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Rogers' distance double win includes 2A Record in 1600 at IHSA State

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Illinois IHSA Outdoor State Championships   Jun 19th 2021, 3:36pm
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Rogers’ distance double win includes 2A Record in 1600 at IHSA State

 

 

Mascoutah holds on for team title; Stories of thrills and defeats haunt this weather delayed meet

 

 

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

 

Charleston, Ill. – The cup overflowed with the number of exciting finishes that equaled some devastating moments in the 2A Boys Meet Friday at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.

 

Topping all of this was the team win by Mascoutah. The team won a state championship for the first time in 41 years scoring 51 points. Eureka found its way to the trophy conversation scoring 45 points to finish second. East St. Louis-Senior and Urbana both scored 41 points in sharing third place.

RESULTS | VIDEOS

The 2A Meet was different right from the start. Weather conditions were hazardous early in the day with temperatures in the 90’s with a heat index over 100 degrees. IHSA Meet Officials went ahead and started the field events that were normally to begin at noon. Officials did delay the start of the running events until 5:00 PM to allow the conditions and temperatures to drop.

 

When the action began on the Big Blue Oval, the times began to drop as well.

 

Friday’s only double event winner came from Herscher’s Drew Rogers in two distance events. The junior has the flair for the dramatics when finishing up a race. His finishing kick is lethal putting his competitors asleep in workmanship order. It showed in both of his wins.

 

Rogers did not want to lead the 3200 Meter Run. It was the fact that no other runner in the field wanted that distinction. That played into Rogers’ hands as became the puppet master controlling the pace with laps between 72 and 73 seconds after a 69 second opening lap. Just before two laps to go, Alex Partlow of Carbondale burst out of the pack to take the lead. Chris Cherry of Taylorville was on Partlow’s side. Rogers was content to third staying close to Partlow’s stride.

 

The pace picked up to 67 seconds on the seventh lap with Cherry and Rogers refusing to let go. Cherry took the lead with 300-meters left in the race trying to take away the win. Rogers moved by Cherry’s side and took off as they reached the final curve of this race. Two steps and Rogers exploded away from this field. A final 59.2 400, 27.9 200 gave Rogers his first state track championship in 9:17.23. Cherry was next in 9:21.03. Partlow was third in 9:23.40. Ryder James of Paxton-Buckley-Loda was fourth timed in 9:25.90.

 

Most of the runners had less than two hours before they were summoned to the line in the 1600 Meter Run. The runners that doubled back from the 800 Meter Run had close to 50 minutes to get their legs ready for this race. The weather conditions improved with it being overcast, temperatures near 80, and no wind. Perfect conditions to tour four laps of the track in a swift manner.

 

Brooks Harlan of Centralia and Cadyn Grafton of Dixon were the two runners that made this race special pushing the pace from the start. Harlan led the pack through a swift 61.7 opening lap. Grafton was next followed by Gavin Genisio of Benton and Rogers. Harlan led at 800-meters at 2:07.8. There was a gap now between Rogers and fifth place Cherry of two seconds. Grafton took the lead at that point and the pace sped up again with a 64 second third lap.

 

You could see the determination in the eyes of Grafton as the bell sounded for the final lap of the race. Harlan and Genisio were holding onto this pace. Rogers looked like he had run a race earlier in the meet. How was he going to get around the track one more time?

 

The action picked up on the back stretch as Genisio claimed the lead. Rogers moved too passing both Harlan and then Grafton. In almost the same spot that he made his move to win the 3200 Meter Run, Rogers made that move again this time more dramatic. It felt like a sonic boom as Rogers’ pace extremely increased making the runners behind him look like they were walking.

 

This finishing kick by Rogers was from the heart. He closed in 59.1 seconds. His final 200 meters was faster than the earlier race. Rogers crossed the line in 4:13.26 with a new Class 2A record by more than a second. Grafton edged by Genisio in his final strides to place second (4:17.40) while the freshman from Benton finished third (4:17.49) collapsing afterwards in complete exhaustion. Harlan finished fourth (4:18.22).

 

“These races today were not about times today but championships,” Rogers said after his race. “Next year will be more about records.”

 

Thrills and bravery

 

One of the most anticipated matchups in the 2A Meet was to be CJ Shoaf of Mahomet-Seymour and Devonte Ford of East St. Louis-Senior as they would be challenging for wins in three events.

 

Shoaf in the field events portion of the meet won a state title in the High Jump braving the Sahara-like conditions to get the win in the process. Shoaf came into the competition at 6-5.25 which was earlier than expected. Athletes were missing the heights and the number of remaining jumpers were beginning to dwindle. Shoaf easily cleared on his first attempt winning the event a s the remaining two jumpers left exhausted their limit of attempts.

