Sycamore, East St. Louis set up for Saturday showdown for Class 2A State Team Championship, top performances the key to the Friday morning session

Charleston, Ill -- Sycamore in the Class 2A State preliminary session on Friday morning at O’Brien Field got their top athletes to the finals. So did East St. Louis. The two teams are the schools to watch for in the finals beginning Saturday morning.

East St. Louis advanced 12 athletes to the finals while Sycamore was close behind with 11 advancers. The key for Sycamore is they got their key athletes to Saturday in good position to pick up big points.

Aidan Wyzard qualified in three individual events as well as anchoring their 4x100 Meter Relay. Wyzard won his heat at 10.58. Luke Leverett of Providence Catholic has the fastest time out of all qualifiers running 10.57 in his heat win just ahead of Tristan Meszaros of Plano (10.59). Tyjaire Kellum of Murphysboro was also close winning his heat with a swift 10.61 time.

East St. Louis led all qualifiers in the 4x100 Meter Relay as they ran 41.83 to win with a season’s best in the third heat. St. Laurence ran 42.07 to finish second. Richland County (42.02) and Sycamore (42.07) setting up for a dynamic final.

Wyzard stands in fourth after the preliminary round of the Long Jump with a best of 22-8. Chris Nelson of Herrin unleashed a 24-5.50 jump on his opening attempt to have the preliminary heat. Rex Hallam of Richland County is second (24-3.75) ahead of Marlin Jeffries Jr. of North Chicago in third (23-3.25) just ahead of Wyzard.

Wyzard ran 21.60 to lead all qualifiers in the 200 Meter Dash. All nine qualifiers were under 22 seconds separated by just 32 hundredths of a second. Akeelan Dowell of Cahokia (21.65), Tristan Meszaros (21.72), Chris Pete of Waterloo (21.76), and Cole Rinkenberger of Morton (21.87) are the other heat winners.

Sycamore and East Louis are certainly not locks to the team titles. There are other teams that are still in the hunt for the trophy. Richland County advanced nine to the finals ahead of Morton (eight qualifiers), Cahokia (seven qualifiers), and Mahomet-Seymour, Metamora and Payton all who advanced six qualifiers.

Payton qualified in just four events, but those events could lead to big points. Payton did not run Preston Ellis in the prelims in the 4x800 Meter Relay. The Grizzlies still came away with the event’s top qualifying time of 7:58.92 to win their heat. All 12 teams that qualified ran under 8:11 to make it to this final. Payton will be going for their third straight Class 2A state title on Saturday but will be challenged by other heat winners Mahomet-Seymour (8:00.45) and Morton (8:03.95). Sycamore will also play a part in this final (8:02.25) along with Metamora (8:03.42) and Dixon (8:04.61).

Payton’s Tra’Monti Williams and Preston Ellis were the top two qualifiers in the 800 Meter Run. Williams ran 1:55.41 to win the second heat ahead of Zach Born of Metamora (1:56.53 and Aiden Duhs of Illinois Valley Central (1:56.84). Ellis had control of the opening heat of the event running 1:56.08 finishing ahead of Augustus Gaudio of Mahomet-Seymour (1:56.63). Darius Ivy of East St. Louis had a busy day qualifying in the 800 and two other events. Ivy needed a lean at the finish to win the final heat of 1:57.83. He just finished ahead of Jude Toft of Mt. Zion (1:57.92 and final qualifier Luke Smith of Waterloo (1:58.29). Morton freshman Abe Martin missed making the finals by six hundredths of a second.

Corrion Raiford of Cahokia was the top qualifier in the 400 Meter Dash running a personal best of 49.07 to win the third heat just ahead of Logan Smallwood of Limestone (49.54). Matthew Simon of Fenwick (49.36), Dylan Hodges of Sycamore (49.86), and Romaine Atkins of Southland College Prep (50.05) were the other heat winners. Ivy also qualified finishing right with Atkins at a 50.05 time in that final heat. The two were separated by six thousandths of a second.

Ivy’s third qualification came helping East St. Louis in the 4x400 Meter Relay. His teammates gave Ivy the lead. He came off the final curve giving the Flyers with a huge lead until he lost his balance hitting the rail stepping off the track accidentally but did not gain an advantage but slowed him down. Mt. Zion’s Jude Toft caught Ivy just before the finish line to give his team the win (3:25.34) just ahead of East St. Louis (3:25.46) as the Flyers just made the finals. Sycamore had the top qualifying time (3:20.59) winning just ahead of Morton (3:21.89). Sterling (3:22.07) and Cahokia (3:22.82) were the other heat winners.

East St. Louis ran a commanding 1:27.39 (IL #8) to win the opening heat in the 4x200 Meter Relay and lead all qualifiers by almost a second. Area rival Cahokia ran 1:28.35 to win the third heat (1:28.35) just ahead of Mascoutah (1:28.56). Richland County (1:28.82 and Sterling (1:28.49) won their heats and advanced to the finals.

The 1600 Meter Run after the prelims sets up to be a great final on Saturday. Henry McMurry of Mahomet-Seymour ran a great leg in the relay and came back to run 4:20.32 to win the first race edging Christian Harris of Morton (4:20.34). Simon Lane of Chicago University bided his time in the second heat before making his move in the final 50-meters running 4:20.39 to win ahead of Declan Slavin of Payton (4:22.07) and Micah Weiss of Latin (4:23.90). There was no drama in the final prelim heat. Gabriel McLain of Benton took the lead early and went on to run 4:21.45 for the win three seconds ahead of Vaughn Collier of Payton (4:24.75).

Defending 2A State Champion Louis Yohannes of Triad was the top advancer in the 110 Meter Hurdles. Yohannes ran 14.40 to win the final heat of the event. He will be challenged by Parker Campbell of Lincoln (14.42), Amauree Williams of Southland College Prep (14.47) and Hayden Little of Marion (14.60) were the other heat winners ready to challenge Yohannes in the finals.

Adrian Mann of Harrisburg ran the fastest prelim time in the 300 Meter Hurdles with a 38.71 time. Cedric Kehoe of Geneseo won the second heat (38.81) just ahead of Campbell (39.22). Williams (39.10) and Nigel Gordon were the other heat winners.

Pre meet favorite Andrew Kinsman of Benton has close to a six feet lead heading into the finals of the Shot Put. His 59-4.75 best in the second-round leads Ryan McCombs of Jacksonville who had a 53-0.35 best.

Freshman Landen Hoffman of Princeton had a 171-10 throw in his opening attempt to grab the lead after the preliminary round ahead of Brett Centnarowicz of Johnsburg (166-10) and Ian Morris of Princeton (166-0).

Shamond McClain of East St. Louis leads the Triple Jump with his first attempt of 46-1.50. Victreze Thomas of Cahokia is McClain’s top competition as he jumped 45-7 on his first attempt to give him second.

11 athletes to the finals of the Pole Vault all clearing 13-11.25 led by list leader Andrew Nuyen of Rochelle. 16 athletes cleared 6-2 to advance to the finals of the High Jump led by Matt Pluff of Freeburg and Griffin Schlenbecker of Wheaton Academy.