Illinois High School Track & Field Weekend Highlights - May 2, 2021

 

 

By Michael Newman

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It was nice to see meet action from across the state this weekend. The Friday night meets faired with some beautiful cool conditions. Saturday’s meets were buffered by winds in some parts of the state were gusting past 40 miles per hour.

 

The biggest performance of the weekend came from the Belleville West Invitational. It also showed us that Brandon Battle of Edwardsville could be putting up some fast times in the sprints when we get to Charleston in June.

 

Battle ran the fastest time in the state and a top 20 time nationally when he ran 47.56 in winning the 400 Meter Dash. The winning margin in that race was more than three seconds ahead of O’Fallon’s Ryan Somraty (51.06). Battle came back with another state leading time this time in the 200 Meter Dash. Battle ran 21.46 in winning the event by more than a second ahead of Belleville West’s Malachi Wren (22.67). The senior also anchored Edwardsville’s quartet to a win in the 400 Meter Relay (42.63) by more than a second ahead of Mascoutah (43.78). Battle’s fourth race was the anchor leg of the 1600 Meter Relay where Edwardsville finished second (3:31.47) behind the 3:28.62 winning time from East St. Louis-Senior.

 

Here are some of the top meets from the weekend along with some of the top performances in the state from the past week. You can read a recap of the Prospect Girls Invitational here.

 

Prospect Wanner Knights Invitational – This Friday’s meet usually spotlights some great distance races. This pandemic year meet again met the expectations.

 

Minooka set the standard for the night in winning the 4x800 Meter Relay and running the state’s best time early in this season. The quartet of Adam Shaw, Emerson Fayman, Vincent Van Eck, and Zachary Balzer ran 7:59.38 for more than a four second win ahead of Sandburg’s 8:04.18 (IL #2) and Loyola Academy’s 8:06.79 (IL #4). Van Eck came back to run 1:59.60 to win the 800 Meter Run by less than a second ahead of New Trier’s Patrick Jamieson (2:00.26). Shaw came back also to run 2:02.27 finishing third.

 

Six runners were together entering the final lap of the 3200 Meter Run. It was Jack FitzPatrick of Barrington that made the final move 250-meters left in the race that left him the winner. FitzPatrick ran 9:22.86 for the win with teammate Joey Furlong at 9:24.40 in second. Sandburg’s Declan Tunney finished third (9:24.94) followed by Stephen Barretto of Rolling Meadows (9:25.20) and Griffin Lehnhardt of Sandburg (9:25.30). Less than four seconds separated the top five runners.

 

Spencer Werner of Loyola Academy, Nick Falk of New Trier, and Ismail Tineh of Sandburg were within a stride of each other with 500-meters left in the 1600 Meter Run. Werner made a move at the bell trying to separate himself from the other two runners. Falk countered that move sprinting away from Werner just before the final curve. The race was his for the taking. The New Trier junior ran the fastest outdoor time in the state this season (4:21.11) winning by more than four seconds ahead of Werner (4:25.36), and Tineh (4:26.88).

 

Lockport’s Gabe Czako was the meet’s only individual event double winner sweeping both hurdle races. Czako’s time of 14.98 (IL #3) was more than a second ahead of his section field in winning the 110 High Hurdles. He came back to run 42.87 to win the 300 Meter Hurdles ahead of Lake Park’s Myles Towbridge (43.22).  Czako was also a part of Lockport’s quartet that edged Minooka to win the 400 Meter Relay (43.42-43.47).

 

The top field event performance came from Lake Park’s Desmond Horton who jumped a personal best 45’ 7.5” (IL #4) to win the Triple Jump.

 

St. Rita Co-Ed Invitational – The Girls portion of this meet brought the most attention with some of the top performances in the state produced. Sydney Robinson of Whitney Young ran the top time in the state in the Girls 100 Meter Dash. She ran 11.92 for the win with a 3.2 m/s (meters per second) wind at her back. Sydney Weaver of Kenwood finished second (12.23). Robinson came back to win the 200 Meter Dash (26.01). Ana-Liese Torian of Homewood-Flossmoor made a huge debut in 100 Meter Hurdles. The sophomore ran the state’s fastest time (13.99, +2.9 m/s) in winning by more than a second ahead of South Shore’s Jordan Marshall (15.00).

 

The biggest performance of this Girls Meet was the three relay wins run by Evanston Township. All three wins were state leaders. The Lady Wildkits ran 48.38 to win the 400 Meter Relay just ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor (48.45), Kenwood (48.53), and Whitney Young (48.97). Those time were the four run in the event in the state so far this season.

