Preview: 6 IHSA Class 1A Boys Sectional Distance Meets to Watch

By Michael Newman

There are so many storylines in each of the 14 Class 1A Sectionals to watch for. We will dig deeper in those events in next week’s state meet previews. Instead, we narrow it down to six sectionals where there are some interesting races that could come about in the distance events. Here are the six sectionals in this classification to keep an eye on. Sectionals are listed in alphabetical order.

State Qualifying Standards: 800 – 2:01.53 | 1600 – 4:37.35 | 3200 – 10:12.64 | 4x8 – 8:33.28

El Paso-Gridley: 5/21 – The 3200 Meter Run in this sectional could advance up to five runners making it to the state meet. All five runners have performances under the state qualifying standards with four of those runners within 10 seconds of each other. Corbin Christopulos of Bloomington Cornerstone ran 9:53.30 indoors and is close to 10 seconds faster than the rest of the field. Keegan DeWalt of Gibson City leads the pack having run 10:02.13 (1A #20) at his conference meet. Caleb Krischel of Fieldcrest, Drew Cooper of El Paso-Gridley, and Jackson Ritchie of Tri Valley are not locks to qualify, but would not dismiss them from advancing. It could be different for qualifiers in the 1600 Meter Run. DeWall is the top seed having run 4:33.26 (1A #23) with Krischel close to the qualifying standard. Ritchie is close to qualifying and could make it in. El Paso-Gridley’s Weston Hodel and Israel Nowark could both make the Charleston trip qualifying on their home track. Krischel and DeWall are listed in all three distances events including the 800 Meter Run and might advance in this event. Krischel comes in with a best of 1:59.89 (1A #13). Kaden Nauman of Peru St. Bede could also advance. I’m guessing just two runners advance. Bloomington Central Catholic looks to be a lock to qualifying in the 4x800 Meter Relay along with El Paso-Gridley.

Kewanee (Wethersfield): 5/23 – A sectional that should see six runners advance in the 3200 Meter Run. Mika Nelson of Elmwood has a 9:37.05 time (1A #6) and should make it out of this sectional along Evan Knobloch of Stark County (1A #11) and Karson Shrum of Wethersfield (1A #17). Danny Shrum of Elmwood, and Illini Bluffs’ Fischer Dickinson and Peter Stoltz all have run under state qualifying and could make it to state. Another loaded event is the 1600 Meter Run. Darwin Herman of Elmwood ran 4:17.75 (1A #2) to win at the Morton Distance Gala and is the favorite in this race. There are four more runners that have run under the time standard including Strum (1A #16), Dax Ulm of Farmington (1A #20), Aiden Faulkner of Elmwood, and Knobloch. Eric Pincock of Illini Bluffs is within two seconds of time standard also could make the state trip. Reed Florey of Elmwood leads the field in the 800 Meter Run having a 1:59.87 time (1A #12). Ulm, Herman, and Chase Mudd of Illini West could possibly all punch their ticket to Charleston in this event. Elmwood has the second fastest time in Class 1A (8:08.05) and are favored to win the 4x800 Meter Relay. Illini Bluffs should advance out. A season’s best gets Illini West into the state race.

Mackinaw (Deer Creek-M.): 5/21 – Ross Kimme of Urbana University has the top seed time of 9:56.49 (1A #13) leading the 3200 Meter Run. He should qualify in this event along with Ryan Kuhn of Deer Creek-Mackinaw (1A #19). Phillip Lee of St. Thomas More is near the state meet qualifier time along Corie Green of Delavan. We could see both runners advance out of this sectional. Green’s best race could be the 800 Meter Run in which he won at Illinois Top Times in March. His time of 1:57.82 (1A #3) is three seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Ryne Norton of Maroa-Forsyth and Peter Duursma of Urbana University have good chances to get the other qualifying spot or make it in on time. Also watch for Everett Henderson of Tremont to get that qualifying time. Kimme and Green are two runners that should advance out of the 1600 Meter Run. Kimme has the top time at 4:29.80 (1A #14). Kuhn and Henderson are within three seconds of the time standard. None of the teams in the 4x800 Meter Relay has run under the 8:33.28 state time qualifier. Tremont and Deer Creek-Mackinaw look to be the top teams to make it to Charleston.

