Illinois High School Track & Field Highlights - May 24, 2021

 

 

By Michael Newman

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Where should we start?

 

If we were in a normal season, Boys Sectional Meets would have taken place, we would have crowned champions in the IHSA Girls State Meet in Charleston. Instead, this track season is just getting started evidenced by the number of huge meets with even bigger performances. Minooka’s #SmithStrong Invitational knocked it out of the park with one event out doing the event that happened before it.

 

MINOOKA #SMITHSTRONG INVITATIONAL MEET PAGE

 

It was a trend. The TFX Leaderboards were turned upside down with amazing performances. So, I think we start with a pair of freshmen that are turning Illinois distance running again upside down. And a freshman shall lead them all.

 

A midweek invitational at Mt. Vernon had the 1600 Meter Run as its spotlight race with three of the top distance runners in that area. The outcome of the race had three runners under 4:17 led by standout freshman Gavin Genisio of Benton. A pack of four runners went out in 62 seconds with Genisio, Brooks Harlan of Centralia, Carbondale’s Tucker Poshard and Alex Partlow in that group. Harlan led the pack through 800-meters in 2:06.8. Genisio and Partlow were next in 2:07.1, Poshard right behind in 2:07.4. The pace picked up just after the kilometer with Genisio and Harland pulling away from the pack. Right before the bel lap, Genisio took over. The freshman closed in 62.3 to win with a then state leading 4:13.93 time. (Genisio is now #2 after Nico Dovalovsky ran 4:13.02 Friday at Minooka). It was also a new Illinois All-Time Freshman record for the distance passing 2-time State Cross-Country champion Lukas Verzbicas by over a second.

 

Harlan ran a personal best of 4:15.51 (IL #6) to finish second ahead of Alex Partlow of Carbondale and his 4:16.28 time (IL #9).

 

Saturday night was the inaugural Morton Distance Classic featuring some of the top distance runners in Central Illinois. Again, it was a freshman that had a standout performance in this meet. Ali Ince of Normal Community was again by herself in the 1600 Meter Run after running another strong double last Wednesday first running 2:11.26 for 800-meters and 4:55.84 for 1600-meters winning both at the Bloomington-Normal Inter City Meet. Ince ran 4:46.01 making her seventh fastest Illinois Girls runner Al-time for that distance. Anna Perry of Eureka was second with a 5:06.82 time.

 

Ince now has the fastest times in the state for 400-meters (hand-timed), 800-meters, 1600-meters, and the 1-Mile Run. She also is part of the Normal Community 4x4 that has the fastest time in the state (3:58.51) as of today.

 

Also at Morton, El Paso-Gridley and Elmwood ran the fastest 1A times in the 4x800m Relay. EPG’s winning time was 8:10.75 ahead of Elmwood’s 8:12.40. They have the fastest times in Class 1A by 22 seconds.

 

It was all Wilson Georges of Limestone in the Boys 1600 Meter Run. The junior ran an outdoor personal best of 4:19.09 to win the race by eight seconds ahead of Layton Hall of Arthur-Lovington (4:27.82). Colleen Ziebert of Rochester achieved a personal best running 2:15.83 (IL #12) to win the Girls 800 Meter Run by five seconds. Charlie Kistner of Olympia also ran a personal best of 9:35.64 to win the Boys 3200 Meter Run.

 

There were some huge meets over the past week. Here are highlights from some of these meets.

 

Grange | Tiger Invitational – The last of series of three meets this spring hosted by Wheaton-Warrenville South and Naperville North had WWS South hosted distance races on the first day of the meet and Naperville North hosting sprint events. They must have saved the best for last as both days of the meet on Saturday and Sunday brought out with some fantastic performances.

 

It started Saturday night with strong westerly cross winds and temperatures in the mid-80’s. Naperville North had only a 10:12 seasonal best heading into this meet. They turned that around in this meet. Campbell Petersen put the Lady Huskies in the lead that they would never give up. The quartet of Petersen, Kate Donaldson, Molly Morton, and Audrey Mendrys ran 9:27.14 (IL #2) for the win. St. Charles East at 9:44.52 (IL #10) finished second.

