Illinois HS Track & Field - Athletes to Watch in Class 1A Boys for the 2023 Season

By Michael Newman

This classification opened up a little more at the beginning of this school year when four-time sprint state champion Tony Phillips transferred from McNamara High School crosstown to Kankakee High School.

Six state champions are back from the 2022 season. The spotlight should be on two-time defending state champion Mason Kooi of Springfield Lutheran.

Isaac Teel of Pinckneyville is the lone state champion from the distance events. You can read about the Class 1A Boys Distance runners in Illinois Distance Digest.

Here are some of the top athletes to watch for this upcoming season.

Athletes are listed below in alphabetical order

Chris Boyd (SR) – Tuscola – The top returning athletes in the Shot Put. Boyd had a 57-11.25 put in the finals to finish second overall in last year’s state meet. His best performance during the season was 60-1.25. Boyd is one of three Illinois athletes in this event that are ranked among the top 20 returners. He also qualified for state in the Discus. He did not have his best preliminary round finishing 16th failing to make the finals. His best mark last year is one of the best throwing 170-6. Boyd could achieve the weight man double when he gets to May. He could have a chip on his shoulder after failing to make the Discus finals.

Nathan Kirby (SR) – Catlin Salt Fork  - One of two athletes from Salt Fork in this preview. Kirby could take the next step up in his senior season. He is the top returning runner in the 200 Meter Dash after finishing third in last year’s state finals. Kirby had one of the top times in Class 1A in the 110 High Hurdles having run 14.63 during the season. He made the finals but a knockdown third hurdle in the finals ended his chance of winning the state championship in the event. He was part of the reason why Salt Fork tied for the 1A state title anchoring his team to second-place finishes in both the 4x100m Relay and 4x200m Relay. Kirby finished third in 2021 in the 110 High Hurdles. He has been all-state six times including four medals in relay events.

Jackson Kern (SR) – Auburn – Kern will have his hands full in both hurdle events even with multi state champion Jadon Robertson having graduated. His 300 Hurdles race in last year’s state meet was one for the ages as he snuck by Robertson on the final hurdle to claim the state title by 16 hundredth of a second with a 38.14 personal best. Kern earlier ran another personal best (14.52) to finish second in the 110 High Hurdles. He was all-state as a sophomore in 2021 placing sixth in the 110 High and fourth in the 300 Hurdles. His chances of winning both hurdle races should be good this spring.

Mason Kooi (SR) – Springfield Lutheran – If there was one athlete that was the surprise of last year’s state meet, it was this senior from Springfield. Kooi did not compete in the High Jump hjs sophomore year. He was all-state in the Triple Jump finishing seventh. He took the High Jump world by storm last spring jumping a state leading 6-10 to win the 1A title. He has the top performance in the state heading into this season. He is also among 20 athletes in the nation coming back that cleared that height. Kooi also won the Triple Jump with a 44-1.25 mark. He went past 44-feet last year with 44-6.5 his best. A 46-foot jump should be in his future. He is among the 10 best athletes in the state coming back. He also jumped 21-feet last year in the Long Jump. We may see him doing things in that event as we get closer to May.

Zach Powell (SR) – Pleasant Plains – The 6-5 star player on Pleasant Plains’ basketball team and one of the top seven runners on the Cardinals state qualifying cross-country team also is the defending state champion in the 1A 400 Meter Dash. Powell’s times in the event dropped at the end of last season running under 51-seconds three times until state when he ran 49.50 in the prelims and 4.24 to win the state title. The senior was part of the all-state team that finished fifth in the 4x400m Relay. He also ran on the 4x800m Relay that missed qualifying for the state finals. Powell also cleared 6-3 in the High Jump last year. Ww could see this multi-talented athlete also compete in that event.

Garrett Taylor (SR) – Catlin Salt Fork – Taylor’s exploits in the two weight events is a reason why Salt Fork tied for a state championship last spring and should be the team favorite when we get to Charleston and the IHSA State Meet. He again will be one of the top Class 1A athletes in the two weight events. Taylor is the two-time defending champion in the Discus with a 180-10 personal best throw giving him the win last year. He will be in contention for the win in the Shot Put with 55-3 put to give him third. His personal best from last year is 56-6. He finished sixth in the Shot Put as a sophomore in 2021.