Illinois HS Track & Field - Weekend Highlights - February 24, 2020

By Michael Newman

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It is going to be natural to see distance times drop early in the season. That was the case in this past weekend where performances from 800-meters to 3200-meters continued to drop and in some cases fantastic.

Ava Parekh of Latin School has been a jet setter early in this season. She competed last week at the University of Kentucky. On Saturday, it was off west to the University of Washington. Parekh was among the leaders in the Girls 1 Mile Run. The sophomore ran 4:53.05 to finish sixth overall behind race winner Taylor James of Niwot CO (4:49.75).

Parekh was back on the track 45 minutes later to compete in the final section of the 3000 Meter Run. Parekh stayed with the pack for the first mile until Oregon freshman Kate Peters took over. Parekh finished her super double by finishing fourth (10:00.84). Peters was caught by Canadian Kendra Lewis in the final 100-meters with Lewis at 9:45.19 for the win and Peters second (9:46.62).

Lydia Roller of Staunton traveled a little west to the University of Missouri to compete in that state’s indoor finale. Roller went on to run 11:11.06  for the win in the 3200 Meter Run with Clinton’s Payne Turney close behind (11:11.28). Those are the fourth and fifth fastest times in Illinois this season.

Amelia McLain of Benton had a fantastic double at the SIU Girls Invitational on Saturday. The senior ran 11:02.86 (IL #3) to win the 3200 Meter Run. She came back to run 5:20.61 (IL #10) to win the 1600 Meter Run four seconds ahead of Edwardsville’s Riley Knoyle. DuQuoin ran the fastest time in the state (10:03.95) in winning the 3200 Meter Relay in the same meet.

Josh Methner of Hersey quietly started his season in a small meet Friday night at Glenbrook South. The Foot Locker National Champion and defending state champion in the Class 3A 3200 Meter Run ran a swift 2:37 for the 1000 Meter Run on a 160-meter track that does not allow spikes. Methner’s first possible race on a big track should be at the high powered York Invitational on March 6.

There were some other standout performances this weekend. Here are just a few.

York Girls Meet Video | WWS Girls Meet Video

Girls Meets at York and Wheaton-Warrenville South

The Friday night meet at York provided a strong double from Waubonsie Valley’s Ashley Heidenrich. The senior, who will attend John Hopkins University this fall, took the lead with 1200-meters left passing Hinsdale Central’s Emma Watcke in the process. Heidenrich finished with a new school record and a win in a state leading 10:57.06 for that distance. Watcke ran 11:27.44 (IL #8) to finish second.

The same held true in the 1600 Meter Run at York. Heidenrich took the lead 600-meters into the race and pulled away from the pack to run 5:15.70 (IL #7) for the win.

The three distance races Saturday morning at Wheaton-Warrenville South provided some drama in two of the three races. There was no drama in the 3200 Meter Run. Maggie Gamboa of Naperville North had the lead at 400-meters. She never looked back in a solo effort that netted her a 10:59.67 (IL #2) win. Teammate Lucy Westlake finished second (11:35.13, IL #9).

The 800 Meter Run came down to a showdown between two of the elite juniors in the state Samantha Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South and Campbell Petersen of Naperville North. Poglitsch was under the weather heath wise according to her coach and parents entering this meet. That would not prevent her from racing. Petersen pushed the pace throughout and opened up a 10-meter lead on Poglitsch entering the final 178-meter lap. Petersen was pulling away. Poglitsch took a deep breath crossing the finish line and took off. Petersen held that lead until the final 60-meters of the race when Poglitsch charged off the curve and caught the Naperville North runner in the final 10-meters. Poglitsch finished in 2:18.54 (IL #2) with Petersen close behind in 2:19.4 (IL #3) in what was a great race for both runners. Petersen came back to run 1:03.23 to win the 400 Meter Dash.

