Illinois High School Track & Field Weekend Highlights - May 17, 2021

 

 

By Michael Newman

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Here is something that we were not able to say in 2020:

 

There were so many great track & field performances this weekend. The high school athletes are stepping up with some fantastic times, jumps, and throws over the past week. That feeling of helplessness from a year ago is gone. Bring on in what could be the best track & field seasons in perhaps the past 20 years.

 

There was a meet in the middle of the week that caught the attention of many.

 

Bloomington HS Girls Gold Invitational – The meet last Wednesday was the first competition that Ali Ince of Normal Community would participate in since setting a new Illinois High School Girls Best for the 800 Meter Run at Distance Night in Palatine. Ince indicated after the race that she was thinking of doubling in the 800 Meter Run and the 1600 Meter Run at next month’s IHSA State Championships. Wednesday’s two races showed that it was possible. The freshman started by running a 2:11.5 (hand timed) to win the 800 Meter Run by 12 seconds ahead of freshman teammate Abi Ziemer.

 

Her race less than an hour later was even more impressive. Ince ran a solo 4:54.47 to win the 1600 Meter Run by 38 seconds ahead of Bloomington’s Kaitlin Skeate. I would not doubt her chances at state in Charleston to complete that double. Ince and Ziemer were also part of their team’s 4x400m Relay that ran 4:07.35 (IL #6) to win that event by 23 seconds.

 

Lilianna Ifft of Bloomington had the best field event performance of the meet clearing 12’ 6” in winning the Pole Vault.

 

Collinsville Girls Invitational – Two days later at this meet outside of Saint Louis, Jayden Ulrich of East Alton-Wood River stepped into the ring looking to cement herself as one of the best in the weight events in high school history. Ulrich moved into second all-time in the Shot Put with a 51’ 10.75” best to win the event. She is getting closer to KD Young’s 53’ 5” state best. It currently places her second nationally. Sarah Byrd of Springfield also had a breakthrough performance in the Shot as she had a 46’ 8.25” best to finish second. That performance puts her in the top 20 nationally and third in the state.

 

Ulrich was not done on this day. She threw a personal best and state leading 163’ 7” (US #7) in winning the Discus.

 

Faith Grapperhaus of Triad was a triple winner in this meet with a season best 4’ 11.75” clearance to win the High Jump, a 12.93 time in winning the 100 Meter Dash, and 26.95 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Megan Weilmuenster of Freeburg was a double winner on the track running 16.46 to win the 100 Meter Hurdles and a season’s best of 49.25 to win the 300 Meter Hurdles.

 

Colleen Zeibert of Rochester had the best track performance of the night running 2:15.93 (IL #8) in winning the 800 Meter Run.

 

Triad Boys Invitational – Brandon Battle of Edwardsville running the three individual sprint races at the state meet? It is a possibility. Battle has the top three times in Class 3A so far this season. At this meet on Friday night, Battle ran 10.72 (IL #2) to win the 100 Meter Dash with Mascoutah sophomore Nathan Hippard finishing second (11.19). Battle came back to run an impressive 21.49 into a 2.1 m/s headwind to win the 200 Meter Dash. Devonte Ford of East. St. Louis-Senior ran 22.62 to finish second.

 

Ford dominated both hurdle races with wins. He started by running 14.46 (IL #3) into a headwind to win the 110 Meter Hurdles. The senior came back to run a state leading 38.49 to win the 300 Meter Hurdles.

 

Ian O’Laughlin of Metamora ruled the distance races in this meet. The senior started by running 9:23.36 to win the 3200 Meter Run by 11 seconds ahead of the Edwardsville duo of Ryan Luitjohan (9:34.45) and Geordan Patrylak (9:37.07). O’Laughlin came back at the end of the meet to run 4:28.32 to win the 1600 Meter Run ahead of Chatham-Glenwood’s Aidan Peterson. Byron Jones of Belleville East ran 1:56.78 (IL #12) to win the 800 Meter Run winning by three seconds. Barry Evans of Mascoutah produced the state’s longest throw this season in his 176’ 5.75” winning throw in the Discus.

 

Chatham-Glenwood won the team title (115 points). Edwardsville (108 points), Mascoutah (92 points), East. St. Louis-Senior (83.33 points), and Mt. Vernon (81 points) rounded out the top five teams.

 

Bloomington Boys Purple Invitational – A night after the great distance double by Ali Ince, Mahomet-Seymour’s CJ Shoaf was the man of the meet winning three individual events. Shoaf started the meet by clearing 6’ 10” in winning the High Jump. He has now cleared 6’10” or better in three meets this outdoor season.

 

His performances in the hurdle events were even more impressive. The senior ran a state leading 14.15 to win the 110 High Hurdles by more than a second. Shoaf followed that up by running 39.31 (IL #2) to win the 300 Meter Hurdles.

 

Wilson Georges of Limestone dropped down a distance and stood out in the 800 Meter Run. His time of 1:56.12 (IL #8) won the race by six seconds ahead of Mahomet-Seymour’s Joseph Scheele (2:02.52).

