale next (9:42.85) and then Smith (9:43.86).

“It may have looked effortless, but I was hurting at the mile. Garrett (Dixon) did just a great job leading the race,” Powell said. “It was great to be racing again. I had no clue, no goal what I was going to do. I did not think I was going to run that time at all.”

The two main 2A runners will face each other again at some outdoor meet in the next two months. It will be the race on the big-blue oval at the end of May that everyone will anticipate as Powell and Dixon make another lasting memory.

A tearful double for Turney

Clinton’s Payne Turney has been “on the verge” on stepping up to the next level of racing. She has been close finishing ninth in the 1A XC State race as a freshman, 36^th in the 2A State Race as a sophomore, and ninth last fall. She was all-state on the track finishing ninth in the 2A 800 Meter Run as a freshman and seventh last spring as a sophomore in the same event.

Everyone, including Turney, were waiting for that click where the junior took that step to the next level. Her two wins in the 2A Girls Meet at Illinois Top Times was that defining moment.

We could see it coming. Turney entered the meet with the fastest 2A times for 800-meters, 1600-meters, and 3200-meters. There was that focus in her eyes as she stepped to the line for the 800 Meter Run that we see in other elite runners. When the gun went off, Turney was just clicking.

Turney was determined to make this race her own and she did just that blasting away from the rest of the competition passing 200-meters in 32.2 and 65.3 through 400-meters. The rest of the pack was headlights passing 400-meters in 70 seconds. Turney continued to open the lead as she flew by 600-meters in 1:38.9. She hurt that last 200-meters but found a way to the finish line.

First a smile on her face, then tears of joy as she found out that she had just run 2:15.59. It was a personal best indoors or outdoors by close to three seconds. She had been stuck at 2:18 for as long as she could remember. All of a sudden, POOF, that barrier was gone. Her coach ran over to her as the two embraced sharing that private coach/athlete moment in tears. All of a sudden, those tears were gone. Turney had to focus on the 1600 Meter Run that would start in less than 50 minutes.

The 800/1600 double is rough outdoors as you don’t have time to really recovered. In this meet, it could be even worse because you have little time to mentally prepare for that race.

Focus in the eyes, firing of the starter’s pistol. Turney showed she was ready for that challenge.

So was Olivia Rosenstein of Urbana. The junior had gone through a rough last 12 months with an injury that forced her to miss almost all of the cross-country season last fall only running in the post-season regional meets. She ran 5:15 in Charleston two weeks before this race. Plus, this was the only race Rosenstein would be running.

It was the same race plan for Turney. Take the pace out and dare anyone to go with her. Rosenstein took that dare as the two runners moved away from the rest of the field early in the race. Emma Argo of Eureka stayed with the two early the first two laps but then started to drop off the pace. Turney led Rosenstein at 800-meters as the two crossed in 2:36.5. The pace stayed the same the next 400-meters as both passed in 3:54 with two laps to go.

Turney made her move on the backstretch but Rosenstein was still there like a mosquito in your ear on a summer night. The paced picked up in the final 200-meters in the race as Turney slowly lengthened her lead. Both runners achieved personal bests. Turney with the win in 5:07.07 and Rosenstein just behind in 5:09.01. Aspen Gordon of Morton, who had finished second behind Turney in the 800 Meter Run, completed a strong double by finishing third in this race (5:12.94).

“I wanted to go out fast in that 800. I did not think I went out that fast,” Turney said. She also ran a 60 second split on her team’s 1600 Meter Relay. “I thought entering that final lap that this was going to hurt. I told my self to work it and I did.”

Those little kicks from Riley Wells

If you have not seen a race that Riley Wells from Rockford Christian has been running in, it is something to experience. It is an everyday thing for Wells to wait and kick at the end of a race. He did it his freshman year when he brought his team from behind to win the 1A 800 Meter Relay State Championship. He followed that up with a little kick to win the 1A 800 Meter Run and then bringing his team from behind to win the 1600 Meter Relay. He repeated that last year winning the 800 Meter Run and then coming from behind diving at the finish line to get second for his team in the 1600 Meter Relay.

What is lost in all of these individual finishes is that his heart is there for his teammates.

Here he was at Illinois Top Times not concentrating on individual events but running the 800 Meter Run and running with his teammates in two relays.

He said after the team won the 3200 Meter Relay Saturday morning, “ I want to run this race so that my teammates can experience that winning feeling in this event. They have never felt that before.”

His teammates in Saturday’s race put Wells in position to win and get him ready for the individual race. Brent Brunner gave the team the lead on the opening leg with a 2:02 split. Stephen Thomas and Nicholas Capriola kept the Royal Lions close by the time they gave the baton to Wells.

The three other Rockford Christian runners watched their teammate tour the track. They were asked if they had the race won. They just smiled. A runner from another team overheard the comment and said the race is not over. I am guessing they had never run against Wells.

“It is good to have a reputation where you have or are near the lead and you have the best runner in the state to anchor,” Rockford Christian Coach Randy Moore stated.

