Class 3A team championships up for grabs with six teams having the numbers to leave Charleston with a trophy; two defending state champions fail to advance to Saturday’s finals; Glenbrook North on record watch in 4x200 Meter Relay

By Michael Newman

Charleston, Ill – Friday afternoon’s Class 3A preliminary session at O’Brien Field gave competitors optimal conditions to compete compared to most of the season where they challenged by the weather elements. Temperatures near 75 degrees with wind flaring up interestingly enough in the sprint events to give athletes the joys of achieving personal bests, but the disappointment of not advancing to Saturday’s finals.

It changed the dialogue of who could win the Class 3A state championships with surprises in some cases of who did not make the finals, Kenwood, New Trier, and Homewood-Flossmoor all advanced eight to finals that start on Saturday morning.

One of last year’s co-defending state champion Oak Park-River Forest did qualify seven to the finals with five athletes leading the way in the field events, but in some cases just making those finals. Work will need to be done early to move up places and pick up points. Edwardsville and Neuqua Valley advanced six and are also in a hunt for a trophy.

The two sprint events along with the hurdles were affected in a positive way in performances. It did claim one athlete that won last year but did not advance to Saturday’s finals in the opening heat. Armond Boulware of Kenwood advanced to the finals winning the opening heat (10.65) ahead of Daniel Robinson of Neuqua Valley (10.69). 2024 champion Caleb Schulz of Oak Park-River Forest finished fourth (10.79) knowing with four heats to go he was most likely not advancing. Schulz finished 16th overall.

In most cases, Schulz’s time would make it to the finals. Not this season. 10.72 was the final time in by Dontrell Young of Oswego ran and made it in by four thousandths of a second ahead of Morquez Bulliner from Belleville West who also had a 10.72 but just missed advancing. That is the way that it happens in an IHSA State prelim day.

William Landwer of New Trier shocked the capacity crowd at O’Brien Field running 10.44 to win the final heat and lead all qualifiers ahead of Zion Morrison of Homewood-Flossmoor ran 10.59 to finish second and make the finals. Parrish Hartley Jr. of Kenwood (10.63), Clayton Lakatos of Edwardsville (10.64), and Justin Johnson of Evanston Township (10.69) were the other heat winners advancing to Saturday.

Normally you see times around 14.6 make the finals in this prelim session that makes the finals of the 110 Meter Hurdles. This year, four athletes ran under at that time but did not advance to the finals. Cooper McGinnis of Neuqua Valley led all qualifiers running 13.85 to win the third heat. Daylin Donaldson of Belleville East ran 13.95 to win the final heat. Morrison, who would come right back to run in the 100 dash, ran 14.01 winner of the fourth heat. Jalyn Cole of Belleville West (14.07), Janardie Turner of Rockford Jefferson (14.09), and Weston Averkamp of Ottawa (14.44) were the other heat winners.

Amari Williams of Wheaton-Warrenville South missed the finals by six hundredths of a second running a personal best of 14.52 in the fifth heat. The senior came back later in the day ready to defend his title in the 300 Meter Hurdles making a statement in a big way. Williams ran a state leading 37.18 to lead all qualifiers in the event. Donaldson came back to run 37.95 to win the fourth heat. Averkamp (38.06), and Ray Black of Schaumburg (38.86) were the other auto qualifiers.

Young, who qualified in all three sprints, and Morrison led the field in the 200 Meter Dash qualifying. Young ran 21.33 to win the second heat with Boulware running 21.37 to finish second. Morrison won the fourth heat (21.40) while Alexander Perry of Rockford Guilford (21.45) and Landwer (21.60) also won their heats. In the final section of the event, it looked like Oswego East’s would be the heat winner. He was disqualified over a lane violation giving the win to Bulliner (21.64), who at first was tenth just missing the finals for the second time. He was instead elevated to the final auto qualifying spot.

One of the most exciting events in the afternoon session of this meet is the 1600 Meter Run where unpredictability meets reality for some athletes. We always see someone that we think we will see on Saturday not able to advance out. Phillip Cupial of Downers Grove North was the defending champion in this event and lined up for the start determination in his eyes. He fell back early in his race and was seventh at the bell lap trailing race leader Jacob Barraza of DeKalb by seven seconds and in seventh place. Cupial found a gear and starting to pick off runners on the back stretch. Barraza won the heat (4:14.49) ahead of Rory Gaan of Fremd (4:15.74) and Quinn Davis of Plainfield North (4:16.40). Cupial ran a 58.3 final lap to finish fourth (4:17.69) and would have to wait to see if he would advance to the finals.