It was the same scenario in the 1600 Meter Run. Audrey Mendrys of Naperville North pulled away from Downers Grove South’s Brenna Cohoon in the final two laps of the race. It appeared that Mendrys had the race won coming towards the finish line. A final surge by Cohoon moved her past Mendrys with 15-meters left in the race. Cohoon came away with the win in 5:14.57 (IL #5) just ahead of Mendrys and her 5:15.82 time (IL #8).

Riley Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley was a double winner in this meet. The junior jumped 11.68m (38’ 3.75”) to easily win the Triple Jump. The races at this meet have the fasted seeded times first then each section following. Ammenhauser had not raced this season at 55-meters and was placed in the seventh of eight sections. She ran 7.45 (IL #5) to win that section and event.

Fast Boys 3200 Meter Run races

The Antioch Boys Invitational held at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on Friday evening gave us a then top two times in the state for 3200-meters with both Jason Polydoris of Highland Park and Luke Wiley of Warren Township achieving personal bests. Polydoris dropped his PR by to seconds in running 9:28.71 (IL #4) for the win. Wiley, only a sophomore, had his PR drop by 17 seconds as he ran 9:31.32 (IL #5) to finish second.

Then came the Greg Foster Invitational held in Hillside on Saturday that topped the Antioch race. Brett Gardner of Lincoln-Way East showed he was in shape last week at Homewood-Flossmoor when he ran 4:19.36 for 1600-meters. Gardner ran the fastest time in the state this season (9:17.90) to win the 3200 Meter Run ahead of Bolingbrook’s Tyler Cushing (9:22.76, IL #2).

Brooks Harlan of Centralia ran 4:20 for 1-mile last week at the University of Kentucky. Harlan came back on Friday at the SIU HS Invitational to run a solo 9:25.35 (IL #3) to win the 3200 Meter Run.

Jake Allen of Naperville North opened his season at Plainfield South. Allen ran 9:38.37 (IL #6) to win the 3200 Meter Run ahead of Waubonsie Valley’s Wes Beitler who was recorded at 9:48.09 (IL #10) by the timer who was timing the meet.

Controversy at Normal West Invitational Pole Vault

Confusion turned to anger and controversy in the Pole Vault as Saturday’s Normal West Boys Invitational held at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center. According to a coach (who wished to remain anonymous) stated this about the event:

Starting height was supposed to be 9’6”. Three kids came in at that height and two no heighted. They didn’t have a coach there, so no one thought much of it. My kid made it first try so I didn’t have a thought about it.

Majority of athletes came in at 11’6”-12’6”.  This is where it got kind of weird. Opening heights are supposed to be pretty easy makes. People seemed to be struggling at their openings and not making it by as big of a margin as most of us expected. As well as this they kept forgetting to post the height it was supposed to be on the board. So they were usually a height or two behind. So then we get to 13’6”. We had one kid in particular who no heighted at 12’6”. Someone finally looks at the standard and after two kids vault the height walks over and asks the person to see the height on the standard.

Basically THEY HAD BEEN A FOOT OFF ALL MEET. so then the competition stops for 45 minutes while they figure out what to do. They call the boys and coaches together multiple times while people are still warming up for 14’ because they said they were going to go at 14 because that’s what the posted height was. But we all fought that because our guys had not had a fair chance at making the other heights!  Plus the guys who no heighted at 12’6” and 13’ were supposed to open a foot lower and no heighted a foot higher so it was not fair.

They had like three different ideas and one of them was to not give our kids credit for the Heights that they vaulted but that got shut down really quickly and so they ended up giving everybody credit for the height that they physically vaulted even if it hadn’t been posted that way. They actually had to call “rules committee people whoever that is” to decide this. We then decided that the people who no heighted at 12’6” could open at that height but only those who are supposed to open at 12’6”. if you made 13 feet and above you could come back in the competition at 13’6” and continue your vaulting knowing it was 13’6” because we make different adjustments based on the height based on the pole that you use for those heights.  So then after 45 minutes of waiting they let warmups occur again. They had to find people who had already been out and bring them back in.

