By Michael Newman

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The Boys State Track and Field Championships in Illinois take over O’Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois beginning on Thursday. Here are ten of the storylines to keep an eye on in this meet this weekend.

Photo Credit: Tony Holler, Plainfield North High School

MEET PREVIEWS – CLASS 1A | CLASS 2A | CLASS 3A

WATCH THE MEET LIVE ON THE NFHS NETWORK

1 – Marcellus Moore and the repeat in the 3A sprints

It started as a tremor when news started to go around the state that Plainfield North’s Marcellus Moore did not run in the Southwest Prairie Conference Boys Championships on May 8. When asked if Moore was okay, the only reply that Plainfield North Coach Tony Holler said was “Maybe”. Holler went onto say that his state champion sprinter would be entered in the Ottawa Sectional on May 16.

It was a hamstring injury that Moore had that had the Plainfield North Coaches concerned. Moore quieted the doubters on a message on Twitter just stating: “Championship Season”.

Actions spoke louder than words in his two sectional races last Thursday. He was under control when he ran 10.79 to win the 100 Meter Dash which was the third fastest sectional time. Moore ran 21.83 to win the 200 Meter Dash again under control. He wanted to run faster, but coaches advised against it.

Erase all the times from last week. They get you to the starting line. Moore has the state record from last year’s state meet in the 100 Meter Dash. His schedule is different than last year as he will only be running the 100 and 200 with no relays to compete in. That will be a benefit for him. He may not be at 100% heading into Friday afternoon’s preliminary heats. He does have the heart of a champion that could drive him to big things this weekend.

2 – Jordan Johnson aims for record in Discus

We knew this time would come from Quincy’s Jordan Johnson at last year’s IHSA State Meet. He threw 196-9 in the Friday prelims to capture the Class 3A Championship in the Discus. He was in reach of AJ Epenesa and his state record of 205-10. Johnson may have been pushed this season by the 167-7 throw he had at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals.

That meet has driven him to big things in 2019. He has three meets where he threw over 200-feet. His best of 206-1 at the Collinsville Invitational on May 4 is currently tied for second in the United States. He “only” threw 193-9 in last week’s sectional. It was his “worst” winning throw of the year. It still was the top Class 3A performance in the state. His best throw is almost 20-feet ahead of the rest of the field.

An athlete is never a lock at a state meet but Johnson is close to it. It may be worth to stay around the Discus ring on Friday afternoon. You could see history being made.

3 – Crete-Monee ready to come out and play in the relays

And just like that, the Crete-Monee 400 Meter Relay team just got closer to immortality. That was the thought after the Warriors ran 41.12 to win the event at the Bloom Township Sectional on May 15. Their time equaled the IHSA State Meet Record that Cahokia ran in 2015.

Their relay time is currently ranked #25 nationally. It is the #8 “non-Texas” relay time nationally. The quartet of Victor Cameron, Jamal Safo, Kavon Jones, Ricky Johnson will have many individual events to help Crete-Monee to win their first state team championship. Crete-Monee ran41.66 at the SAC Conference Championships on May 8 with only Cameron on the relay. That is how deep this sprint team is.

The Warriors have the top sectional time in the 800 Meter Relay (1:26.29) and could get close to the 1:25.83 state meet record of Cahokia. A win will be the priority first. They only finished eight hundredths of a second ahead of Bloom Township who will be right on their heels.

4 – Jamal Safo has Ja’Mari Ward’s state meet record in his sights

The first “boom” at last week’s Bloom Township Sectional came from Crete-Monee’s Jamal Safo jumped a 25-0 personal best in the Long Jump. There was no wind gauge on the Long Jump runway. What was unique is that he did it in the first round. That ended his day in that event taking only one jump. That mark is ranked fifth nationally regardless of conditions.

His next challenge in his sights is the win in the Class 3A Long Jump. Those points will help Crete-Monee on their way to win the Class 3A team title. On his way, Safo could break a 30-year old Class 3A state record of 24-4.75 along with trying to surpass Ja’Mari Ward’s state meet record of 25-0.25.

5 – Does Riley Wells get the “three-peat” in the 800 Meter Run?

Rockford Christian’s Riley Wells will not be able defend his Class 1A title in the 800 Meter Run. His school was moved to Class 2A for the 2019 season. He will be the favorite again in this classification going for the three-peat with three titles in a row just not in the same class. The field is tough but when is a field not tough when Wells toes the line. The senior is also expected to anchor his team’s relays in the 3200 Meter Relay and the 1600 Meter Relay.

You can call Wells the “Human Victory Cigar”. Every time he gets the baton in a relay, his team the majority of the time will see him crossing the line first.

You can call Wells the “Mad Kicker”. You can spot him any distance that he is behind. He will find a way to get the win. He perhaps has one of the most lethal kicks in the state. The finishing kick comes from the heart. Wells has plenty of that.

You can call Wells the “Houdini of the Half”. He has been in many situations where he is boxed in with no hope of winning. Wells finds his way out of that tough spot and morphs into the “Mad Kicker”.

You SHOULD call Wells “Champion”. It’s not because he has won three state championships (2 Individual, 1 Relay). He should be called champion for all the things that we do see for his church and community and perhaps the lasting effect his four years will have on the school and the Rockford Christian Boys Cross Country and Track & Field teams.

