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Rogers edges Guerra in 2-Mile Run highlights Cabin Fever Invitational

Published by
DyeStat.com   Mar 21st 2021, 2:44pm
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Rogers edges Guerra in 2-Mile Run highlights Cabin Fever Invitational

 

Willis runs fantastic solo in Girls 800-Meter Run; Georges decides Boys Mile Run with his kick; Ammenhauser jumps nation’s indoor best in Triple Jump.

 

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

 

Chicago – A furious final lap in the Boys 2 Mile Run highlighted a distance heavy Cabin Fever Invitational held at Chicago’s Gately Park Indoor Track Complex. Drew Rogers of Herscher IL ran a 27 second final 200-meters to overtake Lucas Guerra of Highland IN for the win.

 

INTERVIEWS | RESULTS

 

Rogers’ time of 9:00.21 ranks second indoors in the United States. Guerra’s time of 9:00.66 is US #3. It was not a matter of who was going to win this race. It was a team effort to get those fast times.

 

“We knew we would have a pacer and he would drop off,” Guerra said. “We both had a goal of going sub-nine in this race. It was not a matter of who was going to win. It was a matter of working together to get that time.”

 

There was a camera at 3200-meters to get that time for that distance. Both runners were in the 8:57 range.

 

“The pace was pretty quick at the start,” Rogers said. “I knew it would even out at some point. I was just thankful that we had the chance to come out here today.”

 

Peter Walsdorf of Woodstock Marian IL stayed with the pacer early in the race. Rogers and Guerra stayed between one to two seconds behind the front in the first part of the race going through 800-meters in 2:11.1 and 3:18.9 for 1200-meters. Once the pacer stepped off the track, it was time for Rogers and Guerra to step to the front just before 1400-meters into the race. Rogers and Guerra passed 1600-meters in 4:29.1.

 

The pace at that point stayed within 34 second laps. Guerra took over the leading role at 2000-meters. The two runners traded off the lead pushing each other a little bit faster.

 

The pace dropped to 69.5 seconds between 2400-meters and 2800-meters. It quickened from there running the penultimate 200 in 33 seconds. The bell rung and the two runners were in an all-out sprint dipping under 30 seconds for the final lap.

 

“I think the times going down like this is because we have all these bunched up energies not having a track season last year,” Guerra added. “Not racing for so long and then coming together with good competition, it brings out the best in all the runners.”

 

Guerra knew he would be racing in this meet. He contacted Rogers via a message on Instagram to run in this race perhaps running both the mile and the 2-mile. Rogers was focused on getting a fast time in the 2-mile.

 

“COVID-19 in a way has been a blessing in a way that everyone is so fit,” said Rogers. “It has brought us together. With no indoor season as usual, it has brought us together to meets like this. It does stink that we missed all last season. It has opened new opportunities for us.”

 

Where Rogers and Guerra had each other to work off for fast times in their race, it was the exact opposite for Roisin Willis of Stevens Point WI in her quest to get the United States Olympic Trials standard of 2:02.5. This 800 Meter Run was set up for her to accomplish that. All the distance races in this meet started in allies. For Willis, the Girls 800 Meter Run was run in lanes for the first lap so that there would be no congestion at the start for her. There was no pacer. This would be all Willis. She had the fastest seed time in this five-runner field by 11 seconds. She won by that same amount.

 

The junior got off to a great start navigating the firs 200-meters in 29.6 seconds. To get to the goal of 2:02.5, she needed to be between 58 to 60 seconds for the fist half of the race. She ran the second 200-meters in 29.9 seconds passing 400-meters in 59.5. Willis was right on pace.

 

It was the same for the next 200-meters for her. Where runners usually fall off pace in the third part of a race Willis maintained her pace passing 600-meters at 1:30.9.

 

With 100-meters to go in the race entering the final turn, Willis started to slow. She seemed to struggle in the final 50 meters crossing the finish line in 2:04.64 missing the qualifying standard by two seconds. It was the second time this indoor season having run 2:04.31 at Virginia Beach in January. Willis ran 2:03.80 outdoors in a race in Texas in February.

 

Willis sat on a wall in the backstretch of the Gately Park Complex emotionless after the race. She was completely exhausted from the effort. But what an effort to run that kind of race in that kind of pace by yourself. This junior will find a race against competition that will get her to the starting line in Hayward Field this June.