 

The heat played an effect to the 3200 Meter Run, but it did not appear to effect Downers Grove South’s Sophia McNerney and Yorkville’s Austin Popplewell in their wins. McNerney broke away from Katrina Schenker and Samantha Poglitsch in the final two laps to win the Girls 3200 Meter Run in 10:46.13 (IL #7). Schlenker (10:53.97) and Poglitsch (10:58.50) finished second and third. Popplewell pushed the pace from the gun and pulled away from a pack including Caden Simone of Lincoln-Way Central and Zack Loomis of St. Charles East. Popplewell ran a personal best of 9:20.98 to claim the win ahead of Loomis and his 9:30.36 and a personal best of 9:31.39 from Simone who finished third.

 

The sun went down. The temperatures also went under 80 degrees. The races on the track heated up. Josie Bond of Naperville North led from the start to run an outdoor personal best of 2:20.37 to win the 800 Meter Run. Luke Schildmeyer of St. Charles East passed 400-meters in 55.1 on his way to a personal best of 1:55.28 to win the Boys 800 Meter Run by over three seconds ahead of Nicholas Kania of Lemont (1:58.96). Katrina Schlenker came back after the 3200 with a great race in the Girls 1600 Meter Run. Schlenker passed Maggie Gamboa of Naperville North with 300-meters left in the race and then held Gamboa off in the final 100-meters to win the race in 5:02.72. Gamboa was close behind in second running a personal best of 5:02.72. Catie McCabe of Hinsdale Central ran 5:05.39 to finish third.

 

The race of Saturday night was the Boys 1600 Meter Run. A group of five runners broke away from the rest in Section 2 of the race as Arthur Graham of Naperville Central and Micah Wilson of St. Charles East taking the group through a 62.2 opening 400-meters. Naperville North’s Chase Burrell and Tommy Paltzer then took over on the second lap leading at 2:08.4 at the half-way point. Ivan Westcott of Yorkville was content to lurk in the middle of the pack. The pace picked up on lap three with Graham and Wilson making tactical surges with Wescott staying close. As the bell run at 3:13.1 to signify the final lap of the race, Westcott took his turn at the lead in the front with a definitive move.

 

A smile on his face and arms in the air signified that the Yorkville senior was back after suffering illness and injuries that slowed him down the second half of last fall’s cross-country season. Westcott ran a personal best of 4:13.96 (IL #3) in winning this race. Wilson made a surge towards Westcott in the final 150-meters but finished in second with a personal best of 4:15.38 (IL #5). The top five runners in this race were under 4:20. The top seven runners all ran personal bests. Graham ran 4:16.51 in finishing third. The Naperville North duo of Paltzer (4:17.88) and Burrell (4:19.77) finished fourth and fifth.

 

Wescott’s time set a new meet record set by Mark Pilja of Naperville North from 23 years ago of 4:15.14.

 

Sunday’s sprint competition at Naperville North did not slow as the times kept up its frantic pace. Joshua Duncan of St. Charles East was a double winner in this meet. Duncan was more than a step ahead of the rest in running 10.98 to win the 100 Meter Dash by almost half a second. Duncan had the performance of Sunday running 21.69 (IL #2) for the win ahead of Reece Young of Wheaton-Warrenville South (22.16, IL #8 tie). Duncan was also a part of St. Charles North’s winning 4x100m Relay that ran 42.55 (IL #3). Naperville North ran 43.18 (IL #11) to finish second.

 

Konrad Sacha of South Elgin was also in acceleration mode as he ran 50.05 (IL #6) in winning the 400 Meter Dash with Jaylin Jones of Lane Tech running 50.62 to finish second.

 

Alexandria Johnson of Huntley jumped 18’ 7.25” to in the Long Jump ahead of Lincoln-Way East’s Mariam Azeez (18’ 4.75”). The order changed on the track in the Girls 100 Meter Dash as Azeez ran 12.20 for the win as Johnson ran 12.76 to finish second. Azeez also dominated the field in the 200 Meter Dash as she ran a state tying best of 25.09 for the win ahead of the rest of the field by almost a second. Azeez was also a part of Lincoln-Way East’s 4x100m Relay that ran 48.43 (IL #4) for the win. Wheaton-Warrenville South claimed the win in the 4x200m Relay running a season’s best of 1:45.27 (IL #4) ahead of Lincoln-Way East’s 1:46.93 (IL #9). The Girls 4x400m Relay had two races in this meet with one run on Saturday at Wheaton. In that race, St. Charles East ran 4:04.70 (IL #4) for the win. At Naperville North the following day, Wheaton-Warrenville South ran 4:09.59 to claim the win.