Wells only ran a 2:03.2 anchor leg but he did not have to run any faster. Dixon’s Colin Grady and Rantoul’s Elijah Hall were fighting for the lead. Wells just sat and waited. In the final lap, Wells tried to pass Hall but was not allowed to at first. Then that special gear that Wells has was revealed and poof, he was gone.

Rockford Christian won (8:16.14) with Wells running a 29.1 final 200-meters. Dixon (8:17.25) and Rantoul (8:22.70) followed.

The 800 Meter Run was a race had Wells as the big favorite as he was the two-time 1A champion. Wells made it interesting as he usually does. His coach has most likely lost a year of his life every time he has seen his start runner unleash his kick coming from way behind.

This was a typical “Wellsian” race. Elijah Hall had the lead at 400-meters at 58.9 seconds. Wells was back in 10^th at 61.6 seconds. Patric Natindim of Saint Viator took over the lead pushing the pace and stretching the pack. Wells passed 600-meters in eighth-place at 1:31.6 in a box on the inside of Lane 1.

It looked like he was done. But wait, we have seen this story play out before.

Wells finally found a way out as he entered the back straightaway. He put his head down and pushed the pace. First, he passed one runner, and another. By the time he hit the final 50-meters, he was even with Natindim but that did not last long.

28.6 for the final 200-meters. Another championship for Wells. Another heart attack for Moore. Another kick by the “Mad Kicker”.

Wells ran 1:59.63 for the win followed by Natindim (2:00.16), Adam Kries of Burlington Central (2:00.71) and Jacob Gray of Metamora (2:00.72).

Wells smiled after he caught his breath after the race. “I think I cut it a little too tight in that race,” Wells said.

He came back in the 1600 Meter Relay and ran a 51.3 split to anchor Rockford Christian’s quartet that finished third (3:33.36) behind great teams from Burlington Central (3:32.04) and Eureka (3:32.68).

It was another day in the office for Wells. It was another meet where fans left shaking their heads not believing what they had seen from this Rockford Christian student/athlete.

2A SPRINT/HURDLE HIGHLIGHTS

If a statement was made in this meet, it was made by the sprint squad from St. Rita. Senior Mick Doyle described their mojo as “Southside 79^th Street Toughness”. It showed as the Mustangs won three events in these disciplines.

No one had heard of Kaleb Brown before this meet except for followers from his school. The freshman had never run track before until this winter. Brown did not run anything special in the prelims of the 60 Meter Dash having the third fastest time (7.13) behind St. Laurence’s Brailyn Johnson (7.03) and Plano’s Keegan Cullison (7.09).

Johnson was the pre-meet favorite in this race, but the finish did not turn out that way. Brown got a great start out of the blocks which was the difference in the race. The freshman earned the win with a personal best 7.01 seconds. Leondre Pollard of Thornridge was second (7.06) followed by Cullison (7.07) and Johnson (7.10).

Doyle received the baton from Brown in second entering the anchor leg of the 800 Meter Relay. Eureka had the lead coming off the final turn. Doyle showed that toughness making the pass in the final 20-meters to give his team the win (1:33.36) just ahead of Eureka (1:33.49) and St. Laurence (1:34.34).

It was Doyle’s turn to step into the spotlight in the final section of the Boys 200 Meter Dash. Doyle, who’s favorite event is the 300 Intermediate Hurdles, was even with Pollard and Doyle coming off the final turn. It was Doyle that won on the lean (22.56) just ahead of Pollard (22.59) and Cullison (22.86).

Marengo’s Finnigan Schirmer was a busy athlete on Saturday running in three events. He finished sixth in the 200 Meter Dash and eighth in the finals of the 60 Meter Dash (7.24). before the 60 final, he ran the 60 Meter Hurdles. Schirmer did not get his best start in the finals of the hurdles, but he caught Freeport’s Jaden Johnson and Cahokia’s Steven Harris on the final hurdle. Six hundredths of a second separated the trio with Schirmer winning (8.30) followed by Johnson (8.34) and Harris (8.36).

Thornridge’s Devon Bolden pulled away from Rantoul’s Jerry Harper in the final 50-meters to win the 400 Meter Dash. Bolden’s time of 50.47 finished ahead of Harper (50.86) and Cahokia’s Darreon West (51.43).

Monticello’s Emelia Ness demonstrated why she is the top 2A Girls hurdler in the state. Ness dominated the finals by running 9.03 for the win. N’dia Jackson of Springfield Southeast and Brooke Barkocy of Burlington Central both were timed at 9.36 with Jackson finishing second by five thousandths of a second.

Jayla Campbell of Rich Central was in full control in winning the 2A Girls 400 Meter Dash. The pre-race favorite ran 57.66 for the win by two seconds ahead of Carbondale’s Akira Custer (59.68). They were the only two runners under 60-seconds in this event.