 

Evanston was dominant in the 800 Meter Relay running a state lead 1:43.30 for the win by more than four seconds ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor (1:47.95). The margin of the 1600 Meter Relay was closer with the win still in the hands of Evanston. Their winning time of 4:01.84 was three seconds ahead of Kenwood (4:04.88). Jordan Marshall of South Shore complemented her 100 Hurdles performance with a pair of wins in the horizontal jumps. Marshall jumped 16’ 7.5” to win the Long Jump. The senior came back to jump 37’ 6” ( IL #5) to edge Madison Saunders of Whitney Young (37’ 4”, IL #6) in the Triple Jump.

 

The top performance in the Boys meet came from a sprint double win from Nehemiah Ray of Brother Rice. Ray ran 11.07 (+3.6 m/s) to win the 100 Meter Dash. Ray also ran 23.32 in winning the 200 Meter Dash.

 

Hunt Invitational @ Plainfield Central – This meet on Thursday produced some great performances in both the Boys and Girls sections. Niko Schultz of Plainfield South produced a pair of wins competing in a tough double. He easily won the 800 Meter Run (1:58.14) winning by seven seconds. Schultz came right back to run 50.76 to win the 400 Meter Dash by more than a second ahead of teammate Gabe King. Schultz also ran a 48.9 anchor leg on his team’s 4x400m Relay. Ryan Maseman of Plainfield North stepped up a distance running 4:25.24 in winning the 1600 Meter Run. Arianna Burkes ran under 60 seconds with a top ten state time of 59.62 in winning the Girls 400 Meter Dash.

 

Highlights from the Distance Events

 

Chris Cherry of Taylorville last week ran 9:25 for the 3200 Meter Run at Rochester. He dropped down a couple of distances and ran the fastest time in the state in the process. Cherry ran 1:57.03 at the Springfield HS Triangular Meet on Thursday to win by more than three seconds ahead of Chatham-Glenwood sophomore Drew Verenski.

 

An early in the week Monday Triangular at York produced some of the state top times. The quartet of Garrett Schwan, Jackson Geiger, Colin Hill, and Mickey Vreeland ran a then state leading 8:06.66 in windy conditions for the win. Pierce Cousins of Glenbard West ran negative splits in his win in the 1600 Meter Run. Cousins pulled away after a 2:15 first 800 to run 4:23.15 for the win. York’s Geiger ran 4:29.84 to finish second.

 

Audrey Allman of Glenbard West started her season on a great note in a triangular meet on her home track. She was timed in 5:05.19 for the win in the 1600 Meter Run. In the same meet, Brooke Berger of York ran 11:08.90 to win the 3200 Meter Run ahead of teammate Brianna Bennis (11:16.50).

 

Ella Ton-That of Northside Prep followed up a 11:02 race last week in the 3200 Meter Run with one of the top times in the state in the Girls 1600 Meter Run. Her time of 5:02.25 (IL #2) won at the Ignatius Girls Invitational ahead of St. Ignatius Prep’s Lexi Affolter (5:08.95, IL #8). Kate Dickman of Lyons Township ran a personal best 5:04.0 (IL #3) in winning a quad meet 1600 Meter Run Wednesday at Morton West. Campbell Peterson (11:12.78) and Audrey Mendrys (11:14.23) ran 1-2 in a triangular meet on their home track at Naperville North on Saturday.

 

Jacob Myers of Lake Zurich ran 9:28.31 (IL #10) in winning the 3200 Meter Run at Lake Zurich’s Friday Night Lights Distance Meet. Stephen Thomas of Rockford Christian (2:00.64) edged Deerfield’s Ben Zamler by one hundredth of a second n the 800 Meter Run. Deerfield’s Ryan Bernstein was the meet’s third winner running 4:31.62 in winning the 1600 Meter Run.

 

Megan Garrett of Charleston ran 5:10.99 to win the Gils 1600 Meter Run at the Lady Sages Invitational at Monticello. Mabry Bruhn of Monticello finished second (5:15.06) in that race. Earlier in the meet, Ashleigh Anderson of Mt. Zion ran 2:21.06 to win the 800 Meter Run ahead of Bruhn’s 2:21.67 time.

 

Highlights from the Sprints / Hurdles

 

The performances from the St. Rita Invitational caught our eye on Saturday. The time from Ana-Liese Toran of Homewood-Flossmoor in the 100 Hurdles in that meet shows that the Lady Vikings have a great athlete on their hands for the next three years.