Carter Hayes of Palatine set the standard in the opening heat letting Max Sudrzynski of Jacobs to lead the way until Hayes caught him 50-meters from the finish. Hayes win the heat (4:12.86, a personal best, ahead of Sudrzynski (4:13.34), Jameson Tenopir of Cary-Grove (4:14.05), and Patrick Clune of Naperville Central (4:15:14) all would advance to the finals. Tommy Nitz of Huntley led a pack that included Will Surratt of Downers Grove North, Jesse Kramer of Belvidere North, Ben Crane of New Trier, Alex Rodriguez of BC Morton, and Patrick Hill of York that broke away from the rest of the field early in this race. Nitz closed in a 58.78 final lap to run a prelim leading 4:10.78 to win the final heat. Surratt (4:12.58), Kramer (4:12.99), Crane (4:13.24), and Rodriguez (4:16.21) all advanced out to the finals. Cupial finished 14th overall missing the finals by a second.

Cupial did come back with a vengeance in the opening heat in the 4x400 Meter Relay. He took the baton on the anchor leg with the lead. He ran a 49.4 anchor leg in to lead the Trojans to a 3:20.00 to win the heat and advance to the finals along with Bolingbrook (3:20.23) who ended up the ninth and final qualifier. North ended up with the seventh fastest prelim time but it did not matter since they made the finals on the auto qualifier.

Lockport ran the fourth fastest time in the state (3:18.37) to lead all qualifiers in this event. Kenwood (3:19.44) and Belleville West (3:19.73) were the other heat winners. It will be a fast final on Saturday with six of the nine teams under 3:20.

Grant Schroder of Downers Grove North led all qualifiers in the 800 Meter Run as he had a 1:54.92 time to win the first heat ahead of 1:55.93). Nolan Lamoureux of Lockport (1:54.94) and Mateo-Ramiro-Garcia of Sandburg (1:55.32) were the other heat winners.

Sandburg ran a fast 7:46.63 in the opening heat to lead all qualifiers in the 4x800 Meter Relay finishing ahead of Lincoln-Way Central (7:46.89) and Homewood-Flossmoor (7:54.18). Normal Community ran 7:53.97 to win the second heat just ahead of Naperville Central (7:55.47). Downers Grove North, defending champion in the event, ran 7:57.32 to win the final section ahead of Plainfield North (7:57.34).

Glenbrook North shook up the crowd and other teams in the 4x200 Meter Relay as they ran 1:26.25 to win the fifth heat and come within 27 hundredths of a second of catching Cahokia’s 1:25.98 meet record set in 2007. The qualifier cutoff time was 1:27.68, the fastest time in meet history. Three other teams were under 1:28 but did not advance. Huntley missed the finals by six hundredths of a second. Homewood-Flossmoor (1:26.64), Evanston (1:26.90), Springfield (1:27.06), and Maine South (1:27.19) were the other heat winners.

Kenwood ran a state leading time of 41.15 to lead all qualifiers in the 4x100 Meter Relay. Homewood-Flossmoor (41.35), Edwardsville (41.36), and Plainfield East (41.71) were the other heat winners. 41.95 was the event cutoff time with Batavia missing the finals by five hundredths of a second at 42.00.

Bruce Duncan III of Bolingbrook ran 47.87 to lead all qualifiers in the 400 Meter Dash ahead of other heat winners Miles Lyons of Loyola Academy (48.02), Austin Rowswell of Lincoln-Way West, and Dallas Amos of Evanston (48.83).

Jordan Lampkins of Bolingbrook was a surprise leader in the Long Jump with his 23-1.75 preliminary jump. Taras Kilchitskyi of Buffalo Grove and Malachi Lee of Bradley-Bourbonnais stand second and third both jumping 22-9. Icone Logo of East Moline United has the lead in the Triple Jump where three athletes have already gone past 47 feet. Logo jumped 47-7.25 with the lead ahead of Isaiah Brown of Batavia (47-3.75) and Connor Strauss of Lake Zurich (47-1.75).

Four athletes have already gone 60 feet in the prelims of the Shot Put. Joe Atkins of Washington had a 63-7.50 best to lead ahead of Michael Kpomassy of East Moline United (63-0.25), Zach Morrisroe of Oswego East (61-7.50), and Logan Farrell of Hersey (60-7.25). Dionte Shaw of West Aurora threw a state leading 193-1 personal best to lead qualifiers in the Discus closely followed by Devin Habermehl of Collinsville (190-9) and Ferrell (189-2).

12 athletes cleared 14-5,25 to make it to the finals of the Pole Vault including Parker Owens of Edwardsville and Lukas Brauc of Oak Park-River Forest. 17 athletes qualified for the finals of the High Jump all clearing 6-4.