The last kicker was that when we were supposed to be at 14’6” whoever was working the crossbars did not move the bar up and so the athletes vaulted at 14 a second time when they were supposed to be vaulting 14’6” I was just shaking my head at this point and that official must of had a really bad day. At that point the higher athletes were a little bit mad because by this point they had waited hours to vault. Coaches were peeved also. A random dad noticed it and Bloomington coach brought it to attention at the 14’6” bar. Liam and Tyler were still going.

Liam McGill of Bloomington cleared 4.57m (15’ 0”) to win the event. Tyler Carrel of Urbana cleared 4.41m (14’ 5.5”, IL #5) to finish second.

State Leading Performances

CJ Shoaf of Mahomet-Seymour put his name on the map nationally when he cleared 2.08m (6’ 10”) to win the High Jump Saturday at Normal West. The junior is tied for fourth nationally as of Sunday night. East St. Louis-Senior ran a state leading 1:31.10 to win the 800 Meter Relay. The Flyers came from behind to run 3:30.37 to win the 1600 Meter Relay ahead of Plainfield North and their 3:32.87 time (IL #7). Hunter Hendershot of Mahomet-Seymour had a 17.01m put (55’ 9.75”, IL #2) to win the Shot Put ahead of Plainfield North’s Nolan Lindroth (16.02m, 52’ 6.75”, IL #5)

Jay Coleman of Naperville Central jumped a state leading 6.87m (22’ 6.5”) performance in the Long Jump Friday night at Wheaton-Warrenville South.

There were several top performances at Saturday’s Greg Foster Invitational. Steven Harris of Cahokia ran a state leading 7.72 to win the 55 Meter High Hurdles ahead of Jalen Johnson of Metea Valley (8.13, IL #3).

Brailyn Johnson of St. Laurence ran 6.55 (IL #2T) to win the 55 Meter Dash ahead of Proviso East’s Isaiah Tyler (6.61).

Three of the top five times in the state came from this meet’s 3200 Meter Relay. Maine South ran 8:14.79 (IL #2) to win the relay ahead of DeKalb’s 8:23.03 (IL #3), and Lyons Township’s 8:25.23 (IL #4). York holds the best time in the state (8:06.1) run on their track on February 8.

Romeoville’s Enoch Antwi had a great day in the horizontal jumps. Antwi jumped 6.85m ( 22’ 5.75”, IL #2) to win the Long Jump. He came back to jump a state leading 14.42m (47’ 3.75” ) to win the Triple Jump.

Top performances from Saturday’s meet at Homewood-Flossmoor on Saturday included the 17.39m (57’ 0.75”) personal best from Matthew Appel of Neuqua Valley in the Shot Put. Jason Hoffman of Minooka ran a state leading 1:24.98 to win the 600 Meter Run. Nico Dovalovsky of Neuqua Valley ran 4:28.03 (IL #4) to win the 1600 Meter Run.

Niko Schultz of Plainfield South ran a state leading 1:56.99 to win the 800 Meter Run on his home track.

Jermarrion Stewart of Collinsville was a double winner at Saturday’s Troy Triad Knights Invitational at Principia College’s Crafton Center. Stewart ran 7.01 (IL #4 to win the 60 Meter Dash, then 22.85 (IL #4) to win the 200 Meter Dash. Alton’s Cassius Havis ran 1:58.12 (IL #3) to win the 800 Meter Run.

The Batavia Co-Ed Home Opener produced some top performances. Adam Kennedy of Batavia ran 1:57.78 (IL #2) to win the 800 Meter Run ahead of Wheaton North’s John Logan (2:00.17, IL #6) and Batavia’s Eamon Samsami (2:00.31, IL #7). Batavia came back to run 3:30.58 (IL #2) to win the 1600 Meter Relay.

In the Girls Meet, Katrina Schlenker of Batavia started her season by running 2:20.65 (IL #4) to win the 800 Meter Run. Kayla Williams of Batavia ran a state leading 9.18 to win the 55 Meter Hurdles.

Samantha Spencer of Providence Catholic cleared a state leading 3.89m (12’ 9.25”) to win the Pole Vault at triangular meet Thursday at Lincoln-Way East.