Preview: 6 IHSA Class 2A Boys Sectional Distance Meets to Watch

By Michael Newman

There are so many storylines in each of the 11 Class 2A 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 – 2:00.71 | 1600 – 4:32.20 | 3200 – 9:57.04 | 4x8 – 8:20.60

Bethalto (Civic Memorial): 5/21 – There could be five maybe six runners that advance out of the 3200 Meter Run. Liam Bettis of Taylorville ran 9:14.98 (2A #5) at Distance Night in Palatine and will be one of the favorites in this race. Max Weber of Civic Memorial has a seed time of 9:20.78 (2A #6) with Drew Twyman of Triad at 9:24.10 (2A #7). The two runners will push Bettis for the win. Mike Wilson of Greenville is seven seconds ahead of the 9:57 time standard with Colt Perkins of Taylorville close to it. Good races get them up to Charleston. We could see up to six runners advance out of the 1600 Meter Run led by Weber at 4:22.26 (2A #9) and Twyman at 4:22.30 (2A #10) up front. Christian Knobloch of Highland and Wilson have times under 4:28 and should also advance to state. Adin Roach of Highland might be one of the other runners also to advance out. Many runners could advance out of the 800 Meter Run led by Darius Ivy of East. St. Louis who has run 1:56.23 (2A #10). Donnie Miller of Highland (2A #19), and Civic Memorial’s Tullio Zamperi (2A #20) and Glenn Collins are possibilities also to advance. Wyatt Doyle of Roxana and Wyatt Gustafson of Rochester are runners to watch that might make it to the state meet. Civic Memorial (2A #6) and Highland (2A #12) lead the entries in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Roxana and East St. Louis should punch their ticket in the event. Rochester is within reach to also accomplish that.

Chicago (DePaul College Prep): 5/21 – How strong is Payton Prep’s quartet in the 4x800 Meter Relay? Three of their runners are among the top eight fastest 800 runners in Class 2A. The Grizzlies should have no problem advancing to Charleston out of this sectional. Their time of 7:44.62 is almost 50 seconds faster than the rest of the field. DePaul College Prep and Latin are the two teams challenging for the second qualifying spot. Payton Prep’s Tra’Monti Williams at 1:54.02 (2A #2) and Preston Ellis at 1:55.79 (2A #8) should qualify in the 800 Meter Run. Micah Weiss of Latin is having a strong freshman season and should make it to state. David Rodriguez of Prosser with a personal best might also make the Charleston trip. Weiss has run 4:21.17 (2A #8) ahead of Declan Slavin and Vaughn Collier of Payton Prep in the 1600 Meter Run. All three have run under 4:26 this season and should make it to state. Ben Gibson of Latin and Jack Barnes of DePaul College Prep may also advance out of this sectional. Nicholas Rastatter of Latin has a 9:44.77 entry time (2A #20) while Steven Jiang of Payton Prep enters at 9:44.92 in the 3200 Meter Run. Both will challenge for the win with a high possibility both the only qualifiers to state in this event.

Mascoutah: 5/21 – This is a powerful distance sectional especially in the 3200 Meter Run where 10 runners have run faster than the 9:57.04 qualifying state time. Gabriel McLain has the 2A fastest time in the 3200 Meter Run with his 9:06.67 time from Arcadia in April. Raphael Greer of Marion has run 9:10.09 (2A #3) while his brother Gabriel Greer has run 9:12.92 (2A #4). All three of these runners will challenge for the win. There is a 25 second gap in the entries before Tyler DeVilder of Waterloo at 9:37.94 leads the rest of the field. DuQuoin’s Caiden Cook and Hayden Swiney along with Edgar Garcia of Murphysboro all have times under 9:50 and are good bets to make it to Charleston. Nolan Frost of Herrin, Mark Rozhon of Freeburg, and Landen Boman of Pinckneyville are five to seven seconds faster than qualifying and could also make it in with good races. There are 10 runners that have run 4:35 or faster in the 1600 Meter Run. Will all those 10 runners make it under state qualifying of 4:32.20? McLain is the top seed at 4:13.17 (2A #2). Raphael Greer at 4:18.91 (2A #5) and Gabriel Greer at 4:20.00 (2A #7) will chase after McLain for the win and qualifying. DeVilder, Rozhon, and Albert Anderson of Carterville have run faster than qualifying. Cook, Boman, and Madison Burks of Herrin will need big races to get to Charleston. The quality level is high also in the 800 Meter Run with 11 runners under state qualifying this season. Luke Smith of Wqaterloo leads this event having run 1:55.56 (2A #6). Zachary Duffie of Freeburg (2A #13) and Leo Cozzi of Mascoutah (2A# 16) have times under 1:58. Cole Buchanan of Benton, Zion Wilkins of Carbondale, and Jonathan Witzman of Murphysboro all have times under 1:59 this year. Rowan Wilford and Jayden Jones of Mt. Vernon, Seager Sanchez of Benton, Lucas Jensen of Mascoutah, Jack Tate of Marion, and Waylon Hall of Herrin will hope to have their dreams realized by making it to state. Herrin, Mascoutah, and Mt. Vernon will be the teams to watch in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Marion, Benton, and Freeburg lead a group that might see three more teams advance.

