Cowden-Herrick, Salt Fork tie for 1A State Team Title

Photo: Kieran Subra reacts to Ryan Hardiman falling just before the finish of the 3200 (Photo Courtesy of Mike Baxter, Edwardsville)

Mojonnier repeats as 800m champion; Phillips sweeps dashes for 2nd year in a row;  1A Relays fly

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Charleston, Ill – All that Cowden-Herrick could do after Jadon Robertson finished second in the 300 Meter Hurdles was wait for the final three events to be contested and scored. Robertson and Daniel Lucas could do all they could do. After all, this two-man juggernaut had just scored 44 points in the IHSA 1A State Meet Saturday afternoon. A third-place finish in the 200 Meter Dash by Nathan Kirby gave Salt Fork  seven points and a tie for the state title also with 44 points.

Pleasant Plains earned their first team trophy for their program scoring 37 points to finish third. Winnebago (33.5 points) and Rockford Christian (33 points) rounded out the team top five.

Robertson was attempting to win four events on Saturday. There was a little pressure in attempting such a thing. “I did not sleep good last night thinking about the pressure,” Robertson said. “We knew everyone would be watching us.”

Lucas had the lead after the prelims of the Shot Put on Saturday. His mark from prelims of 59-10.50 stood as he repeated as state champion in the event. Lucas also made the finals in the Discus where he finished 11th.              

Robertson’s busy day began alternating between attempts in the High Jump and the Long Jump. Luke Jelderks of Chicago Christian was second in the Long Jump entering Saturday. His opening round jumps in the finals of 22-7.25 gave him the lead and eventually the state title. Robertson fouled on two of his three final attempts in the finals. His only fair jump of 22-1.75 was not enough to overtake Jelderks.

The final three in the High Jump came down to Robertson, Mason Kooi of Springfield Lutheran, and Karson Lewsader of Georgetown-Ridge Farm who were the only three athletes left after clearing 6-6.25 and 6-7.50. Lewsader was eliminated at 6-8.75. Kooi took the lead at that height clearing on his first attempt. Robertson made the height on his second attempt. The bar was raised to 6-9.75 where Kooi put on the pressure clearing on his second attempt. Robertson missing on his final time giving Kooi the state title.

Robertson’s lone state title of the day came in the 110 High Hurdles. Robertson got off to a good start but so did Jackson Kern of Auburn and Daryl Okeke of Judah Christian. Robertson pulled away on the sixth hurdle to capture back to back state titles running 14.36. Kern (14.52) and Okeke (14.98) finished second and third.

The three athletes were ahead of the rest of the field in the 300 Meter Hurdles finals. Robertson appeared to have the advantage with Kern on his side approaching the final hurdle. Robertson clipped the hurdle stumbling after landing. Kern captured the title (38.14) with Robertson a close second.

Salt Fork’s Garrett Taylor earned 17 of his teams 44 points in the two weigh events. Taylor improved to 55-3 in the finals of the Shot Put to finish third. Taylor was in fifth-place after the prelims in the Discus. He fought back in the finals with a 180-10 winning throw in the second round to surpass Jacob Rollins of Auburn (170-7) for the state title.

Dylan Diaz helped Salt Fork by finishing sixth in the Triple Jump (43-0.50). Mason Kooi came back after winning the High Jump with an opening 44-1.25 leap to win the Triple Jump for his second state title.

Kirby’s third-place finish in the 200 Meter Dash was one of three all-state performances on the track. Salt Fork got great passes in the 4x100m Relay but was running against a peaking Winnebago squad. A strong anchor by Michael Cunningham gave Bago the win (42.92) ahead of Salt Fork (43.26), St. Teresa (43.39), and Pleasant Plains (43.72). Winnebago was too much in the 4x200m Relay winning their second state title (1:28.48) with Salt Fork (1:30.38) almost two seconds behind. Lena-Winslow (1:31.22) edged North Mac (1:31.46), Dakota (1:31.57), and Pleasant Plains (1:31.62) for third-place.

Winnebago’s attempt for a third relay win of the afternoon was thwarted by Newton in the 4x400m Relay. Newton had the lead by almost two seconds going into the final leg of the relay. Newton needed a 49.47 split from Evan Schafer to hold off Winnebago for the state title (3:23.24). A 48.36 anchor by Cunningham was not enough but still gave Winnebago second (3:23.97). Rockford Christian (3:27.00) edged Morrison (3:23.97) for third.

Tony Phillips of Kankakee McNamara had to wait last year for the final section of the 100 and 200 in the 2021 finals before he discovered that he won. There was no waiting for Phillips as he defended his title in both events.