 

Colton Naffziger of Normal University continues to climb higher in the Pole Vault. In this meet, he cleared a then personal best of 16’ 0.25” to win the event. The next night at the Olympia Co-Ed Invitational, he improved on his personal best by clearing a state leading 16’ 4.75”. Alex Sohn of Normal Community also shined in this meet winning the Shot Put with a 58’ 1.75 (IL #2) mark.

 

Homewood-Flossmoor Boys Invitational – This six-team meet was high powered with host Homewood-Flossmoor winning the team title (135.5 points) ahead of Minooka (121.5 points) and Plainfield North (119.5 points). The host school was impressive with a pair of wins in the sprint relays. The Vikings ran 42.73 (IL #3) to win the 4x100m Relay ahead of Minooka (43.08, IL#4) and Plainfield North (43.32, IL #7). HF came back to run the state’s fastest time in the 4x200m Relay (1:29.97) ahead of again Minooka (1:31.54, IL #6). Plainfield North ran 3:27.44 (IL #6) to win the 4x400m Relay just 33 hundredths of a second ahead of Minooka with a 3:27.77 time (IL #7).

 

Gabe Czako of Lockport was a double winner running 14.90 (IL #6) to win the 110 High Hurdles. He came back to run 39.89 (IL #8) to win the 300 Meter Hurdles. Desmond Horton of Lake Park had a personal best of 46’ 8.75” (IL #3) to win the Triple Jump.

 

Deerfield Boys Invitational – Glenbrook South scored 106 points to dominate the team competition in this meet. Prospect (82 points) and Deerfield (80 points) finished second and third. The distance events were the star events of this meet.

 

Nick Falk of New Trier improved his seasonal best by five seconds by running 4:16.43 (IL #3) to win ahead of Warren Township’s Luke Wiley (4:17.67, IL #6). Five runners went under 4:22 in this race with Arthur Graham of Naperville Central running 4:19.88 to finish third, Charlie Siebert of New Trier 4:21.75 to finish fourth, and Kevin Gee of Mather 4:21.89 to finish fifth. The top 12 runners in the event all ran personal bests.

 

Griffin Pasha of Warren Township followed a strong run at Distance Night in Palatine with a win in the 800 Meter run in this meet. Pasha’s time of 1:55.88 (IL #6) was ahead of Lucas Guidone of Taft (1:56.65, IL #9) and Brian Hiltebrand of Glenbrook South (1:58.23).

 

Lane Tech continues to run good times in the 4x400m Relay. The Indians ran 3:27.16 (IL #4) to win by three seconds ahead of Prospect.

 

Rockford Christian Co-Ed Invitational – This “small school” meet turned out some big-time performances. Brock Drengenberg of Dixon and Mathew Olech of Harvest Christian Academy produced a classic race in the 1600 Meter Run. Drengenberg ran a personal best of 4:17.33 (IL #4) for the win with Olech running 4:18.42 (IL #8) finishing second. Hayden Colclasure of Harvest Christian Academy ran 4:23.81 to finish third. Daniel Winkelman of Harvest Christian Academy ran 9:45.60 edging Dixon’s Cadyn Grafton (9:45.61) to win the 200 Meter Run. D’Artagnon Beaver of Rockford Christian ran 9:58.04 to finish third.

 

Rockford Christian was strong in the Boys relay events running 1:32.15 (IL #9) to win the 4x200m Relay and 3:29.61 (IL #11) to win the 4x400m Relay.

 

Maggie Devers of Aurora Central Catholic swept all three sprint races in the Girls portion of the meet. Her time of 58.84 (IL#6) was her top performance in the meet winning the 400 Meter Dash.

 

Lyons Classic – This Friday night mini-meet did not have all the events that the usual meet does. The events were held in this under two hours produced some great times. York changed up their line-up in the 4x800m Relay for the third week in a row and still produced a seasonal best. The Dukes’ time of 8:00.21 (IL #4) claimed the win ahead of Oak Park-River Forest (8:02.52, IL #5), Hinsdale Central (8:06.57, IL #7), and Lyons Township (8:06.74, IL #8). Oak Park-River Forest got great exchanges in running 42.68 (IL #2) in winning the 4x100m Relay. Downers Grove South ran 43.53 to finish second.

 

Addison Trail’s Hamza Kittaneh was a double winner running 15.34 to win the 110 High Hurdles and 41.01 in winning the 300 Meter Hurdles.

 

Pierce Cousins of Glenbard West pulled away from Owen Hays of Lyons Township in the final lap to run 9:19.50 (IL #13) to win the 3200 Meter Run. Hays (9:24.81) finished second ahead of York’s Mickey Vreeland (9:26.56) and Ethan Summer (9:31.00). Nahlyee Bryant of Oak Park-River Forest pulled away in the final 50-meters to run 22.29 (IL #10) to win the 200 Meter Dash.

