MONDAY MORNING FINISH LINE

March 1, 2021

 

 

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

 

 

 

Ali Ince Photo Courtesy of Normal Community High School

 

We interrupt this weekly rant on what kind of track & field of season that we will have in Illinois this spring. We will get to that shortly.

 

Let us look at some eye-popping performances that we saw at the adidas Indoor Nationals that happened over the weekend in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

 

What Ali Ince of Normal Community HS did on Sunday in this meet was simply amazing. It was a surprise but looking what she has run over the last year, not that huge of a surprise.

 

Ince was scheduled to run in the Freshman Mile on Sunday and then also scheduled herself in the Championship 800 Meter Run. Her Mile race resulted in a personal best of personal best of 4:50.54 which is now a US #7 performance. The mile she was in was not so much of a race against the other runners in the field but a race against the clock. The freshman had a second lead at the end of the first lap. She passed 800-meters in 2:24 with her next closest competition five seconds back. Ince won by 22 seconds. She ran an even paced race.

 

Ince had about an hour of rest before she stepped to the line for the final section of the 800 Meter Run. She was not the favorite entering the race. My thought when seeing the heat sheets last weeks was on how she would respond to this double.

 

She responded simply fine.

 

Ince stayed at the back of the pack as Makayla Paige of Tewksbury, Massachusetts set the pace at a quick 30.4 the first lap. Ince was within grasp of the lead as Paige led at 62.9. Ince was at 64.3. The key to the race was the third lap in which Ince moved on the shoulder of Paige entering the final lap. It was Ince after that as the freshman claimed the race (2:09.42) with the fastest time in the nation.

 

What was impressive is how even paced that this freshman from Central Illinois ran. She clocked 31.6 the first lap, then hit consecutive laps of 32.6, 32.6, and closed in 32.5. Paige in the mean while ran 30.4 then hit 32.4, 33.6, and then closed in 34.2.

 

I am guessing that Ali ran this race on strength work. To run this kind of a time this early in the season…wow. If we have a state meet in June, Ince could threaten Courtney Clayton’s state record of 2:07.05. Her time from Sunday puts her #10 All-Time in Illinois and that was in an indoor race. If she continues this trend, Ince should hold Clayton’s record by the time she graduates high school.

 

The Deuce and the Ace – Part 1

 

I was looking for big things from Ava Parekh of Latin School and Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest this weekend in the 2-Mile Run on Saturday and then the 1 Mile Run on Sunday after seeing the two run the week before at Gately Park. This double early in the season pays off when you get to the championship time of the season in May and June. Both runners performed at a championship level this past weekend.

 

It was hard to stop Sydney Thorvaldson of Rawlings, Wyoming in the 2 Mile Run on Saturday. The senior had a nine second lead in the mile and cruised to the win (9:55.09) by 16 seconds. Parekh and Welin worked off each other during this race staying within a second of each other throughout. It resulted in a 5:03/5:12 pace while Welin was at 5:03/5:14 pace. It gave Parekh third (10:15.96) and the sixth fastest time ever for an Illinois Girls Runner at 3200m/2-miles. Welin’s time of 10:17.67 and fourth overall in the race moved her up to seventh all-time in State history.

 

Thorvaldson scratched out of the 1 Mile Run on Sunday opening the final section of this race. Audrey Dadamio of Birmingham, Michigan entered the race with the fastest 1600-meter time of 4:40 in the nation this spring. She was also coming back from running 10:11 and finishing second in the 2 Mile Run the day before.

 

Riley Stewart of Greenwood Village, Colorado shared the leading duties the first tow laps with the Illinois running biding their time staying a second off pace. Dadamio passed 800-meters in 2:22.7 with the lead wanting to break the pack behind her.

 

That did not happen. Parekh stayed within the lead until the final lap when she took the lead. It was a lead that Parekh would not give back. She closed in 34.8 second to claim the win (4:47.17) by almost a second of Dadamio (4:48.13). Welin finished fifth with a 4:50.79 personal best.

 

Parekh’s time moves her up to #6 All-Time for the 1-Mile/1600m. Welin moves to #9 on that list with Ali Ince now at #8 with her win in the Freshman race.

 

All three of these runners are underclassmen. The best is yet to come for all three of these student athletes.

 

The Deuce and the Ace – Part 2

 

I was extremely impressed with the double that Micah Wilson of St. Charles East gave us in the two distance races on Saturday and Sunday. I was also impressed with the race that Arthur Graham of Naperville Central turned in with his performance in the 1-Mile Run on Sunday.

 

Wilson let the race come to him in the 2-Mile Run on Saturday. The week before at Gately Park, Wilson and Graham pushed the pace and it showed at the end when the two runners dropped off the lead. Wilson played it cool waiting to make his move at the end of Saturday’s race. He passed the first mile in 4:32 and finished fifth overall in his section running 9:10.50. What impressed me was that the St. Charles junior was hitting 34-35 second 200’s consistently during the second half of the race.