 

Shoaf wanted a 7-0 clearance in this meet but on this day that was not going to happen. He cleared 6-9.5 on his second attempt. He missed on all three attempts at 7-0.25. “It just was not going to happen today,” Shoaf said after the event. “The heat was intense. The winds were swirling there causing some problems with my steps.”

 

The final section of the 110 High Hurdles had Ford in Lane 5 with Shoaf two lanes over in Lane 7. In the middle of the two was Kevyere Mack of Peoria Richwoods. Ford and Mack got off to great starts with Shoaf a step behind. Shoaf made up the difference by the seventh hurdle. The three athletes crossed the line together in a photo finish. All eyes looked to the board and then names started to flash up. Ford and Shoaf finished first and second given the same time of 14.07 seconds. Mack was an eyelash behind running 14.08 for third. It was one of the closest finishes in state meet history. The closeness of finish between Ford and Shoaf was showed that they were separated by one thousandth of a second (14.065 – 14.066).

 

The 300 Meter Hurdles faced the two athletes against each other again. Ford looked to be in rare form as he entered the turn having made up the stagger on his competition outside of him. Then on the hurdle in the middle of the curve, Ford clipped that hurdle and crashed to the track with the rest of the field leaving him.

 

Ford did not hesitate getting right back up and chasing after the pack. His race was not over yet. Mack got the state title in the race running 38.20. Townsend Barton of Carterville finished second (38.54) ahead of Shoaf (38.79). Ford pushed himself to finish seventh overall (39.70) to get his team three points. It was not his fastest race of the year. It was surely his most courageous.

 

The two athletes were in the 200 Meter Dash but in separate sections. Shoaf ran 23.33 to finish 18th overall. Ford held on to finish fourth in his section, fifth overall. Jeremiah Hamilton of Urbana ran 21.67 to claim the state title ahead of Tolono Unity’s Kyle Burgoni (21.79).

 

There would be some people that would opt out of the 4x400m Relay after running the 200 Meter Dash. Ford would not let his teammates down even with the day he was experiencing. East St. Louis-Senior was in contention to win that relay when he got the baton for the anchor leg. Three other teams were with him and passed him on the back straight. Ford responded entering the final curve trying to pass those runners back.

 

It did not happen. The senior runner Ford did not have anything left in his body to make that move. He never gave up  willing his legs to the finish line and crossing the line and immediately crashing down in the infield completely exhausted.

 

East St. Louis-Senior did not score points in that relay but finished in a tie for third place in the team standings. Ford did not win a medal in that race. He did win the admiration of every fan in the stands at O’Brien Field that witnessed his bravery in not quitting regardless of the odds.

 

Eureka’s Finish

 

Eureka was not among the top three teams heading to the 4x400m Relay. They were the top seeded team from the sectionals. What we found out from Friday’s meet was that no seed or place was guaranteed.

 

Micah Senior and Aden Sears are the straw that stirs Eureka’s drink of team chemistry.

 

Senior did not have the field event performance that he wanted in the Long Jump failing to get team points in the event. Sears finished fifth in the High Jump, eight in the Long Jump. The two athletes had time to recover for the 400 Meter Dash. The two teammates were the top two seeds in that event. “All we were thinking is that it did not matter who won that race,” Senior said. “It mattered that a runner from Eureka crossed the line first.”

 

Coming into the final 100-meters of the final section of the 400 Meter Dash, Senior had the advantage on the rest of the field. “I saw someone coming up on the outside of me and thought it as someone from another team,” reflected Senior. “I forgot that Aden was on my outside. I tired to overstride to keep the lead and I stumbled.”

 

Senior’s stride hesitated on that stumbled 10 meters from the finish. Sears figuratively picked up capturing the win (49.29) ahead of Zac Schmidt of Burlington Central (49.42) and Jackson Gilbert of Urbana (49.63). Senior some how found his way across the line in fourth (49.67).

 

Two doors had closed for Senior in this met in a way. One door was about to be pushed wide open when the final race of the day started. Carson Lehman and Sears got Eureka to the lead in the first tow legs of the race. Tyler Heffren held his position and was even with East St. Louis-Senior when he handed the baton to Senior.

 

The Eureka anchor man took care of the rest. No thoughts what had happened earlier in the meet. He just got the baton around the track and in the lead as he got closer to the finish line. He raised his hands in victory and immediately looked for his teammates to share in the moment.

 

This was not about individual success for this runner. It was for this team. It was a family moment and that memory of never leaving the members of this team especially for Sears and Senior.

 

41 Years…

 

Mascoutah knew that they had secured their first state championship in 41 years when they finished third in the 4x400m Relay. As Mascoutah’s team gathered to go and get their state championship trophy, there stood alone Barry Evans in thought and prayer with tears of joy streaming down his face.

