Photo – Martin Barr over the final hurdle Saturday at the IHSA 1A Boys State Meet (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Charleston, Ill – Mason Barr of Colfax-Ridgeview was in a different position this year entering the state meet. He was the only member of his school that qualified for the state meet after his team won the 1A title last year.

Barr dominated the hurdle races in the prelims on Thursday. Most fans believed that he would continue that dominance in the Illinois Boys State finals Saturday at O’Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois University.

There was no question who would win the 110 High Hurdles after the start of the race. Barr had a clear lead after the first three hurdles that only grew from there. He crossed the line in 13.94 for the win. He waited for the time on the scoreboard. When it appeared, Barr jumped as high as they were jumping in the High Jump at the other end of the track. The announcer telling the crowd that he had missed by only a hundredth of a second stopped his celebration for only a second. He still had one more race to run.

Sharmar Adams of DuQuoin ran 14.68 to finish second. Caine Wilson of Salt Fork placed third (15.06).

Barr’s race in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles seemed to be only a formality. He had made up the stagger on the rest of the field by 150-meters into the race.

It was a victory lap from there as Barr went on to run a personal best 37.70 for the win. He missed the Class 1A record by 37 hundredths of a second (37.33). Nevertheless, Barr had picked up a second straight state championship. Wilson finished second (39.12) as the only other runner under 40 seconds in this final.

“My coach had told me before the race that the state record was 13.97. That’s why I got excited,” Barr said. “I’m happy. It was a different feeling for me this year. I knew my teammates were with me in spirit.”

Salt Fork wins the Class 1A team title in a close battle

It was figured to be close for the team title as four squads entering Saturday’s finals with seven qualifiers advancing. It was Salt Fork that claimed the title in the final two events

Caine Wilson had a busy day finishing third in the 110 High Hurdles, second in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles, and anchored Salt Fork to a sixth-place finish in the 400 Meter Relay. It was Wilson that clinched the team title when he finished second in the 200 Meter Dash. He accounted for 27 of the team’s 40 points that won the 1A State title. It was the first for the Boys program.

Pana and DuQuoin finished tied for second both scoring 36 points. Morrison missed a trophy finishing fourth with 33 points.

Pana, who only had nine athletes on their state roster, scored their points off the legs of Cody Klein. Klein ran 10.85 to win the 100 Meter Dash ahead of Walther Christian’s Charles Stamps (10.96). Klein was just as dominating in winning the 200 Meter Dash (21.57) ahead of Wilson (21.86) and Stamps (22.11).

Spring Valley Hall won both sprint relays, but Klein brought Pana from behind to finish second. Hall’s time of 42.72 captured the title in the 400 Meter Relay with a hard charging Pana finishing second (42.85). DuQuoin finished third (43.06) in the relay.

Hall had the advantage in the final leg of the 800 Meter Relay. It was Klein that brought Pana from fourth to second. Hall won the title (1:29.49) ahead of Pana (1:29.89).

It was the second team title in as many weeks for DuQuoin. The school’s Girls team won the Class 1A team title last weekend.

A record in the Pole Vault

Kyle Kruthoff of Erie had won the title in the Pole Vault last season clearing 15-6. His competition in Saturday’s final would be even more memorable. He only needed two tries to win the state title as Jake Mennen of Oregon and Tim Moore of Altamont both cleared 14-9 to finish second and third.

Kruthoff came in at the 14-6 height and cleared on his first attempt. He then had first attempts clearances at 15-0, 15-6, and 16-0. He then went after the 1A record of 16-3 shared by Jack Denby and Riley Smith. Kruthoff had the bar raised to 16-4. On his second attempt at the height, he was the new record holder. He had the bar raised to 16-8 where he cleared that height on the first attempt. His day ended when he missed three good attempts at 17-0.

Kruthoff has the top mark in this event in the state this year. He is currently ranked #12 nationally.

1A Distance Roundup

The best state finish that Christopher Collet of Seneca had in the IHSA State Track Championships was when he finished in seventh in last year’s 3200 Meter Run. He left Charleston with two state championships on Saturday.

