Whitaker sets new IHSA State Meet Pole Vault Record in third straight 1A win

Morrison sprints away with state 1A title; Martino finally gets his distance double

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By Michael Newman

Charleston, Ill – Isaiah Whitaker stood at the end of the runway on the eastern side of O’Brien Field looking at the pit and standard that was waiting for him. Winds were high during the meet coming from the north. Whitaker afterwards said it did not played a factor in his vaults, instead it was helping him. He wanted a record vault. That was one of his goals this season.

He went in on his second attempt at a new record of 17-6.50 after a first good try at the height. His approach was close to flawless. His lift and technique over the standard got him over the bar and another record that Zach Bradford used to have.

“The goal this year was to win the state championship, break the record, and then clear 18-6 at U-20’s,” Whitaker said after his win. “The wind helped today getting me on a bigger pole. The make at 17-6.50 was great feeling yourself over the bar is a great feeling in general but knowing that is a state record and my name will be going into the record book is great.”

Whitaker did not come into the event until that bar was raised to 15-5 where he cleared that height on his first attempt and Riley Hogan of St. Thomas More cleared on his second attempt with a new personal best. Whitaker cleared 15-9 on his first attempt while Hogan passed at that height. Whitaker passed at 16-00,75 while Hogan exhausted his final attempts at that height. Then it was time for the Bloomington Central Catholic junior’s time to play passing to 16-6.75 where he cleared on his second attempt. His day ended with three misses at 18-2.50 his first attempt close.

Morrison only scored in five events but totaled 60 points to easily win the team title. Tuscola scored 35 points to finish second. Rockford Christian scored three points to elevate them to 32 points tying them with Shelbyville for third place. Morrison started their day with Ryan Alvarado jumping 21-0.5 to finish fifth, Will Nohren of Shelbyville won his first of two individual state titles jumping 22-10 to win the Long Jump. Nohren cleared 6-6.75 to win the High Jump with Ben Roedel of Altamont clearing 6-5.5. Roedel was all-state in three events also winning the Triple Jump with a 45-10.50 season’s best.

Alvarado was off to join his Morrison teammates in the 4x100 Meter Relay. The Mustangs with Alvarado, Levi & Zach Milder, and Brady Anderson ran a season’s best of 41.16 to win the 4x100 Meter Relay ahead of Ridgeview (42.76 and Mercer County (42.77). The same quartet for Morrison had broken the 1A record in Thursday’s prelims of the 4x200 Meter Relay. They were again dominant in this final running 1:26.92 to win the title ahead of Tuscola (1:28.40) and Mercer County (1:29.32). It was the second year in a row that Morrison has won the same relays at this meet.

Anderson and Levi Mulder picked up big points in both sprint races. Anderson ran 10.74 to win the 100 Meter Dash just ahead of Alec Schlichting of Lena-Winslow was close in second (10.78). It was the 200 Meter Dash where Morrison won the team title. Mulder stepped up to run 21.44 to win the race while Anderson ran 21.67 to finish second holding off Evan Smith of IC Catholic Prep (21.69). And remember, both Morrison runners are juniors. They will be back next year for one more go around.

Brian E Smith II of North Shore-Country has been the dominant runner in Class 1A all season in the 400 Meter Dash. He proved it again in the finals running a personal best of 48.47 to claim the state title. Evan Landers-Kristensen of Gibson-Melvin Sibley finished second (49.06) ahead of Hayden Parcel of Casey Westfield (49.36).

Landyn Mitchell of Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran finished sixth in last year’s finals in the 110 Meter Hurdles. He made the finals in the Triple Jump where he finished second. His eyes though were in the hurdles. He got out well out of the blocks and was in control after that. The junior pulled away to run a personal best of 14.37 to win the state title ahead of Greyson Marincic of Peru St. Bede (14.79) and Mason Booker of Sullivan (14.86). Trae Brickner of Peoria Christian ran 39.08 to edge Booker 39.12 in winning the 300 Meter Hurdles.

Rockford Christian ran their top lineup in the 4x800 Meter Relay at Illinois Top Times in March. They waited for this weekend to duplicate that March race. Andrew Kurien took the baton from Joel White and took the lead one that the team did not give up. Blake Lindberg kept the lead ang gave the baton to Evan White who ran a 1:57.98 to give the Royal Lions the 1A state title in a 7:57.61 time. Elmwood made a move to get close but could not but did run 8:02.94 to finish second ahead of Pleasant Plains (8:07.35).

Rockford Christian needed three points to tie with Shelbyville in the standings in the 4x400 Meter Relay. They were eight after two legs with Kurien moving up to seventh. The Royal Lions ran 3:27.20 to keep that seventh place and the three points. Auburn took the lead on the final leg with Jacob Barth running a 48.57 to give Auburn the championship in 3:22.05 finishing ahead of Ridgeview (3:23.11) and Oakwood (3:23.65).

The 3200 Meter Run was split into three sections due to the 41 runners that qualified from sectionals. It would change the strategy for the top two runners on the 1A leaders lists Nicolai Martino of Winnebago and Chaz Oberkfell of Gillespie who found himself in the second section run before the start of the 4x800 Meter Relay. Martino sat in the stands and watched the first two sections.

Evan Eberhart of Nashville said the building heat on the track influenced the race. Eberhart ran 9:55.95 to win the opening section by almost 20 seconds. That time would place him ninth overall and an all-state race. Oberkfell ran a 4:41 opening 1600 to open a 15 second lead on the rest of the field. The heat caught him on the final three laps as his pace started to fall off. Oberkfell ran 9:38.14 to win his section and setting a standard for Martino to race against. He did not go for a fast race. All he wanted was the win. Blake McNeese

Martino took the lead on the second lap and broke away from the field. He passed 1600 in 4:45 with Peter Kipp of Northridge Prep right with him. The heat got to Kipp as he was forced to drop out with 600-meters left in the race. Martino ran 9:33.86 to win the race and come in faster than Oberkfell claiming his first state championship. Evan Cook of St. Teresa ran 9:45.56 to finish third.

Martino looked like he had plenty left in the 1600 Meter Run. Martino, Oberkfell, and Johnathan Iacobazzi of Sullivan passed 800-meters in 2:09. Martino and Iacobazzi took off with a 62 second third lap. Martino made one more move that The Sullivan junior could not respond to. Martino came home with his second state title of the day (4:14.48) with Iacobazzi second (4:19.33 and Oberkfell third (4:25.18).

“This moment feels great getting this double. I wish I could have won last fall,” Martino said. "I looked around in the final lap and saw no one was with me. I just cruised it in.”

Corrie Green of Delavan accomplished the indoor/outdoor slam in the 800 Meter Run starting winning Illinois Top Times in March. There was a big comfort level you could see in this final as he passed 400 meters in 57.6 with Joe Faris of Dwight leading at 57.3 seconds. It was Green’s after that grabbing the lead before coming out of the curve. Green ran 1:55.46 personal best and the state title. Rockford Christian’s Evan White pulled ahead of Farris right before the finish to run 1:56.47 to finish second ahead of Faris (1:56.60).

Graham Meister of Dwight did not improve on his prelim mark in the Shot Put and won his second straight title (58-5.25) ahead of Josh Coulby of Maryville Christian (57-7.50) and Sawyer Woodard of Tuscola (54-9.25). Landon Hulsing of Bureau Valley started the day in fifth in the Discus. His first-round throws in the finals soared out to 187-7 to take the lead and eventually the state title. Maddox Stine of Salt Fork (179-0) and Woodard (170-7) finished second and third.