Illinois High School Track & Field Weekend Highlights - March 12, 2024

By Michael Newman

Most of the focus this weekend were on the two national meets on the East Coast as well as Batavia Distance Madness that took place on Friday evening. The meets that took place in Illinois on Friday and Saturday had some significance on the rankings and who will head down to Bloomington for Illinois Top Times in two weeks.

Here is a look at some of the meets that took place on Saturday.

Central Illinois High Performance Meet – It was not expected. At the same time, it was not a surprise that Isabella Keller of Effingham St. Anthony ran what she did in the 3200 Meter Run especially after running 4:51 for 1600-meters the week before at Eastern Illinois University and what she did to end last fall. The freshman lapped most of the field to run a state leading 10:19.76 for the win. Katie Foltz of Tuscola ran a great race with a 11:10.29 time (IL #14) to finish second. Those top two times are now the fastest in Class 1A.

The top three times in Class 1A came in the 3200 Meter Run. Jackson Barrett of Tuscola pulled away to run 9:29.47 for the win ahead of Elijah Teefey of Pleasant Plains (9:36.05) and Evan Cook of Decatur St. Teresa. Josiah Hortin of Tuscola ran 4:19.37 (IL #9) to win the 1600 Meter Run. Carson Maroon of St. Joseph-Ogden (4:22.30) and Teefey (4:31.67) finished second and third. Keegan Sunde of Liberty won both the 60 Meter Dash (7.10) and 200 Meter Dash (23.26).

Lia Patterson of Tuscola was a multiple event winner in this meet. Patterson ran 9.23 (IL #11 Tie) to win the 60 Meter Hurdles. She won by close to two seconds in the 200 Meter Dash with a 26.13 indoor personal best.  Her teammate Rylie Vanausdoll had a 16-7.5 best to win the Long Jump.

Jersey Winter Thaw @ Principia College – The 1600 Meter Run was close in this meet. Max Weber of Bethalto Civic Memorial ran 4:35.51 to win the race by four hundredths of a second ahead of Chaz Oberkfell of Gillespie (4:35.55). Kyle Kern of Waterloo crushed the competition in the 3200 Meter Run. Kern ran a personal best of 9:36.88 for the win by 42 seconds ahead of Evan Schlichting of Freeburg (10:18.98). Bethalto Civic Memorial ran 8:20.02 to edge Mascoutah (8:20.73) to win the 4x800 Meter Relay. Mascoutah rolled to wins in the 4x200 Meter Relay (1:33.65) and 3:36.83 in the 4x400 Meter Relay. Matt Pluff of Freeburg cleared 6-6.75 (IL #7 tie) to win the High Jump.

Alaina Lester of Belleville Althoff Catholic was a double winner. Lester ran 7.85 to win the 60 Meter Dash ahead of Lily Gilbertson of Father McGivney (8.05). It was the same order in the 400 Meter Dash as Lester ran 59.41 (IL #15) ahead of Gilbertson’s 59.42 (IL #16). Lucy Klumpp of Granite City edged the two runners in the 200 Meter Dash. Klumpp ran 25.71 for the win ahead of Lester (26.15) and Gilbertson (26.27). Brooke Zeibert of Rochester won the 800 Meter Run (2:22.83) ahead of Kaitlyn Hatley of Father McGivney (2:28.81).

MTZ Apollo+ Invitational – A week after being part of Lincoln’s winning team in the Class 3A Girls Championship, Becca Heitzig took to the track for her final high school season. Heitzig ran her first race under control with a 2:17.11 time (IL #6) to win the 800 Meter Run ahead of Jessica Larsen of Effingham (2:21.68) and Mackenzi Thomas of Richland County (2:22.16).

Bob Nihells Indoor Classic @ North Central College – DeKalb’s Braylen Anderson was a double winner in the sprints. Anderson ran 6.67 to win the 55 Meter Dash. 5 runners in the race were under 6.76 seconds led by Jalyn McDonald of Homewood-Flossmoor (6.71). Anderson came back to run 22.59 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Jacob Barraza of DeKalb came back from racing the night before at Batavia Distance Madness to win the 800 Meter Run (1:58.86). He won by over nine seconds. Jaiden Gary of Proviso East continues to improve in the Shot Put achieving a state leading put of 61-5.75 to win the event. Vince Davero of Downers Grove North swept both horizontal jumps events in this meet. Davero jumped an indoor personal best of 23-1.25 (IL #2) to win the Long Jump. Davero jumped 47-1.75 to win the triple Jump.

Hononegah Boys Indoor Classic – (AAA): The afternoon session of this meet stood out with some top performances. All-state runner Evan Parker of Niles North ran 9:34.78 to win the 3200 Meter Run ahead of Elgin’s Cole Tupper (9:39.87). Jesse Kramer of Belvidere North ran 4:28.31 to edge Tupper (4:28.86) in the 1600 Meter Run. Austin McInturff of Waubonsie Valley ran 1:25.08 (IL #6) to win the 600 Meter Run by three seconds. McInturff’s teammate  Zach Self ran 2:01.85 in winning the 800 Meter Run. TJ Girzadas of Marist cleared a personal best of 15-8 (IL #8) to win the Pole Vault.

(A—AA): Prairie Ridge swept the top two spots in the 1600 Meter Run. Will Gelon ran 4:29.14 to win the race ahead of teammate Gerrit Dam (4:33.84). Earlier in the meet, the Wolves ran 8:20.60 to win the 4x800 Meter Relay.

Huntley Girls Invitational #2 – Dominique Johnson dominated in the horizontal jumps on her home runway. Johnson jumped 18-4.75 to win the Long Jump ahead of Prospect’s Charlotte Deines (18-0.25). Johnson came back to jump 40-3.75 to win the Triple Jump. Johnson was part of her team’s quartet that ran 1:44.00 (IL #5) to win the 4x200 Meter Relay. Riley Betz of Lake Zurich won the 60 Meter Dash (7.76, IL #9).  Charlotte Deines of Prospect ran 25.23 (IL #9) to win the 200 Meter Dash. Kate Roche of Sandburg ran 2:19.57 to win the 800 Meter Run finishing ahead of Mia Menendez of Fenwick (2:22.15) and Nicole Poglitsch of Wheaton-Warrenville South (2:22.63).

York Boys Open #3 – This meet inside the Joe Newton Fieldhouse was mainly a lower level meet. There were a couple of state worthy performances that took a stranglehold on this meet. Brady Golomb of York had the lead in the first 50-meters of the race and never looked back. He passed 400-meters in 62 seconds, 800-meters in 2:06, and 1200-meters in 3:11. The senior charged home to run 4:15.22 for the win. His time missed the fieldhouse record of York great Jack Driggs by eight hundredth of a second (4:15.14). Neuqua Valley’s Zac Close (4:25.04) and Robert Glenn (4:25.35) finished second and third. Nick Pennington of Neuqua Valley cleared a personal best and school record of 15-10 (IL #3) to win the Pole Vault.