One of the closest finishes of the 2A Meet was in the Girls 200 Meter Dash. Evergreen Park’s Tiera Robinson-Jones, who finished second in the Triple Jump, made her final lean count as she won the final section (25.29) by just one hundredth of a second ahead of Seven Hicks (25.30). Campbell came back in this race and finished third (25.92).

2A DISTANCE EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

It was like Deja-vu of what happened last spring in the 2A State finals of the Girls 3200 Meter Relay. Yes, Eureka pulled away on a strong final leg by 1A State Cross Country Champion Emma Argo. It was different because they had a curveball the day before the meet. Courtney Heffren, who is more of a sprinter, was substituted in running her first ever 800-meter leg in a relay. Tessa Wiegand led off with a 2:28.7 opener followed by Heffren (2:27.8) and Alexi Fogo (2:25.8). Argo ran her leg in (2:22.8) to give Eureka the win (9:45.28) followed by Normal University (9:50.92) and Geneseo (9:53.49).

There was no doubt that Jenna Schwartz would not win the 2A Girls 3200 Meter race in this meet. The defending state champion in this event made it clear that she would win as she had an 11 second lead at the half way point in this race (5:24.8) ahead of Staunton’s Lydia Roller and Tolono Unity’s Jordan Harmon who were pushing to try to close the gap. They did cut the gap a little in the final 400-meters of this this race belonged to Schwartz. Her winning time was 11:10.84 as Roller ran 11:17.94 to edge Harmon (11:18.36) for second-place.

With 400-meters left to go in the Boys 1600 Meter Run, Brooks Harlan of Centralia was looking around seeing where he was or who was coming up on him. He is a sophomore and he was in a position that he was never in before. Harlan was on his way to win his first high school race. He led from the start daring other runners to come with. The pack thought he would. They were wrong.

Harlan crossed the line with a huge smile and the win (4:27.41). The pack closed on him at the finish led by Monticello’s Garret Dixon came back from a great 3200 to finish second (4:29.29). Waterloo’s Eli Ward, who ran in the 800, finished third (4:20.36).

2A FIELD EVENTS

The Girls Shot Put was defined in the final round of the event as the top three athletes had their best marks. Jayden Ulrich of East Alton-Wood River took the lead early in the event with a 42-3.75 put in the first round which dared other athletes to come after her. Mye’Joi Williams of Rantoul made a push with her sixth-round put of 41-7. Chandler Hayden of Pittsfield improved over two feet in the sixth round as she had a 41-0.75 to finish third overall. Ulrich, only a sophomore, improved in the sixth round with a 42-5.50 to win the championship.

Defending Shot Put state champion Hunter Hendershot of Mahomet-Seymour fouled on three of six attempts. IIt was his third-round throw of 57-7.75 to defend his meet title. Rich South’s Tyler Sudduth made it close as he had a 56-4.25 put to finish second. Elijah Nitz of Rockford Christian improved by three feet to have a 55-7.75 personal best to finish third.

Leondre Pollard of Thornridge started his meet by jumping 22-0.75 to win the Long Jump. Jaromy Skinner of Monmouth-Roseville had a 21-6.75 best to finish second.

Andra Ward of Cahokia had not competed since a meet at Proviso West in the middle of February as he was nursing a hamstring injury. Ward played it cautious in this competition as he passed on his second, fourth, and sixth round attempts. His first-round attempt of 46-4.75 won the event as he opened up a five-foot lead. His fifth round and final jump of 47-4.50 concluded an impressive performance by Ward and the championship win. Jayden McCluskie-Green of Sandwich, only a sophomore, moved up to second-place with a 45-0.50 on his final jump. Kahlil Ross of Springfield Lanphier jumped 43-11 in the final round to finish third.

Zachary Pluff of Freeburg had cleared 6-9 or better in his last two meets. He did not need his best but still cleared 6-6 on his second attempt at the height to win the Boys Championship in the High Jump. Springfield Southeast’s David Emuze cleared 6-5 to finish second.

Two-time defending champion Diamonasia Taylor of Urbana balanced her time in Saturday’s meet between the 800 Meter Relay and the High Jump. This was only the second meet of the season for the junior. Carly Tucker of Metamora had the advantage winning the High Jump clearing 5-6 on her second attempt at the height. Taylor cleared a seasonal best of 5-5 to finish second.

Samantha Spencer of Providence Catholic had a little hiccup when she missed her first attempt of the meet at her opening height of 11-6. She cleared on the second attempt. She was clean after that clearing at 12-0 and 12-6 on her first attempts to win the Girls Pole Vault. Lilliana Ifft of Prairie Central was the only other athlete to clear 12-0 as she finished second overall.

Mitchell McKelvey of Metamora and Dayton Black of Charleston were the only athletes to clear 14-0 in the 2A Boys Pole Vault as the bar raised to 14-6. That is when Chandlar Ifft of Prairie Central entered the competition. McKelvey stayed in as he cleared that height as Ifft cleared it on his first attempt. Ifft shut the door on the competition clearing 15-0 while McKelvey missed on his three attempts. Ifft won on his third attempt clearing 15-6.