 

The kind of effort displayed by Willis shows that she has a faster time in her.

 

Marcus Reilly of Northbridge MA came to Chicago also to go after a fast time in the Boys Mile Run. He was looking for the national indoor freshman record of 4:15.43 set by Lukas Verzbicas from 2009. Reilly just missed that time running 4:15.51 at the Virginia Showcase in January.

 

The pace that was supposed to be was to set the final section of the Boys Mile Run on a sub 4:10 pace. That all fell apart in the first two laps passing 200-meters in 32.3 and then 400-meters in 64.5 seconds. Reilly was close to the pacer along with Nico Dovalovsky of Neuqua Valley IL and Nick Falk of New Trier IL close to the front. Wilson Georges of Limestone IL stayed in the middle of the pack but in position to move when he needed to.

 

The pace picked up the next two laps with the field passing 800-meters in 2:07.5. They had negative split the second 400-meters having run 63 seconds when the pacer for the race stepped off the track. Dovalovsky took the lead with Reilly, Falk, Georges, and Jacob Myers of Lake Zurich close at hand. The third 400 has slowed down passing 1200-meters in 3:12.7. If a under 4:10 time was going to happen, someone would have to make a definitive move to speed up the pace. It was Georges that took the chance.

 

“I was hesitant to go early,” Georges said after the race. “The pace was slowing down. Some one in the pack stated we need to go to get a fast time.”

 

Georges was the one taking the lead with 450 meters left in the race. It was a lead that he never gave up. The last time that this junior lost a race was his sophomore cross country season when he finished sixth at the IHSA State Cross Country Meet. He had pneumonia when he ran that.

 

Georges pulled away with a final 30 second 200-meter dash to the finish crossing the line in 4:14.34 keeping his streak intact.

 

Dovalovsky followed with a 4:15.91 personal best. Falk (4:17.42) and Myers (4:17.74) were third and fourth also with personal bests. Reilly fell back in the final 300-meters of the race to finish fifth (4:20.00).

 

Riley Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley was in control of Girls Horizontal Jumps for the second meet in a row held at Gately Park. She opened by jumping 5.90m (19’ 4.25”) to win the Long jump ahead of the competition by over two feet. The mark is currently ranked #8 in the country this indoor season. The senior opened the Triple Jump with a nation leading 12.51m (41’0.5”) effort to win the event.

 

OTHER MEET HIGHLIGHTS

 

In this distance heavy meet, one of the bigger surprises came in the Boys 800 Meter Run. Vincent Van Eck of Minooka took the lead with an opening 57.7 400-meters. Van Eck passed the bell at 1:27.0 with Hinsdale Central’s Daniel Watcke close to his side. The sophomore, wearing a Kansas University singlet, made his move passing Van Eck in the final 100-meters. Watcke crossed the line in a huge personal best of 1:55.60 for the race win. Van Eck was close at hand also running a 1:56.21 personal best to finish second.

 

Anna Perry of Eureka took the lead from Leanne Willemse of Homestead WI just after the halfway point of the Girls 2-Mile Run. Perry went on to run 11:02.24 for the win ahead of Willemse’s 11:15.03 second-place time.

 

Aly Negovetich of Grant HS IL took the lead with over three laps left in the Girls 1 Mile Run. The junior went on to run 4:59.28 for the win. Mary Grace Hegberg of St. Viator IL ran 5:04.78 to finish second.

 

The competition was also good in the Boys Triple Jump. Dillon Peters of Andrew HS IL jumped 14.26m (46’ 9.5”) to win the event just ahead of Malcom Bevans of St. Ignatius Prep IL and his 14.09m (46’2.75”) personal best.

 

Kyle Burgoni of Tolono Unity IL shocked some by running a 22.09 personal best to win the Boys 200 Meter Dash by almost seven tenths of a second. Sean Hopkins of Glenbard West IL ran 6.99 to win the Boys 60 Meter Dash edging Burgoni by three hundredths of a second.

 

Jetta Mays of Wings of Glory TC WI came down south to Chicago from Wisconsin and had a great day picking up two sprint wins. Mays ran 7.70 in the prelims of the Girls 60 Meter Dash, then came back in the finals with a 7.71 win ahead of Sydney Weaver of Kenwood HS IL (7.87). Mays came back in the 200 Meter Dash with a 24.78 win. Her sister Maia ran 25.62 to finish second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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