James goes in the final mile to capture an elusive 1A Boys state title

Rogers finishes second; Latin School wins tight and emotional team title.

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Peoria, Ill – Cool conditions covered by a sun filled cloudless sky set up great racing condition of the three Boys races Saturday at Peoria’s Detweiller Park.

A state championship that seemed to elude Ryder James of Paxton-Buckley-Loda during his high school career came into his possession as a strong move in the last mile to win the 1A Boys individual championship running a fast 14:16. Drew Rogers of Herscher ran 14:29 to finish second.

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Rogers won two state titles on the track last June. He won an IHSA title when this meet was last held in 2019. The IHSA Meet was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was one of the toughest individual fields of the six races on this day. Rogers, James, Miles Sheppard of Hamilton-West Hancock,  Gavin Genisio of Benton, and Daniel Winkelman of Harvest Christian Academy were all together at the mile as the group passed in 4:42.

Minor surges were made in the triangle portion of the course but none of that group broke away. James made a move just before 3-miles that opened the pack wide-open as James burst to the lead. Shepard and Rogers were together 5-meters behind James as he passed two-miles in 9:36. Genisio and Winkleman had dropped back 20-meters from the front.

What was not known by most people around the course was that Rogers had injured his foot at the Naperville Twilight Invitational on October 6. He did not use that as an excuse finishing second behind his longtime friend.

“I thought it would get better, but it did not. Trying to do speed work or workouts on the track made it hurt more,” Rogers said. “I rested the last two weeks. I really wanted to run today. The best thing of today is that Ruder won and that we went 1-2.”

It was ironic that both runners have made verbal commitments to the University of Missouri next fall. They will be able to run together this time in the same jersey. This day in November belonged to James.

“It’s a beautiful moment. Every day since sixth grade I have envisioned this moment. Now I get to live it out,” an emotional James said after his win. “I came up to 400 to go and heard it is all yours. I did not want to believe that. We (Rogers) wanted to go 1-2. We have been thinking about that our freshmen year. It was going to eventually happen. It just happened today.”

Sheppard ran a personal best of 14:31 to finish third. Winkelman ran 14:42 to finish fourth. Issac Teel of Pinckneyville passed Genisio to run 14:45 to finish fifth. Genisio ran 14:46 to place sixth.

Latin School used the power from their top three runners and strong finishes from their fourth and fifth runners gave them the edge to win the first state title for the Boys program with 165 points. Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond was close as they scored 172 points to finish second.

The inspiration of the day was a heroic finish from the team’s fourth runner Daniel Goodman. Latin School already had three all-state runners that had crossed the line with Ryan Hardiman in 8th, Akili Parekh in 10th, and Ben Gibson in 20th. Some had said that this team could not win a state title with the gap between the group and the fourth and fifth runners was too big earlier in the year. The Romans changed the narrative in this meet.

“I read something before today saying that we could not win because our 4-5 was too far behind,” Goodman said. “I wanted to prove them wrong.”

Goodman approached the finish line having given everything that he had. He had overexerted himself so much that he collapsed 10-meters away the finish. His coaches on the sidelined yelled at him to get up. He got up and threw himself over the line finishing 97th. Their fifth runner was Jackson Ballard finishing 106th. Goodman willing himself across the finish line secured the state title for his team.

Latin School ran a 94 second split on their top five runners. Their splits the two previous weeks were 95 seconds and 91 seconds. They proved their doubters wrong.

Arthur-Lovington had Logan Beckmier as their lone all-state runner as he finished (13th). Jace Green (28th), Jacob Adcock (45th), and Lyle Adcock (47th) were the team’s second through four runners. Jacob Duzan was the team’s fifth runner as he finished in 123rd. The Knights’ split of 83 seconds was their best of this season.

DePaul College Prep concluded a great season by coming home with a trophy finishing third with 186 points. Mac Kittrell (16th) and Charlie Richardson (25th) led the Rams earning all-state honors. Owen Flom (67th), Bryan Malkowski (78th), and William Beebe (95th) rounded out the team’s top five scorers.

Normal University finished fourth with 193 points led by the 29th place finish from Brandt Henderson. Rockford Christian finished fifth (217 points) led by all-state performances from Ethan Walsh (14th) and Weston Forward (19th).