Photo: Marcellus Moore winning the 200 Meter Dash in the IHSA 3A State Meet (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Charleston, Ill – It was a hope a few weeks ago that Plainfield North’s Marcellus Moore would be able to defend his titles in the IHSA 3A Boys State Championships. A hamstring injury put a concern in the possibilities of competing.

He passed tests winning his races at the Ottawa Sectional and then the prelims of the state meet on Friday. He left Charleston with two more state championships. His win in the 200 Meter Dash turned out to be one of the most dramatic finishes in state meet history.

Moore electrified the near capacity crowd in the 100 Meter Dash. He got a good start out of the blocks but exploded in his typical usual fashion away from the rest of the pack. It did not look like his hamstring on his right leg was bothering him as he crossed the line in 10.39. Considering that he was not 100%, he still was only eight hundredths of a seconds off his state meet record. A smile crossed his face as he walked to the awards podium knowing he had one more test left.

Jermarrion Stewart of Collinsville finished second (10.54) followed by Cedric Rowzee of Wheaton-Warrenville South (10.71) and AJ Henning of Lincoln-Way East (10.73).

The IHSA made the right move when they decided to run the 200 Meter Dash in the opposite curve away from the main grandstand due to 10 mph winds that the runners would have had to run into. The runners were afforded the chance to run a fast time. Moore said after the race that he thought he could run in the 20.5 second range.

The Plainfield North junior got out of the blocks strongly. He came off the curve with the lead that was continuing to grow.

With 50-meters left, it happened.

A grimace of pain went across Moore’s face as his right hamstring was starting to go. It seemed that he popped up off the track.

If this had happened to most runners in that situation, their race would have been over. Not for Moore.

The noise of the crowd on the other side of the track started to swell not knowing what was happening. All they could tell was the rest of the field was closing the gap.

His coach Tony Holler, who was on that side of the track taking pictures, said after the race that he had never seen anyone finish a 200 without a hamstring.

Moore was going to get to that line. That was a given. His form was gone. He was just trying to find the ways mechanically to make it across the line.

It showed how special this athlete was. It wasn’t a special workout that had got him to the line. It was all heart and guts that allowed him to finish. He found that way to cross the line and complete the sprint double. His time of 21.22 was faster with a bad hamstring than his wining time of 21.30 from a year ago was. Stewart was just seven hundredths of a second behind (21.29). The meet announcer stated that Stewart had pressured him. That wasn’t the case. It was Moore’s hamstring that was applying the pressure.

“I felt great after the 100. I was going after the state record in the 200,” Moore explained after his race. “It started tightening up in the last 50-meters where my form was starting to change. I just had to push through it.”

Moore became the first athlete since Ryan Shields had completed the double with back to back wins in the two events in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Moore will try for the three-peat in the two sprints in the 2020 finals. It will be a big reason to travel back to Charleston for him. Meanwhile, his priority will be letting his leg heal.

It felt like the theme of this state meet was perseverance. It was surviving the heat that hit the area for most f the athletes when they were used to competing in cool conditions during the season. It was also overcoming injuries, like Moore, to achieve their dreams.

One of the athletes that had to overcome injuries was Oak Park-River Forest’s JT Lowder. The senior could not finish the 300 Intermediate Hurdles at the Proviso East Sectional due to a hamstring injury. His Coach Tim Hasso said on Thursday evening that he did not know if Lowder would be able to go for the prelims on Friday.

“I was so close to scratching out of the 110 High Hurdles on Friday. I was seconds away from doing that,” Lowder said. “I was trying to warm up on the indoor track and going over a few hurdles. I could not get my trail leg over the hurdle. It hurt so much.”

He decided to give it a go and entered the blocks for the prelims.

“I went over the first hurdle and said okay, that was good. I’ll keep going,” Lowder explained. “After three hurdles, I thought I can’t stop now.” Lowder showed the pain he was in when he crossed the line winning his heat (14.23) with the second fastest qualifying time behind Crete-Monee’s Victor Cameron. Lowder grabbed his hamstring after the finish. He hunched over shaking his head. It was hard to tell what that shake meant. It was either I don’t think I will be able to go tomorrow or was it how did I complete that race?

Lowder was well enough to run the anchor for the Huskies in the 400 Meter Relay. A botched exchange on the final exchange of the race would not allow Oak Park to finish, for Lowder to run.

The finals of the 110 High Hurdles had Victor Cameron as the favorite. He should have been considering that he was the hot hurdler all season and just missing the state meet record by nine hundredths of a second in the prelims.