Collet made it easier than it looked in the 3200 Meter Run. He controlled the pace throughout going through the first 1600-meters in 4:45.3 with Lucas Chittick of Fisher and Miles Sheppard of Warsaw following closely. He kept a 74 second 400-meter pace the next three laps. He started his move at 500-meters to go that none of the runners could respond to. Collet easily crossed the line in 9:36.99 knowing he another race yet to run.

Caelin Foley of Galva moved from fifth on the final lap to finish second (9:39.92) ahead of Sheppard (9:40.90) and Chittick (9:41.91).

Collet’s chief competition in the 1600 Meter Run would come from Negus Bogard of Robinson, Gabe Martinez of Bismarck-Henning, and Noah McIntyre of Athens. This would be the first race of the day for McIntyre and Martinez on this day. Bogard ran in the first section of the 3200 Meter Run under overcast conditions.

Collet did not make a move until the final lap wanting to conserve as much energy as possible. Collet did not have the best of finishes the year before when he finished 11^th in this race. This time he had that powerful weapon at his disposal.

As he came off the final curve, Collet exploded down the final 100-meters with McIntyre and Bogard trying to hold on. They weren’t going to catch the man in green on this day. Collet raised three fingers in the air as he captured the first 1A distance triple crown (XC, 1600m, 3200m) since Jon Davis accomplished it in 2016. Collet’s winning time was 4:24.71 with McIntyre (4:26.06) and Bogard (4:26.12) following. Martinez ran 4:27.10 to finish fourth.

The toughest race to watch was the finish of the 800 Meter Run. Shane Yamco of Riverton entered the race as the favorite. He showed why as he went out in an ultra-fast 54.2 for the first 400-meters. He still had the lead entering the final 100-meters, but it appeared that the fast first lap was having an effect on him.

Hunter Newman of Morrison and Boston Stewart of St. Teresa had their sights on Yamco and began to close the gap. Yamco felt they were coming and reached for one more surge.

He had nothing left to give as he struggled to the finish. Stewart, then Newman passed him in the last 15-meters as Stewart captured the state title (1:54.93) ahead of Newman (1:55.25). Yamco made it across the line and collapsed one-meter after crossing. Runners had to avoid the fallen Yamco on the ground as he laid motionless zapped of energy. Yamco ran 1:55.86. He was treated for close to 10 minutes after the race.

Morrison was supposed to dominate the 3200 Meter Relay and they did in convincing fashion. The quartet of Koby Brackemeyer, Nathan Mickley, Newman, and Keegan Anderson defended their state title running a new school record of 7:57.85 for the win. Northridge Prep (8:02.03), Pleasant Plains (8:03.31), and Elmwood (8:03.46) were the next teams to cross the line.

Other 1A Meet Highlights

Samuel Herenton of Providence St. Mel made his last high school race his best in the 400 Meter Dash. The senior ran a personal best of 48.12 to win the state title by almost a full second ahead of Makail Stanley of Argenta-Oreana (49.12) and Bobby Kapolnek of St. Thomas More (49.39).

Sherrard won the 1600 Meter Relay running 3:24.48 for the win holding off Morrison (3:24.95) and Rockridge (3:25.54).

Jorden Tedford of Warrensburg-Latham defended his state title in fashion performing after clearing every height. It was a promise that he had to keep to a few people in his hometown. He could afford to celebrate after going through a rough patch at the beginning of his competition where he needed to clear 6-3 and 6-4 on his third attempt. Tedford cleared 6-5 and 6-6 on his first attempt to win the state title. He cleared 6-20 on his final attempt to end his competition.

Ramsey Hunt of Hume Shiloh jumped 46-3.25 in the second round of the finals to overtake prelim leader Zachary Olenek of St. Edward to win the Triple Jump championship. Olenek jumped 46-1 to finish second. Dasani Edward of DuQuoin had his prelim jump of 23-550 hold up to win the Long Jump. Lane Ross of Vienna moved from fifth in the prelims jumping almost a foot longer to finish second (22-9.75).

Greg Zellers of New Berlin had a 55-9.25 put to capture the state championship in the Shot Put ahead of Logan Lee of Orion (55-8). Joe Kingery of Teutopolis threw 179-10 in the finals to hold off Jace Coffey of Forreston (177-8) and Brad Olysav of Williamsville (176-3) to win the state championship in the Discus.