MONDAY MORNING FINISH LINE

 

 

February 8, 2021

 

By Michael Newman

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So, what did you think of what you saw on TV on Sunday? I was not talking about the big game that was on in the evening. I was thinking of what happened before that.

 

The third of four American Track League Meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas was supposed to be a showcase for track & field athletes in an Olympic year. It ended up that three high school athletes stepped into the spotlight.

 

Sophia Gorriaran of Moses Brown HS in Rhode Island led most of the way in the Women’s 800 Meter Run before finishing second running an Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:02.44. That is the fourth fastest time ever for a high school girls’ runner.

 

Shawnti Jackson of Wakefield HS in North Carolina ran 7.24 to finish seventh in the 60 Meter Dash finals. It is the fifth fastest high school ever and the fastest time ever for a high school sophomore. Jackson came back to run 23.23 to tie for the fourth fastest time ever for a high school athlete in the 200 Meter Dash.

 

Both Jackson and Gorriaran are 15 years old.

 

Both athletes took a back seat to the performance of Hobbs Kessler of Ann Arbor Skyline HS in Michigan when he broke Drew Hunter’s five-year-old high school record running 3:57.66 to finish third in Men’s 1 Mile Run. Kessler ran smartly hanging to the back of the pack early on and then strategically moving up until the final lap where he was clocked with a 27 second final 200-meters.

 

The big question that most people had right afterwards was who in the world was Hobbs Kessler?

 

Fans in Michigan know who this senior is that will attend Northern Arizona University next fall. His final official race before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports last March when he ran 4:21.17 to finish second in the MITS Indoor State 1600 Meter Run. (VIEW KESSLER’S ATHLETIC.NET PROFILE)

 

Kessler went undefeated during last fall’s cross-country season before finishing second at Michigan’s D1 State Cross Country Championship. The state race was run in two waves. Kessler won his wave race in 14:51 on the five-kilometer course.

 

The big question that people will ask about Kessler is what he did workout wise leading up to this race.

 

His improvement started last spring when he joined a training group coached by former University of Michigan Ron Warhurst that included two-time Olympic medalist in the 1500 Meter Run Nick Willis and former University of Michigan runner Mason Ferlic who is now a volunteer assistant coach at the school.

 

“I went from a early season WL (world leader) in the mile to 3rd fastest in my training group behind a high schooler,” Ferlic said on Twitter after the race. He then went on to congratulate Kessler.

 

It will be interesting to see what he did during that off time in what was supposed to be his junior track season last spring. Kessler did run two time-trials in June running 4:13.7 for 1600-meters on June 2 and then 8:53 for 3200-meters on June 15.

 

He is now the third fastest high school miler all-time trailing only Alan Webb and Jim Ryun. When asked if he would go after Webb’s 3:53.43 high school record in his high school season. Kessler did not have an answer for that. He was still trying to come to grips that he had done it.

 

This 2021 high school season could see more of these occurrences maybe not at the scale that we saw on Sunday at the Tyson Track Center. These high school athletes missed their 2020 track season but put in some great training during that period. Do not be surprised if we see more performances that we cannot believe from athletes that we could not believe that they could do it.

 

NEWS FROM THE IHSA FRONT

 

The most encouraging news from the past week came from the Illinois Department of Health (IDPH). It started last Monday when they eased guidelines for several sports including track & field. It included the use of batons in our sport. We knew that relays would be part of the meet schedules this spring. It was just waiting for the news that we could.

 

The IDPH stated on February 2 that “Teams located in EMS Regions in Phase 4 may resume using shared equipment within their team.”

 

What was also important was that all the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) 11 regions were moved to Phase 4. What that means to us is that up to a maximum of 50 spectators can attend an event. For a low-risk sport like track & field, Non-conference contests, out-of-state contests, tournaments & State Series are allowed.

 

The IHSA also clarified last week about the role of the media in the spectator limitations. Matt Troha, the Assistant Director in charge of Media Relations for the IHSA, sent out an e-mail that stated:

 

“IDPH alerted us today that media attendance at high school sporting events will be a local high school/district decision, meaning media will not be a part of or counted against the spectator limitations. We alerted our member school admins about this change just a few minutes ago, so please keep in mind as you reach out about coverage plans that some schools may not have seen the update yet or had a chance for internal discussion on what their plans will be.”

 

There have been some encouraging dialogues going on with coaches interacting with each other creating some great scheduling scenarios. The numbers are getting better where we can have invitational meets as the season progresses.

 

At the same time, there has been one conference where the Athletic Directors have already decided that their schools will only permit dual meets in the 2021 track season. I hope that is not the case. The kids suffered through no track in 2020. They cannot be put in the situation of only dual meets this spring.

 

SUBMITTED IDEAS

 

We are still getting ideas in our e-mail inbox about how to get to a possible state meet. I know we know that the key to all of this is that conditions continue throughout the state where we progress to Phase 5 from Phase 4. That would open the possibility of unlimited spectators at a meet and a state meet. Craig Anderson, the IHSA Executive Director, mentioned in his press conference at the end of January that we would need to be in Phase 5 for any kind of state meet to happen.

 

We received an e-mail from John Alongi that mentioned some ideas that if it is worked out the right way, it could help the IHSA. The organization has been cash-strapped over the past year mainly because there has been no revenue coming in from state events.