 

Evans played a big part of the success of this team all season with his achievements in the Shot Put and the Discus. He gave his team his all on this day finishing second in the Shot Put and then winning the Discus. Evans was the final thrower in his flight of the Discus. His best throw of 176-8 came in the first round sealing the door on the rest of the competition. His closest competitor was Jackson Grant of Carbondale throwing 162-1 to finish second.

 

“It did not hit me that I was the state champion in the Discus when I stepped in for my final throw,” Evans said afterwards. “I was not worried about the Discus. I was worried about the team. That was bigger than me at that moment.”

 

Evans supplied 18 of Mascoutah’s 51 points. 30 of the team’s points came in relay events with their 4x800m Relay team finishing an improbable eighth in that race, second in the 4x100m Relay, and third in both the 4x200m Relay and 4x400m Relay. Jordan Eddy scored the only other individual points for the Indians finishing eighth in the 800 Meter Run.

 

Track Highlights

 

Mascoutah was placed in the first section of the 4x800m Relay due to their sectional time. They did have the fifth fastest time in Class 2A entering this meet. They ran a season’s best 8:07.99 for the section win and then had to wait to see what happened in Section 2. Sycamore had a three second lead on St. Viator and Mahomet-Seymour when Caden Emmert got the baton. Emmert held off St. Viator’s Lucas Doland for the race win in their section. More so, their winning time of 8:07.67 was just three tenths of a second ahead of the time of Mascoutah.

 

The season’s work on handoffs paid off big for Urbana in the 4x100m Relay. The quartet of Daniel Mboyo, Jeremiah Hamilton, Cedric Sabin, and Jackson Gilbert brought the baton home first in a school record of 42.11 ahead of Mascoutah (42.71), East St. Louis-Senior (42.78), and Rockford Christian (42.81). The win helped Urbana secure a trophy for the first time since 1894.

 

Kyle Burgoni of Tolono Unity got a fast start to easily win the 100 Meter Dash in 10.72 seconds. Christian Keyhea of Mt. Zion (10.91) and Michael Marrs of Sandwich (10.95) finished second and third.

 

Dixon’s Brock Drengenberg held the lead in the 800 Meter Run going through 400-meters in 58.6. The pace picked up on the second lap with Drengenberg still holding on to the lead. He held off a charge from Chicago University’s Nicky Edwards-Levin to secure the win in the event (1:54.69). Edwards-Levin ran a school record of 1:55.29 to finish second. Wilson Georges of Bartonville Limestone finished third (1:56.60).

 

Kankakee shocked the crowd in winning the 4x200m Relay out of Lane 1 in the final section of the event. Their anchor Jyaire Hill took the lead in the final 25-meters to give Kankakee the win (1:28.88) ahead of East St. Louis-Senior (1:29.02), Mascoutah (1:30.15), and Rockford Christian (1:30.24).

 

Field Event Highlights

 

The highlight of the afternoon field events was the perseverance of the athletes that survived it and the fans that watched it.

 

The best event of the afternoon was the Pole Vault that lasted close to three hours. Meet favorite Colton Naffziger of Normal University was down to his final attempt of the meet at 16-0.25. Malaki Schaad of Geneseo was having a career meet clearing on his third attempt at 15-3.75 and then again on his third attempt at the 16-0.25 height. The pressure was on Naffziger, but he responded clearing the height by almost a foot.

 

The bar was raised to 16-3 where Naffziger put the pressure on Schaad clearing on his second attempt. Schaad went out on that height giving the Texas Tech bound Naffziger the win.

 

Daniel Mboyo of Urbana put suspense in the Long Jump. His final attempt of 22-10.75 gave him the state championship in the event ahead of Jayden McCulskie-Green of Sandwich (22-9) and Darcis Bitangalo of Rockford Boylan (22-6.25).

 

McCulskie-Green was the same way in the Triple Jump. The fourth round of jumps produced five of the six performances in the meet. The Sandwich senior jumped a wind-aided 47-9.75 to win the state championship on his final attempt. He had the lead from his first jump of 45-10. Billy Braid of Herrin (45-3) finished second with Nicholas DeLoach of Cahokia jumping 44-4.25 to finish third.

 

We had mentioned earlier that Barry Evans won the Discus. Jake Borman of Burlington Central was standing in third in the Shot Put with his first-round attempt of 53-0. He fouled on his next two tries. His final attempt, he had a put of 54-7.25 to give him the state championship. Evans responded on his final try with a 54-1.25 put to give him second. JehChys Brown of Centralia had a 53-3.5 best to finish third.

 

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