The gun went off and Cameron was invincible as he had already distanced himself from the field. That was all except Lowder who was the closest to the Crete-Monee senior. The two pushed each other to the line with Cameron capturing the title (13.93). Lowder, who was less than 100%, finished second in 14.05, a personal best. Robert Williams of Springfield led the field finishing third (14.46). Cameron and Lowder embraced afterwards.

“I don’t know how he (Lowder) did it,” Hasso said afterwards. “He works so hard. He has so much heart.”

Williams came back for the win in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles pulling way from the field to capture the state title in a personal best 38.14. Larkin’s Jahari Stubbs ran 38.76 to finish second ahead of Cameron (38.90).

Getting ready to defend his title in the 400 Meter Dash was not as easy this spring for Jason Thormo of Grant Community. A hamstring injury had slowed him down at the beginning of the indoor season. He then suffered an ankle injury not allowing him to run in his conference meet. He found a way to qualify for state in his sectional race.

Thormo’s weekend in Charleston was a different story. He started in the 400 Meter Dash where he ran the fastest qualifying time (48.20). He went one step further in the 1600 Meter Relay as he anchored his team to a win in an anchor split of 47.9 seconds. Grant led all qualifiers with a 3:20.02 time. The scenario was the same for Thormo in the finals. He came off the lead and extended his lead. His winning time to defend his state title was a season’s best of 47.97 seconds. Ricky Johnson of Crete-Monee, who only started running this event this spring, gave his team valuable points as he finished second (48.33).

Thormo closed the meet in style. He brought Grant from behind passing Homewood-Flossmoor’s Jalen Robinson on the final curve to give his team the win running a 47.5 anchor split. Grant Community won the state title running 3:19.44. Lockport’s Kyle Langellier passed Robinson in the final five meters to give his team second (3:19.58) ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor (3:20.62).

Crete-Monee wins the 3A title

Crete-Monee and Homewood-Flossmoor were considered to be the team favorites in this meet after the two teams had finished within half a point of each other at the Bloom Township Sectional.

By the time the points were tallied, it was evident that the two teams had distanced the rest of the 3A teams in this meet. Crete-Monee, who won three state titles in this meet, left O’Brien Field with the state championship with 66 points. Homewood-Flossmoor scored 53 points to finish second. In usual years, that point total would have won the 3A title. This was no usual year for these two teams.

Oak Park-River Forest gutted their way to final trophy to finish third with 30 points. Grant Community (28 points) and Wheaton-Warrenville South (26 points) finished fourth and fifth.

Crete-Monee started with a win in the Long Jump. Jamal Safo’s preliminary jump of 23-5.50 held the lead in the finals as he captured the state title. There were athletes that tried to take the lead. The top six finishers in the event were within five inches of each other.

The same held true for Homewood-Flossmoor’s Quinton Stringfellow in the Triple Jump after jumping 49-4 in the prelims. That mark held as he captured the state title by over a foot ahead of Hinsdale South’s Kamron Lipscomb (47-9.75) and Jayden Lambert of Downers Grove South (47-8.50).

The pressure was on Crete-Monee in the finals of the 400 Meter Relay as they broke the meet record (40.86) in the prelims on Friday. They blew away the field in the prelims. It was closer in the finals. Crete-Monee had the advantage when they got the baton for the anchor leg. Homewood-Flossmoor was nipping at their heals closing to the finish. Crete-Monee held them off to capture the win (41.12) ahead of the seasonal best rom Homewood-Flossmoor (41.31). Dundee-Crown ran a seasonal best of 42.20 to finish third.

It was a different scenario in the 800 Meter Relay. Joshua Bridges got the baton with the lead in the final that only got bigger. The Vikings captured the state title (1:27.00) ahead of Oak Park-River Forest (1:27.41), Crete-Monee (1:27.57), and Dundee-Crown (1:27.76).

The 3A Distance Roundup

If there was one hot runner that was in the spotlight, it would have been Naperville Central’s Thomas Shilgalis. The University of Michigan signee had a big weekend helping his team win the 3200 Meter Relay and then the 800 Meter Run. Shilgalis ran out of steam in the 1600 Meter Run finishing 12^th in the hot conditions.

Shilgalis qualified for the finals in both of the individual events. Naperville Central was one of the 12 teams that made the finals in the 3200 Meter Relay. One coach said after the prelims were over that if Shilgalis were put in the finals, that the Redhawks would be the favorite.

That was the plan according to Central Distance Coach Grant Baganz. Run the relay, try to win the 800, and have fun in the 1600.