 

There were also some great times at the Bloom Girls May Day Invitational. Bria Armstrong of Bloom ran 14.80 (+5.2 m/s) in winning the 100 Meter Hurdles. Mariam Azeez of Lincoln-Way East continued where she left off in her freshman year in 2019.The junior ran a wind legal 11.95 (+2.0 m/s) with an IL #2 time in winning the 100 Meter Dash. Armstrong ran 12.45 to finish second in that race.

 

Lauren Doerr of Morton had a good day at the Bloomington Girls Purple Invitational on Thursday. Doerr ran 12.15 (IL #3) in winning the 100 Meter Dash. She also ran 1:00.42 in her win in the 400 Meter Dash. That time is the second fastest time in Class 2A.

 

Aden Sears of Eureka went under 50 seconds in a quad meet on Thursday on his home track. Sears ran 49.89 (IL #2) to win the 400 Meter Dash. Sushil Suresh of Grayslake Central ran 50.69 in a dual meet on Monday against Lakes Community.

 

Joshua Duncan of St. Charles North ran 22.35 (IL #3) in winning the 200 Meter Dash at Friday’s Kaneland Invitational. Evan Lowder of Normal Community ran a personal best of 22.52 (IL #6) in winning the 200 Meter Dash at the Metamora Co-Ed Meet on Saturday. Mitchell Danner of Metamora ran the fastest time in the state (39.49) in winning the 300 Meter Hurdles. Logan Buck of Pekin ran 14.68 in winning the 110 High Hurdles in the same Metamora meet.

 

Andrew Li of Naperville North ran a good sprint double in a triangular meet Friday at DeKalb. Li ran 11.00 (IL #3) in winning the 100 Meter Dash. He came back to run 51.71 to win the 400 Meter Dash with JaMari Newell of DeKalb running 52.08 to finish second.

 

Neuqua Valley ran the state’s fastest time in the Boys 1600 Meter Relay Saturday at Naperville Central. The quartet of Patrick Conniff, Kevin Saju, Nathan Howard, and Max Mitchell ran 3:27.03 for the win against another team from Neuqua Valley (3:28.41) anchored by their distance star Nico Dovalovsky. He did run an anchor split of 49.7. Mitchell’s anchor split was a speedy 47.9 seconds.

 

Highlights from the Field Events

 

Hayden Knott of St. Joseph-Ogden had the state’s longest throw in the Discus at a home quad meet on Tuesday. Knott threw 172’ 2” in winning the event. Martin Kiefer of Neuqua Valley threw 156’ 8” (IL #5) in the Discus at the Naperville Central Triangular on Saturday.

 

Julia Reglewski had two great IL #2 performances in the weight events at the Prospect Girls Invitational on Saturday. Carolina Hintz of Burlington Central threw 140’ 0” in her win in the Discus at the Huntley Invitational on Saturday. In a small meet on her home ring on Saturday, Abby Peeler of Kaneland had a put of 39’ 11.25” (IL #4) in winning the Shot Put.

 

Colton Naffziger of Normal University continued his improvement in the Pole Vault. He cleared a personal best on Tuesday of 15’ 9” in a triangular meet at Springfield Lanphier. Tim Gale of Schaumburg on Tuesday also achieved a personal best in the Pole Vault clearing 15’ 0” in a dual meet against Palatine. Two other athletes also cleared that 15’ 0” mark in meets n the past week. Collin Kao of Lakes Community accomplished that in a dual meet on Tuesday against Grayslake Central. Charles Cruse of Normal Community also cleared that height Saturday at the Metamora Co-Ed Meet.

 

The horizontal jumps took advantage of some windy conditions over the past week. Mariam Azeez of Lincoln-Way East achieved a personal best in the Girls Long Jump when she jumped a state leading 19’ 3.5” at Bloom. Alexandria Johnson of Huntley jumped 19’ 2.25” on her home track on Tuesday in dual meet against Prairie Ridge.

 

Dillon Peters of Andrew put together great performances in two meets over the past week in the jumps. The senior jumped 46’ 3” in winning the Triple Jump at Sandburg’s Pete Struck Classic on Friday. The day before at a dual meet against Lincoln-Way Central, Peters jumped 22’ 10.75 (IL #3) to finish second in the Long Jump. The event was won by Jake Mackowiak of Lincoln-Way Central who jumped 23’ 0” (IL #2).

 

Rob Pulliam of Moline has the highest clearance in the Boys High Jump so far this outdoor season. Pulliam cleared 6’ 8” in a triangular meet on Tuesday.