 

One of the ideas from Alongi mentioned included holding the state meets at different venues. “IHSA holds the meets in partnership with High Schools,” Alongi stated in his e-mail. “By the end of February, put the state meets out to bid to its member High Schools. See if there is any interest in hosting the state meet at some High School venues.  It could be 3 or 6 different locations.  Best options would be centrally located but don't rule anybody out.  Some High Schools have nice venues with ample room to host a scaled down version of the state meet.” It is a good idea but would have to be held in different days. The IHSA likes to have the administrator of the sport on hand on site of the event.

 

Alongi also stated that “The IHSA for the most part does a great job in overseeing High School sports; I

 

completely understand that they cannot risk their solvency in order to host 1 years state final.  Why not ask for help from some of their biggest supporters.  I am not talking about their sponsors, I am talking

 

about the parents of their athletes.  The Bills Mafia regularly raises 100's of thousands of dollars for charities thru Go Fund me donations.”

 

You can read more of Alongi’s ideas that are attached in a pdf to this article.

 

WINTER CROSS COUNTRY

 

What has been wonderful to see is the NCAA making modifications they have made to their Cross-Country season moving their national championship from November to March 15. It has been also nice to see results or watch the meets going on.

 

The coverage that the Big Ten Network supplied for their conference championship on January 30 is something that I hope we see more of. The graphics were fantastic. Instead of switching back and forth between a timing company result page, those statistics were brought to our screen showing exactly what the team scores were at the exact moment the runners passed a check point. It was also nice to watch the race play out on a live stream without commercials.

 

It was good to see Jonathan Davis of the University of Illinois race again on the cross-country course. When Davis was running in high school, he ran 2:08 for the final half mile to win his third straight Class 1A title in 2015 running 14:00.

 

The University of Nebraska’s George Kusche made a strong move with about 3 kilometers left in the January 30 Big 10 race. With a kilometer left, Kusche had opened up a 10 second lead with Davis his closest competition. Davis showed his heart in his kick closing the gap to where he was right on Kusche’s shoulder in the final 100-meters of the race. Kusche held on for the win by under a second of Davis.

 

It was cold day on that Shelbyville, Indiana course. Portions had to be cleared from the winter storm that had hit the Midwest a few days before the meet.

 

It was good to see a normal cross-country race taking place in abnormal times.

 

There has been talk of adding the sport of cross-country running to the Winter Olympic program. It happens in Europe during the winter season. It has showed through the United States in 2020 and 2021.

 

So why not? I could go for cross-country 24/7/365.

 

HE DOES NOT RUN LIKE A FRESHMAN

 

There were some people that were surprised by the times put forth by Gavin Genisio at this past weekend at the Morolake Akinosun Elite Invitational in Chicago.

 

The one thing that it showed me is that this freshman from the southern Illinois town of Benton runs more like a seasoned veteran compared to the freshman that he is. We knew he had the talent when last May in a time-trial, Genisio ran 4:30 in what would have been a middle school state record for 1600-meters in a normal meet circumstance.

 

He was among the front runners for his team last fall which included finishing second overall in his sectional race and then 11 in the ShaZam XC Club Championship. He had the fastest freshman time in his race and the third fastest overall in all three races that took place at that venue.

 

Genisio stormed to the lead in the fourth section of the 1600 Meter Run on Friday winning in a 4:26.61 time and improving his personal best by almost four seconds. He also has the second fastest time in the nation for either the 1600 Meter Run or 1-Mile Run trailing only Marcus Reilly of Massachusetts.

 

What did capture my attention is that Genisio ran 1:59.89 for 800-meters the following afternoon. He ran two races at this meet where some athletes just put their eggs in one basket.

 

Genisio has good mentorship from his Coach Brent McLain who was a state cross-country champion in 1982 while attending Benton. McLain knew how to get to the top. We could see his pupil rise to the top of this state when all is said and done.

 

OUT OF STATE ILLINOIS ATHLETE PERFORMANCES FROM THIS WEEKEND

 

There is no official indoor season in February and March for Illinois athletes. There will be a few meets held at the new Gately Park Indoor Facility. That venue held the Morolake Akinosun Elite Invitational this past weekend. You can read the recap of that meet HERE.

 

Other athletes headed out of state to run at meets in Virginia and Ohio on Friday and Saturday.

 

Campbell Petersen of Naperville North ran unattached at the East Coast Invitational at the Virginia Beach Sports Center on Friday. Petersen finished third in the Girls 1 Mile Run clocked at 4:58.72.

 

There were some Illinois Athletes that headed to the 300-meter track at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio for the SPIRE Scholastic Showcase Meet. Ava Parekh of Latin School ran the seventh fastest time ever for an Illinois Girls runner for 1600m/1 Mile when she ran 4:48.41 to finish fourth in the 1600 Meter Run. Ali Ince of Normal Community ran 4:53.38 to finish seventh in that race followed by Lianna Surtz of Rosary who ran 4:57.99 to finish eighth.

 

Ince came back in the 800 Meter Run to run 2:13.78 to finish third. Parekh finished sixth in that event with a 2:14.92 time. Lucy Westlake of Naperville North ran a personal best of 11:02.10 to finish eighth in the 3200 Meter Run.