Hogan’s mile in Louisville tops for this weekend

Photo: Ethan Hogan at last fall’s 1A State XC Meet (Kevin Dorsey Photo Credit)

By Michael Newman

We got an inkling that Ethan Hogan of Columbia was ready to take the next step up in distance hierarchy in Illinois during last fall’s cross country season when he finished either first or second in 9 of the 12 races that he competed in. Last fall culminated with a sixth place finish in a muddy state meet in the 1A race at Detweiller Park.

The 2022 cross-country season is a prelude on what this junior could do in the next couple of months. That started on Saturday at the Louisville Indoor Games when Hogan second in the Boys 1 Mile Run behind the win from Ethan Thompson of Brentwood Academy TN.

The two juniors were shoulder to shoulder coming to the finish line with Thompson winning with a 4:15.67 winning time. Hogan was just  six hundredth of a second behind running a huge personal best of 4:15.73. It is the fastest 1 Mile Run time in the state this early in the season.

His previous personal best was when he ran 4:31.63 last May at the 2A Mascoutah Sectional. He followed that up by earning all-state honors in the 2A State Meet in the 3200 Meter Run finishing ninth.

An indication that Hogan knew what kind of shape he was in came from his seed time of 4:21 that he used to get into the final of the 10 sections in that event. His personal best in the 3200 Meter Run is 9:43.48. This Louisville mile will set him up for what should be a great junior track season.

Tatum David’s record setting mile at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday was the top performance this past weekend. You can read more about that race here in Illinois Distance Digest.

This was the first weekend of meets of the IHSA Track season. Here is a look at some of the top performances from Illinois athletes and teams from the past weekend.

York Boys Quad Opener (Race Videos) – The fast track in the Joe Newton Fieldhouse produced some fast performances especially this early in the season. One of the top performances in this quad meet was in the 4x200m Relay. You normally see times this early in the season in this event between 1:33 to 1:34. For York’s quartet, they took that time down a little bit more.

The quartet of Payton Noble, Joey Valeski, Luke Mallander, and Cash Langley used great handoffs to run a state leading 1:31.57 for a win by almost five seconds ahead of Bolingbrook (1:36.51).

Valeski had a big opening meet winning two more events. The senior ran 35.59 (IL #4) to win the 300 Meter Dash with his teammate Payton Noble finishing second (36.56). Valeski came back at the end of the meet to run 23.11 to win the 200 Meter Dash.

The distance races took up most of the spotlight in this meet. Samuel Barnard of Naperville Central did most of the lead work in the 800 Meter Run until teammate Foster Shelbert edged by him at the finish. Three runners were under two-minutes in this race with Shelbert running 1:56.83 for the win, Barnard finishing second (1:57.14), and York’s Aidan Hill running 1:58.23 to finish third. Shelbert came back to push it in the 600 Meter Run splitting 27, 54 on his way to running 1:24.85 to win.

Carter Smott of Downers Grove South ran a 20 second personal best to win the 3200 Meter Run (9:39.24) by four seconds ahead of Lucas De La Cruz of Naperville Central (9:43.50). Samuel Barnard came back after running the 800 to compete in the 1600 Meter Run. Barnard took the lead 400-meters into the race. He held that position until the final 100-meters before Josh Poeschel of Downers Grove South took command running 4:35.15 for the win. Barnard ran a good double of 4:36.97 to finish second. Danny O’Shaughnessy of York ran 4:38.63 to finish third.

Jerry Lowe Invitational at Rockford Auburn – Trey Sato of Grayslake Central had perhaps the top performance in this meet. Sato, who ran 4:20 for the mile two weeks ago in Chicago, torched the field in the 800 Meter Run with a winning 1:56.71 time by over three seconds ahead of Kody Danko of Streator (2:00.18). Weston Forward of Rockford Christian ran 4:34.11 in winning the 1600 Meter Run ahead of Braden Eckman of Lake Zurich (4:36.65) and Danko (4:39.68).

Bjorn Carlson of Rockford Christian ran 52.32 to win the 400 Meter Dash by more than a second. Carlson finished second in the 200 Meter Dash (23.70) behind race winner Supreme Muhammad of Winnebago (23.35).

Dr. Conrad Worrill Invitational at Gately Park, Chicago – Jayon Morrow of Kankakee had a big opening meet on the banked curves of this facility. The junior ran 49.67 to win the 400 Meter Dash with Sidney Morris of Kenwood Academy placing second (50.59). Morrow also dominated the 200 Meter Dash running 22.01 for the win by almost a second ahead of Demastanis Nikopoulos of Lane Tech (23.01)

Javaris Ambrose of Thornton opened his season with a best of 53-10 to win the Shot Put. Grayden Rill of Fenwick was in control in the 1600 Meter Run. Rill ran a time of 4:24.24 for the win with Charlie Richardson of DePaul College Prep (4:29.10), Dalton Lowery of Whitney Young (4:29.97), and Mac Kittrell of DePaul College Prep (4:30.08) finishing second through fourth. Landan Gillespie of Kenwood Academy ran 1:59.47 in winning the 800 Meter Run. Will Kozlowski of Lane Tech finished second (2:00.88).

Kenwood Academy’s performance in the 4x200 Meter Relay was one of the top performances in the Girls side of the meet. Their time of 1:41.51 is currently 12th nationally indoors was six seconds ahead of second-place Simeon (1:47.56).

Naomi Bey-Osborne of Kankakee had a good double win in the sprints. The sophomore ran 58.75 in winning the 400 Meter Dash by more than two seconds. She came back to run 25.30 in winning the 200 Meter Dash with Jaliyah Shepherd of Kenwood Academy finishing second (25.68).

Mia Kotler of Latin School ran 5:06.72 to win the 1600 Meter Run by more than 20 seconds ahead of Olivia Ide of Lane Tech (5:27.13) and Jade Lavallee of Whitney Young (5:27.99).

Proviso West Boys Meet #1 – Oak Park-River Forest turned in some good performances to start the season. Joshua Meister cleared a best of 14-8 to win the Pole Vault. Kaden Garland had a personal best of 55-9.25 to win the Shot Put. Liam Newhart ran an indoor personal best of 2:00.94 to win the 800 Meter Run.

Tervous Graves of Proviso West edged Caleb Schulz of Oak Park-River Forest to win the 55 Meter Dash. Both runners were timed at 6.70. Oak Park-River Forest dominated the 4x200 Meter Relay with a 1:33.72 winning time.