Tyreke Fortney of St Bede beat Phillips out of the blocks in the final of the 100 Meter Dash. Philips fought back and had to lead to edge Fortney to win the final. Phillips time of 10.70 was just five hundredths of a second ahead of Fortney (10.75). Camden Foesch of Dakota led the pack finishing third (11.06).It was the same type of race in the 200 Meter Dash. Fortney got off to a great start and had the lead coming off the final curve. Phillips caught Fortney in the final 30-meters and edged Fortney at the line to win by just a tenth of a second (22.05-22.15).

The 400m finals was a great race. Four hundredths of a second was the margin of victory by Zach Powell. The Pleasant Plains junior ran a state leading 49.24 to edge Max Allen of Arthur-Lovington (49.28). Bjorn Carlson of Rockford Christian (49.84) finished third.

It was a disappointing start of the meet in the High Jump. A mistake was discovered in the entries 45 minutes in the beginning of the event that had mistakenly had two athletes in the finals when they did not qualify for the finals. The results had been published by the IHSA Thursday afternoon. The IHSA had to tell the athletes that they could not compete. It’s not a good picture to paint on the organization that a mistake by them ended the season for the two young men even though it was not the athletes’ fault.

Ridge Willard of Bloomington Christian Cornerstone Academy defended his state title clearing 14-7.25 on his second attempt to claim the win. Vande Dransfeldt of Reed-Custer and Charlie Gentle of Maroa-Forsyth both cleared 14-3.25 to finish second and third.

The distance events in this meet failed to disappoint.

Rockford Christian had opened a three second lead at the end of the third leg of the 4x800m Reay. Aidan Sosnowski had to give everything he had in the final two laps of his leg because a hungry Thomas Harmon was coming. The Elmwood senior had moved up from fourth and was challenging for the win. Sosnowski held on to give Rockford Christian the win (8:04.34) just ahead of Elmwood (8:04.53), Harmon’s anchor was an amazing 1:53.05. He was almost five seconds behind Rockford Christian when he got the baton. Sosnowski’s split was a fast 1:57.53. Harvest Christian finished third (8:06.92) behind the 1:54.97 anchor leg by Daniel Winkelman. The junior would still run in the 800 and the 1600.

The 3200 Meter Run was drama filled especially for the final lap. Miles Sheppard of Warsaw pushed the pace from the start as the pack led by Sheppard went through the first 1600-meters in 4:36. Sheppard pushed the next two laps leaving Ryan Hardiman and Akili Parekh of Latin School and Kieran Subra of Lycee Francais de Chicago five seconds behind with two laps remaining.

Sheppard was feeling the effects of that move as he ran 73 second seventh lap. Hardiman and Subra started to close the gap on Sheppard passing the bell lap only separated by two seconds. Sheppard ran out of gas with 250-meters left as Hardiman and Subra passed him. The two runners were side by side with 100 meters left. With 20-meters left, Hardiman’s legs went out from under him, and he collapsed to the track as the fans let out a collective moan. Subra reacted in shock but still finished with the win (9:15.58). Hardiman willed himself to his feet and found strength to cross the line in second (9:22.57). He collapsed as soon as he crossed the line as Subra rushed to assist him. Sheppard finished in third (9:30.93) and also collapsed to the track. Tommy Murray of Riverdale (9:31.76) and Isaac Teel of Pinckneyville (9:34.85) finished fourth and fifth.

Eli Mojonnier of Bismarck-Henning had to wait to see in the 2021 finals if he was the state champion since he ran the second of three sections. This season, he did not have to wait. Mojonnier held the lead after the first lap with Beau Edwards of Arcola close to his side. Mojonnier had the lead with 150-meters left but he had runners charging after him. Julian Aske of Beacon Academy was close after the first lap but was making a charge. Harmon after his amazing 4x8 leg was also making a move with Ryan Frederickson of St. Thomas More. Mojonnier held on to his second state title (1:54.33) with Aske a close second (1:54.53). Harmon (1:54.77) and Hendrickson (1:55.06) finished third and fourth. Hendrickson’s warm up consisted of driving in two runs to help St. Thomas More win their Baseball Sectional. He plays outfield for the team.

There were so many runners in the 1600 Meter Run that were coming back from doubles and some triples. One of them was Isaac Teel of Pinckneyville who was disappointed after his fifth-place finish earlier in the 3200 Meter Run.

Teel led from start to finish with a convincing state title. Most of the pack stayed behind Teel at the start letting him go. Only Tommy Murray was willing to stay with the pace. Teel had company entering the final lap with Murray, Winkelman, and Bryson Grant of Iroquois West within a second of the lead. This was Winkelman’s third race of the day having finished sixth (1:56.12) in the 800 Meter Run. Teel’s resolve was to win this race and that showed in the final lap. Teel closed in a 59.1 final lap for the win (4:17.59). Winkelman found some kind of strength in the final lap running 60.33 to finish second (4:19.37). Murray (4:21.98) and Grant (4:23.34) finished third and fourth. Kieran Subra led the pack finishing fifth (4:26.23) just ahead of Ryan Hardiman (4:26.67).