Oregon: 5/23 – Nicolai Martino of Winnebago ran the fastest time in Class 1A two weeks ago with a solo 9:00.96 and should win the 3200 Meter Run with ease. There is a 21 second gap after the top four seeds in this race including Luca Bryja of Harvest Christian Academy (1A #8), Julian Honeyville of Rockford Christian, and Kyle Enke of Rockford Lutheran. Good races from those three races get them on the EIU starting line. Three runners are locks to make it to Charleston in the 1600 Meter Run led by Martino who has a 1A leading time of 4:11.54. Andrew Kurien of Rockford Christian has a best of 4:21.55 (1A #4) with Bryja a best of 4:23.49 (1A #5) making this one of the best 1A races in the 14 sectionals. Blake Lindberg of Rockford Christian, Joseph Erb Jr. of Winnebago, and Enke all could also get one of those standard qualifying times. The field in the 800 Meter Run is strong with four runners with best times under two minutes. Evan White of Rockford Christian leads the field with a 1:57.64 (1A #2). Daniel Gonzalez of Oregon (1A #5) and Winnebago’s Daniel Hodgdon (1A #6) and Aiden Vazquez (1A #9) could all push each other to some fast times. Top Times Champion Rockford Christian along with Winnebago and Harvest Christian Academy have not put together their top quartets in the 4x800 Meter Relay. All three teams will make it to state maybe sub 8:10 in this race.

Pleasant Plains: 5/21 – A big thing in this sectional is Elijah Teefey of Pleasant Plains who is one of the top runners in the state is not entered in any of the distance events He is listed on the relay card in the 4x800 Meter Relay. There are no runners in the 3200 Meter Run in this sectional that are within the 10:12.64 state time standard. The closest runner to that time is Kade Parker of Petersburg PORTA who has a season’s best of 10:29.13. Michael Mitchell of Athens and Braedon Galloway of Pleasant Plains are within five seconds of Parker. We should just see two of these three runners advancing out. Parker is the top seed in the 1600 Meter Run and should make it out. His time is 17 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Ty Copeland of Pleasant Plains and Mitchell will lead a pack of several runners that could challenge for the second qualifying spot. Cole Payne (1A #7) and Garrett Beebe (1A #10) of Pleasant Plains are six seconds ahead of the field in the 800 Meter Run and should both advance. Pleasant Plains has the top 1A time in the state (8:03.94) run at Rochester with Teefey a part of the quartet. They should win this race. Jacksonville Routt has a seed time 32 seconds behind that of Pleasant Plains.

(Virden (North Mac): 5/21 – Class 1A State Cross-Country champion from last fall Chaz Oberkfell of Gillespie will be the class of this sectional as the favorite in both the 3200 Meter Run and 1600 Meter Run. Oberkfell is entered in all four distance events. Gillespie has the second fastest time in the 3200 Meter Run in Class 1A (9:17.62) by almost ahead of Lane Hubbard of Pleasant Hill is just ahead of the rest of the field 11 seconds ahead of Thor Springman of Piasa Southwestern. Oberkfell has a time of 4:25.45 (1A #7) which is 20 seconds ahead of John Shank from Metro-East Lutheran and Springman in the 1600 Meter Run. Only two runners should qualify. Father McGivney’s Liam Schmidt and Will Rakers are the top two seeds in the 800 Meter Run. Schmidt enters this meet with a 2:00.13 (1A #16). Oberkfell has a 2:02.94 time that might get him to qualify in that event. Father McGivney, Gillespie, and Metro-East Lutheran could make it out of this sectional in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Carlinville is within seven seconds of the time standard and could be the fourth team to advance out of this meet.