 

Wilson ran in the first of two sections of the 1 Mile Run on Sunday running 63/65/66/66 in finishing fourth in his race with a 4:20.09 time. Graham followed in the second section in what became a fast-paced race. Eventual race winner Ethan Strand of Vestavia Hills, Alabama, who has the fastest indoor time at 800-meters, pushed the pace from the gun passing 800-meters in 2:04.3. Graham stayed within reach as the pack strung out passed the same point at 2:07.8.

 

10 runners in that second section ran under 4:17 with Strand winning in 4:10.31. Graham ran 63/64/66/63 to run 4:16.91 to finish tenth. It was a big bounce back race for the Naperville Central runner who ran 9:35.9 the week before at Gately Park.

 

Fast Times in the Boys 800m from Illinois runners.

 

Three Illinois runners went under 1:56 in the 800 Meter Run. Nico Dovalovsky of Neuqua Valley was the fastest of them all after winning at 1000-meters the week before at Gately Park. His time of 1:54.65 placed him second overall in Section 2 of the event, eighth place overall. Niko Schultz of Plainfield South finished fourth behind Dovalovsky in that second section running 1:54.90. Ryan Maseman of Plainfield North ran a 1:55.46 to finish fifth in his section, 17th overall.

 

All three runners are running some great times off strength work and we are only entering March. I cannot wait to see what they do when the outdoor season begins in April.

 

Another Freshmen to Watch For

 

We talked a few weeks ago about the improvement of Gavin Genisio of Benton that we were seeing in his early season races. There were raves about another freshman Ali Ince with her races on Sunday. Genisio also did not disappoint running 4:25.55 to win the Freshman 1 Mile Run Sunday afternoon.

 

Genisio took control of the race taking the lead just after 600-meters int the race. He pulled away running 62.1 for the final quarter to take the win by almost two seconds.

 

So, This Can Happen Right?

 

I was a kid in a candy shop this weekend. I had no meets to attend. I let the meets come to me. It was Championship Weekend on the College level, so I was able to catch the Big 12, Big 10, and Southeastern Conference Meets while watching and entering results from the adidas National Championships and watching the Husky Classic at the University of Washington.

 

Athing MU of Texas A&M running 1:58.40 was amazing. I cannot wait to see what she does in Tokyo this summer.

 

I had a smile on my face watching athletes that I covered while they were in high school now succeeding at the next level.

 

Erin Reidy, formally of Downers Grove South now at the University of Minnesota, ran great achieving personal bests first in her prelim race and then finishing fourth at Big Ten’s in the 800 Meter Run. Her high school teammate Brenna Cohoon, now at Iowa State University, earned all-state honors finishing sixth in the 3000 Meter Run.

 

Amira Young of the University of Minnesota, formally at Whitney Young, proved once again she is the queen of the sprints in her conference winning both the 60 Meter Dash and 200 Meter Dash over the weekend.

 

Tom Brady of the University of Michigan, formally at Maine South, cracked a huge barrier earning fifth at the Big Ten’s 5000 Meter Run going under 14-minutes with a 13:48.06 time. His college teammate John Meyer, formally of Lockport Township, had an amazing day with a personal best of 19.90m (65’ 3.5”) finishing second in the Shot Put. Michigan freshman Katelynne Hart and Jon Davis of the University of Illinois ran strong anchor legs in the Distance Medley Relay to take their teams to second place in the events. It should be fun to see them race at the NCAA XC Championships in the middle of the month.

 

I received joy and happiness from seeing these former high school athletes running and throwing great on the next level.

 

It has been tough writing about what this season could be like and the stubbornness by officials to stunt the growth of these athletes to only hold dual meets on the high school level. I hope that is a tentative solution and that we find invitational meets that show the promise of these kids when we get into June.

 

What we saw over the weekend shows that having a big meet, with spectators in Virginia for example, is possible in this state. It will just take some creativity from school officials and officials from the IHSA to get to get to a normal season.

 

For the people that are saying that the IHSA should have figured this out earlier, stop saying that please. Conditions are improving. Guidelines will hopefully change to let the IHSA decide to have state meets. They may not be in Charleston, but we can find a way to hold them in three separate locations like Ohio is doing.

 

For those IHSA officials that will help in the decision of where we go next, come to Gately Park on Friday and Saturday, and see what I am talking about. Watch how this meet goes off for parents and athletes in this facility. See how a big meet is possible in this pandemic time that we are in.

 

I look forward to seeing the joy on these high school athletes able to achieve big things and do what they like to do

 

I am looking forward to this pandemic flower to bloom and to explode with wonderment of the season is possible and to fill the hearts of all involved in this sport, whether athletes, fans, or officials, with love and joy that escaped us almost a year ago.

 

I smiled about those things this past weekend. I hope I get t smile some more in the coming months.