6 – Finnigan Schirmer goes after unique quad win

At the end of February, Finnigan Schirmer was still playing on Marengo’s Basketball team. He snuck over to the Huntley Fieldhouse to get his feet wet on the track. He looked rusty in the two sprint events on that day, but he still looked good in the 60 Meter Hurdles winning the event despite being in “Basketball shape”.

Flash forward to the end of May. Schirmer is now in “track-shape”. We can see that from his times in his races.

Schirmer was all-state in the 110 High Hurdles, 100 Meter Dash, and 200 Meter Dash in last year’s Class 2A State Meet. He has the top Class 2A times in all three events and will be favored in the state meet beginning on Friday. He added a fourth event to his repertoire this season. Some athletes have achieved the sprint triple (100, 200, 400) along with a field event. Schirmer added the 300 Intermediate Hurdles. Despite the fact he is a novice in the longer hurdle race, the junior still has the fastest time in the state.

He could be the first athlete to complete this four win sweep. We w1ll have that answer on Saturday afternoon.

7 – Who gets the Boys Distance Triple Crown in 2019?

The Illinois Distance Triple Crown consists of a state title at Detweiller Park in November and winning the 3200 Meter Run and 1600 Meter Run at the IHSA State Track Meet on the last Saturday in May at Eastern Illinois University.

There is no chance for it to happen this year in Class 3A. Josh Methner of Hersey won at the Det in November. He will only run in the 3200 Meter Run on Saturday.

There is a chance in the other two classes on Saturday. Christopher Collet of Seneca has the top seed time in both the 3200 Meter Run and the 1600 Meter Run. He is a good bet to win the longer distance. Noah McIntyre of Athens and Negus Bogard of Robinson could get in his way in the 1600 Meter Run.

Mathias Powell of Mahomet-Seymour could do it in Class 2A. He has the fastest Class 2A time in the 3200 Meter Run but will need to get by defending state champion Adam Gilbreath-Glaub of Metamora and Garrett Dixon of Monticello. It could be just as tough in the 1600 Meter Run as he will have to challenge Class 2A list leader Daniel Chen of IMSA for the win.

8 – Mason Barr goes after Class 1A Hurdle sweep

Colfax Ridgeview’s Mason Barr finds himself in the same situation that he was in last year as the favorite in both Class 1A hurdle races. He just hopes that the same situation happens to him like last year before the prelims of the 300 Intermediate Hurdles.

Barr got to the check in tent too late for the event. The athletes for those prelims had already made it to the starting line and had entered the blocks. It drove Barr to great things in Saturday’s final to help his team win a state team championship.

The circumstances are different this weekend. His teammate Tate Walcott got injured before the sectional meet in Watseka. Instead of going after back-to-back state titles for Colfax-Ridgeview, Barr will go after the hurdle sweep.

9 – Patience could be a virtue for Neuqua Valley’s Donovan Turner

The senior season for Donovan Turner of Neuqua Valley changed on April 2. Turner had a good indoor season and was looking forward to big things in the final two months of his high school career. In a dual meet against York on a cool day on his home track, he took the baton trying to race down a York runner in the 400 Meter Relay. Turner grabbed his right hamstring 30-meters from the finish. The diagnosis was a hamstring injury and was thought that his season would be over.

Turner’s demeanor is that he is a fighter, a battler on the track. I am sure we wanted to get back, but he heeded coaches and doctor’s advice and went into rehabilitation. He was entered in three events but never raced. He just was not ready.

He did race at the Red Ribbon Classic in the 110 High Hurdles. He made it through two hurdles of that race but stopped before the third hurdle. He just was not ready to race.

Turner competed in the DuPage Valley Conference for his first real meet. He won both hurdle race showing he was ready. He qualified for the state meet last week. It was a position that some thought that this athlete would not be at. It was, however, a position thought that he would be in.

It will be good to see him race on Friday and perhaps Saturday. Regardless of how he finishes, it was good to see him successfully complete this process back.

10 – Andrew O’Keefe ready to finish the race

There were severe comments on social media last year after the state meet. How could Andrew O’Keefe of Granite City raise his arms just before the finish of the Class 3A 1600 Meter Run only to let Dylan Jacobs pass him for the win.

That was the sentiment of some of the “experts” on Twitter.

O’Keefe said after that race was the main thing that he learned was that he belonged and that he could run with the big guns. His cross-country season was not his best failing to qualify for the state meet.

That may have driven him to were he is now. O’Keefe enters this week with the top times in the 800 Meter Run and the 1600 Meter Run. He should be favorite where he finished second last year.

He came from behind to win in April at Distance Night in Palatine in 4:08.98. It is currently the eighth fastest time in the nation. In that race, he came from behind diving across the finish line winning by four hundredths of a second.

That was one of those lessons that he learned the 2018 state race. Worry about those little things in practice and in life. Those are things that O’Keefe has been concentrating on.

O’Keefe has been the most dominating athlete in the Illinois distances this spring. When he makes it to the finals on Saturday, we will be ready to finish that race. It will be the lessons from within that will push him across the line.