 

Madeline Andelbrandt of Naperville North was a double winner over this two-day meet. She ran 45.27 (IL #5) for the win in the 300 Meter Hurdles on Saturday night ahead of Lauren Swartz of St. Charles East who ran 45.95 (IL #7). Andelbrandt came back on Sunday to clear 5’ 5” to win the High Jump.

 

Kyle Clabough of Yorkville had a 61’ 4.5” mark to win to win the Boys Shot Put by almost 9 feet.

 

Pole Vault Exploits Across the State – The weather heating up meant Illinois State Bests for both the Girls and Boys events. Tori Thomas of Rock Island Alleman had set a new Illinois All-Time best of 13’ 6” at an indoor meet this winter in Missouri. She upped that mark on Friday night at the Western Big Six Girls Conference Meet held at Quincy. Thomas improved on her Illinois best clearing 13’ 7.75 (US #10) to win the event. We have been talking about the progress of Normal University’s Colton Naffziger this season. He did it again on Saturday at the Windy City Pole Vault Summit as he cleared a state leading 16’ 6” (US #11 tie) for the win.

 

Trevian Girls Invitational – Great teams competing against great teams using produce state leading performances. Such was this meet north of Chicago on the Lake Michigan shoreline. New Trier scored 126 points to capture their own invitational ahead of state powers Prospect (118 points) and Homewood-Flossmoor (113 points).

 

Homewood-Flossmoor had three athletes that had multiple individual wins. Alexandria Edison ran 12.45 to claim the win in the 100 Meter Dash with Waukegan’s Ashley Derrick running 12.80 to finish second. Edison ran 59.94 to win the 400 Meter Dash ahead of teammate Angela Alzoie (1:00.69).

 

Ana-Liese Torian was the team’s second double winner starting with a 14.59 time in winning the 100 Meter Hurdles by over two seconds. Torian came back to run a personal best of 25.22 (IL #4) to win the 200 Meter Dash ahead of Prospect’s Daria Tersina (25.66) and Homewood-Flossmoor teammate Alexandria Edison (25.86).

 

Caroline Schoen of Homewood-Flossmoor picked up a pair of wins in the distance events. Schoen started by running 11:11.20 t win the 3200 Meer Run by 24 seconds. She came back to run 5:13.18 for a personal best and the win in the 1600 Meter Run. Prospect’s Audrey Ginsberg had a breakthrough race in the 800 Meter Run. Her time of 2:13.44 (IL #4) gave her a personal best and the win by five seconds ahead of Loyola Academy’s Morgan Mackie (2:18.29).

 

The relay performances were exceptional in this meet. New Trier started it off running 9:56.07 to win the 4x800m Relay. Homewood-Flossmoor ran 48.24 (IL #2) in winning the 4x100m Relay ahead of Glenbrook South (49.16, IL #9). Glenbrook South changed the order in the 4x200m Relay running 1:43.45 (IL #2) for the win ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor (1:46.44, IL #7) and New Trier (1:50.81). New Trier finished the meet by running 4:03.14 (IL #3) to win the 4x400m Relay just ahead of Prospect and their 4:04.95 time (IL #7.

 

Sydney Willis of Glenbrook South was a part of her team’s win in the 4x2. She had the best field event performance with a 20’ 2.25 mark (IL #2, US #7 tie) in her win in the Long Jump.

 

Chicago Public Schools Girls Championships – Whitney Young dominated the team competition of this meet scoring 152 points. Kenwood (92.5 points) and South Shore (62 points) finished second and third. Their sprint presence in this meet shows that they could challenge for a state title in June.

 

Sydney Robinson of Whitney Young went under 12-seconds for the second time this spring running 11.99 to win the 100 Meter Dash ahead of her sister Rachel (12.27, IL #9) and Kenwood’s Sydney Weaver (12.36). Sydney came back to run a state tying best of 25.09 to win the 200 Meter Dash ahead of Weaver (25.56) and Simeon’s Lindsey Miller (25.57).

 

Whitney Young was dominant in the relays. The Dolphins ran a state leading 46.96 to win the 4x100m Relay. Whitney Young came back to run 1:44.75 (IL #3) to win the 4x200m Relay ahead of Simeon (1:48.86) by more than four seconds.

 

Jordan Marshall of South Shore International was a double winner running 15.54 to win the 100 Meter Hurdles by more than a second and then running 48.29 to win the 300 Meter Hurdles just ahead of Kenwood’s Samaii Hartley (48.86).