 

Neuqua Valley Boys Quad – A steady stream of rain did not slow down some good performances including the top two times in the state in the 4x800m Relay. Nico Dovalovsky ran a 1:53 anchor leg to give Neuqua Valley a state leading 7:58.30 in winning the event. St. Charles East finished second (7:59.20) behind a 1:54 anchor split from Luke Schildmeyer. Dovalovsky came back to run 51.61 in winning the 400 Meter Dash. Schildmeyer pulled away from the pack after the first lap to run 4:24.32 to win the 1600 Meter Run.

 

Huntley Girls Invitational – Prospect ran the fastest time in the state in this meet with a time of 9:26.24 for the win. The Lady Knights also ran 4:10.72 to win the 4x400m Relay to win by almost a second ahead of Lincoln-Way East (4:11.64). Mariam Azeez of Lincoln-Way East had one of the performances of the meet as she jumped 20’ 0.5” (IL #2) to win the Long Jump. Azeez also produced two more wins on the track running 12.28 to win the 100 Meter Dash and 25.71 (IL #6) in a win in the 200 Meter Dash. She was also a part of her team’s winning 4x100m Relay that produced a 48.83 time (IL #4)

 

Breanna Burak of Huntley ran a personal best 5:06.69 to win the 1600 Meter Run ahead of Audrey Ginsberg of Prospect (5:09.02) and Kate Guderjan of Lincoln-Way East (5:10.95).

 

Highlights from throughout the state

 

Riley Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley has the state’s best marks in the horizontal jumps. She is moving up the leaderboard in the 100 Meter Dash. The University of Michigan signee ran a personal best 12.29 (IL #6) in winning the event at a triangular meet at Waubonsie Valley. Asia Thomas of Kenwood also put up a great performance in that event running 12.05 in her win Thursday in an open meet at St. Rita.

 

Nariah Parks of Belleville Althoff won the Class 1A State title in the 400 Meter Dash as a sophomore in 2019. She is among the top five runners in the state in that event as she recorded a 58.2 time (IL #4) in a quad meet at Freeburg last Wednesday.

 

Ava Parekh of Latin School dropped down a distance after winning the 1600 Meter Run at Distance Night in Palatine. The junior ran 2:14.92 to win the 800 Meter Run at a meet Saturday at Hope Academy. Teammate Marianne Mihas jumped up a distance running the state’s fastest time at 1500-meters (4:37.1) in the same meet. Elia Ton-That, who surprised some at Palatine in that 1600 Meter Run race, continued her great running with a 2:16.35 winning time (IL #10) in winning the 800 Meter Run at Saturday’s Steinmetz Invitational.

 

The leaderboard changed in the Girls 3200 Meter Run this week. Caroline Schoen improved on her 3200 time of 11:03 run at Palatine by winning at the distance in 10:54.58 at Friday’s Bloom Friday Night Lights Meet. We saw Mary Grace Hegberg of Saint Viator run some great times indoors. Wednesday she ran a 10:35.3 (IL #2) personal best  at a meet at Carmel Catholic.

 

The Carlson-Anderson Invitational Saturday night at Batavia produced two of the top state times in the 300 Meter Hurdles. Victoria Spagnola stepped up to run a state leading 44.44 in winning that event in that meet. Brooke Barkocy of Burlington Central ran 46.29 (IL #4) to finish second.

 

Tolono Unity’s Boys Invitational on Friday night produced some fast sprint times from the host school’s Kyle Burgoni. The senior ran the fastest time in the state (10.72) in winning the 100 Meter Dash. He also ran a personal best of 21.72 (IL #2) in winning the 200 Meter Dash. He was also a part of Unity’s winning 4x100m Relay (43.81). Hayden Knott of St. Joseph-Ogden was in control of the weight events in this meet winning the Shot Put (53’ 6.5”) and then throwing 162’ 5.5” in winning the Discus.

 

Tylar Mack of Thornton Fractional South ran some fast times in an invitational meet Thursday on his home track. Mack ran 10.78 (IL #3) in winning the 100 Meter Dash. He came back to run 22.27 (IL #7) to win the 200 Meter Dash.

 

Batavia’s Jonah Fallon has been among the top runners for his team in the 800 Meter Run. He dropped down to the 400 Meter Dash on Friday at a quad meet at Burlington Central and ran 49.57 (IL #2) to win that event.

 

Ryan Schreiner of Wheaton North took advantage of his home track in the Best Four Meet on Saturday. Schreiner dropped his personal best down another second by running 1:56.03 (IL #7) to win the 800 Meter Run.

 

We saw a huge personal best from Stephen Barretto of Rolling Meadows on his home track Friday night at the Mustang Classic. The senior ran 4:19.27 (IL #12) to win the 1600 Meter Run ahead of Matt Cull of Maine South (4:22.00) and Highland Park’s Jason Polydoris (4:22.61). Evan Gronewold of Huntley in the same meet ran 50.18 (IL #6) to win the 400 Meter Dash.