Metamora: 5/21 – Another distance sectional that will qualify a load of runners to Charleston. Maxwell Carter of Morton is more than 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the entries in the 3200 Meter Run. The sophomore has run 9:26.74 (2A #8) this spring. Tucker Hinkle of Eureka and Maxwell Kirby of Peoria Notre Dame are under 9:50 with Cayden Bostic of Clinton and Normal University freshman Keaton North and JW Black at 9:50. Tate Bode and Adam Smigelski of Mahomet-Seymour and Preston Short of Lincoln might also make that Charleston trip. Eight runners in this sectional have run faster than 4:30 in the 1600 Meter Run and could push each other to personal bests as well as the state meet. Christian Harris of Morton has run 4:17.89 outdoors (2A #3) and teammate Boston Beyer at 4:19.36 and lead this field. Augustus Gaudio (2A #11) and Henry McMurry (2A #12) of Mahomet-Seymour will also chase for qualifying and the win along with Normal University’s Andrew Aldeman and Sean Kaeb, Trae Helwig of Metamora, and Dax Duffy of Peoria Notre Dame. Three runners that have times under 1:56 will make the 800 Meter Run exciting. Morton freshman Abe Martin has run strong the last month and leads this field having run 1:55.04 (2A #4). Gaudio at 1:55.07 (2A #5) and Zach Born of Metamora at 1:55.84 (2A #8) will both contest for the win. There is a three second gap before Ethan Ramirez of Mahomet-Seymour, Lincoln’s Owen Cyrulik and Pierce King, Wilbert Eppenger of Metamora, and Connell Roth of Eureka will challenge for state qualifying berths. Eight teams are under state qualifying in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Mahomet-Seymour has run 7:53.95 (2A #2) and will be challenged by Lincoln, Metamora, and Morton who have run under 8:05. Normal University, Prairie Central, and Limestone will need good races to qualify for the state meet.

Rochelle: 5/21 – Aaron Conderman of Dixon is the top seed in the 3200 Meter Run with a 9:34.09 from his Palatine race (2A #11). Andrew Richardson of Galena has run 9:43.46 (2A #19) and will be Conderman’s chief competition. Three runners are at or near the 9:57.04. Tyler Johnson of Rochelle, Tim Starwalt of Byron, and Westin Conatser of Dixon will look to get under that standard in this race. We could see a large group advance to state in the 1600 Meter Run. Cory Goff of Sycamore ran 4:22.80 (2A #13) last week at his conference meet and will be the runner to watch in the front. Aurora Central’s Jack Swiatek (2A #17) and John Reinbold along with Dean Geiger of Dixon all are within two seconds of each other and within two seconds of Goff. Three runners at 4:29: Starwalt, Gunnar Damhoff of Rock Falls, and Aalin Schmidt of Sterling; and Richardson are under qualifying and could make it to the Big Blue Oval. Joesph Fiorenza of Boylan Catholic at 1:57.12 (2A #14) and Averik Wiseman of Dixon at 1:58.01 are the top seeds in the 800 Meter Run. Parker Blakeslee of Byron and Ben Bohr of Aurora Central Catholic could both make it to state. Aurora Central Catholic, Dixon, and Sycamore are within two seconds of each other in the 4x800 Meter Relay. Any of these teams could win this sectional. Sterling, Galena, Rock Falls are four seconds behind state qualifying and will all challenge to make it to state prelims next Friday.

Tolono (Unity): 5/21 – Quaid Berger of Richland County is having a strong freshman season having run 9:23.38 indoors and 9:26.76 (2A #9) at the Collinsville Invitational on May 10 in the 3200 Meter Run. Daniel Grauer of Mt Zion ran 9:43.31 last week and should also qualify. Jack Fisher of St. Joseph-Ogden, Eli Crowe of Tolono Unity, and Judah Dicks of Richland County all have times under 9:50 and should qualify for state. Harrison Hays of Paris is close to qualifying having run 10:00.92. We might see this sophomore make it to the state meet. We might see a tight final section in the 1600 Meter Run with the top seven runners within over five sections of each other. Grauer has the top time at 4:25.76. Camden Fairbanks of Tolono Unity and River Derby of Monticello both have bests at 4:27. Lance Retz of St. Joseph-Ogden and Berger are two seconds behind that first group. Tristin Butler of Richland County and Colin Graven of Tolono Unity also have a good chance to make the short Charleston trip. Jude Toft of Mt. Zion has run 1:55.68 (2A #7) and the top seed in the 800 Meter Run. Alex Gordon of Effingham is Toft’s chief competition having run 1:56.83 (2A #12). They are close to three seconds ahead the rest of the field that includes Urbana’s Arlin Orr and Jevan Juday and Ryan Aken of Tolono Unity. Butler might also join the above runners in this event at state. Mt. Zion, Tolono Unity, and Monticello should all advance to state in the 4x800 Meter Relay.