 

Mascoutah Military Classic – Edwardsville edged Chatham-Glenwood 113-112 to win the team title in this meet Friday evening. Mascoutah (97 points) and East St. Louis-Senior (81 points) finished third and fourth in this St. Louis Metro area high powered meet. Brandon Battle of Edwardsville once again put up some great performances.

 

Battle ran a state leading 10.63 with a prevailing 2.1 m/s to win the 100 Meter Dash ahead of Nathan Hippard of Mascoutah (10.97). Battle came back to run under 48-seconds for the third time this year with a 47.72 to win the 400 Meter Dash. His margin of victory was over four seconds. He also was a part of their 4x100m team that ran 42.34 (IL #2) to win ahead of East St. Louis-Senior (43.18).

 

Devontae Ford of East St. Louis-Senior ran 14.33 in winning the 110 High Hurdles. Carterville’s Townsend Barton had a breakthrough performance of running 39.52 (IL #8) to win the 300 Meter Hurdles.

 

Alex Tillock ran a 1:55 anchor to help O’Fallon run 8:00.96 (IL #7) to win the 4x800m Relay ahead of Edwardsville (8:05.09, IL #9). The meet ended with Chatham-Glenwood running 3:25.90 to win the 4x400m Relay ahead of Edwardsville (3:26.14) and East St. Louis-Senior (3:27.00). The Frosh/Soph race had East St. Louis-Senior running 3:28.12 edging Chatham-Glenwood at 3:28.85.

 

Other weekend highlights

 

Javerius McGuinn of Wauconda ran 10.83 (IL #4 tie) to win the 100 Meter Dash at the Lake County Invitational Saturday at Deerfield. He came back to run 22.02 (IL #5) to win the 200 Meter Dash. This meet also produced some outstanding performances including Griffin Pasha of Warren Township running 4:16.33 (IL #10) to win the 1600 Meter Run and Barrington running 1:31.34 (IL #10) to win the 4x200m Relay ahead of Stevenson (1:32.16). Ethan Richter of Libertyville had a 59’ 0.75” best (IL #3) to win the Shot Put. He came back to throw 169’ 8.25” (IL #5) to win the Discus.

 

Zach Schmidt of Burlington Central ran 50.07 (IL #8) to win the 400 Meter Dash at the Crystal Lake Central Invitational Friday evening.

 

Mathew Olech of Harvest Christian Academy traveled to the West Allis Hale Distance Classic to run 9:09.15 to finish fourth in the 3200 Meter Run. Peter Walsdorf of Marian Central Catholic ran a personal best of 9:22.25 to finish seventh. In that race, Joshua Truchon of Nathan Hale WI ran 8:44.36 (US #3) to win that race. It also believed to be the fastest time ever for a Wisconsin High School athlete at that distance.

 

There was a great Long Jump Competition at the Kankakee Friday Nights Meet. Daniel Mboyo of Urbana jumped 23’ 10.25” (IL #2) to win the event just ahead of the 23’ 6.25” jump (IL #3) from Quaevon Autman of Kankakee. Aden Sears of Eureka jumped 22’ 10.75” (IL #7 tie) to finish third.

 

Riley Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley improved on her personal best in the 100 Meter Dash to run 12.23 (IL #7) to win the event just ahead of Waubonsie Valley’s Itzel Garcia (12.24, IL #8) in a quad meet at Neuqua Valley. Garcia came back to run 25.40 (IL #8) in winning the 200 Meter Dash. Ammenhauser also had a 19’ 2.25” distance to win the Long Jump and 40’ 2” to win the Triple Jump.

 

Maggie Dervis of Aurora Central Catholic ran the fastest FAT time in the state running 58.02 to win the 400 Meter Dash at Saturday’s Kane County Girls Meet. Victoria Spagnola of West Aurora ran 14.73 (IL #4) to win the 100 Meter Hurdles

 

The Lake County Girls Meet on Thursday had a boat load of great performances. Kathleen Baker of Barrington ran 58.47 (IL #6) to win the 400 Meter Dash just ahead of Jordyn Miller of Mundelein (58.50, IL #7) and Dakota Lyons of Libertyville (58.59, IL #9). Bella Domier of Grayslake Central is having a great freshman season. Domier ran 2:13.79 (IL #5) to win the 800 Meter Run with Aly Negovetich of Grant Community running 2:15.19 (IL #11) to finish second. Domier was part of Grayslake Central’s winning team that ran 9:36.64 (IL #4) in the 4x800m Relay.