Shilgalis had work to do in the relay as he took the baton in third behind Charles Murphy of St. Charles East and Adam Kennedy of Batavia. The three teams had separated themselves from the rest of the field. Shilgalis just stayed with the two other runners until the moment was right. Shilgalis moved as he entered the final homestretch taking for the lead for good. Naperville Central was the first Illinois team to run under eight-minutes when they won at Prospect in April without Shilgalis in the quartet. This time, the Redhawks ran 7:45.03 to set a school record and win a state title.

St. Charles East finished second (7:46.16) ahead of DuKane Conference rivals Batavia (7:46.79). Warren Township led the rest of the field finishing fourth (7:51.02) just ahead of York (7:51.23). York’s quartet consisted of three juniors and a sophomore in this race. They will be a team to watch in 2020 in this event.

It almost seemed as a given that Shilgalis would be the favorite in the 800 Meter Run despite the fact this would be his fourth race within 24 hours. He just waited as he had done earlier in the relay. Shilgalis powered past the field in the final 100-meters to capture the individual title (1:54.86) ahead of Glenbard West’s Will O’Brien (1:55.65) and Bloom Township’s Ramon Lacey (1:56.30).

Granite City’s Andrew O’Keefe had earned this moment in the sun as he stepped to the line for the 1600 Meter Run finals. Everyone in the stands had remembered what had happened in the finals last year when he raised his arms only for Dylan Jacobs to run by him for the win.

This would not happen in this race. O’Keefe was the class of the field and everyone knew it, perhaps even the 11 other runners.

He sat in the front of the pack as they passed through 800-meters in 2:10.2. In the next lap, the moments would be his. He took the lead with more than 500-meters to go leaving the rest of the field in his wake.

He entered the final 100-meters and looked around. No one was within 60-meters of him. He approached the finish line and started to celebrating with 30-meters left. It was time to celebrate. No one was going to catch him. The memories that pushed him to this moment were gone. He gave a fist pump as he crossed the line.

“The fist pump was for all the people that had criticized e and doubted me last year,” O’Keefe said with a smile on his face.

His winning time was 4:13.50 and almost five seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The battle for second-place was exciting as Antioch’s Charlie Smith had the edge (4:18.27) ahead of Lake Forest’s Ben Rosa (4:18.38) and Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Sean Maison (4:18.89).

The finish of the 3200 Meter Run was just as exciting.

The lead had traded off numerous times in the race as Josh Methner of Hersey, Tommy Brady of Maine South, Jared Kreis of Lincoln-Way Central, and Brett Gardner of Lincoln-Way East at one point had driven the pace. Warm conditions kept the runners veiled in when they would move. A pack of seven runners passed the mile in 4:35. This pace was ripe for negative splits in the final half of this race.

Brady was the one that stretched out the pack as he took the lead just before 2000-meters. He had the lead at the bell lap (8:06.2) with Methner, Gardner, and Morton’s Guillermo Ibarra following.

Methner had learned his lesson at Distance Night at Palatine making his move a little early only to let Kreis pass him right at the end. This would not happen on this day.

Methner charged off the curve and took the lead. Brady would not let it go without a fight. That’s just the way he runs. The two battled each other to the line with Methner having the edge winning his second state title in 9:06.88. Brady was next in 9:07.49 followed by Ibarra (9:12.84) and Gardner (9:14.59).

Methner had covered the final mile in 4:31. His final circuit of the track was in 60.6 seconds.

The rest of the field events

It had come down to the final throw for Jordan Johnson of Quincy in the Discus. He had the event won by almost 20-feet. It was now time for one last throw in his final state meet. He unleashed a throw of 205-8, his second best effort of the season. It just missed the state meet record of 205-11 set by AJ Epenesa. Joseph Boyer of Rolling Meadows move up to second in the finals with a 179-6 throw.

Boyer also moved up in the finals of the Shot Put as he improved his best to 60-6.50 to finish second overall. It was not good enough to overtake Deerfield’s Sam Liokumovich. The senior had been in front of the leaderboards at the beginning of the indoor season. That would not change on this Saturday. Liokumovich improved to 61-9.25 in the finals to win the state championship.

Alex Babbington of Plainfield East was in disbelief after he cleared a personal best of 6-9 in the High Jump. A huge smile engulfed his face knowing that he had won a state championship. Damon Street of Maine West cleared 6-7 to finish second.

The future looks bright in the Pole Vault as the top three finishers are all underclassmen. Zachary Frye of Lake Park and Andrew Saloga of Marmion Academy both cleared 15-3. Frye was awarded the state championship on fewer misses. Liam McGill of Bloomington cleared 15-0 to finish third.