The Tolono Unity quartet celebrates their win in the 1A 3200 Meter Relay at the IHSA State Track & Field Meet Saturday in Charleston. The 10 points kickstarted their team to a 1A state team championship. (Photo: Michael Newman)

Tolono Unity depth helps capture team championship; Big Saturday performances get Sitko 3 individual state championships

By Michael Newman

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Charleston, Ill --- After Jon Davis (Oakwood HS, Fithian) won his second race of the day in the 1600 Meter Run, a reporter watching the race commented that he belongs up with the big boys in 3A. The comment is fitting since Davis is in a class by himself in 1A. The junior completed his second career triple crown (winning the state cross country title, 3200, and 1600) by adding two more state championships Saturday afternoon at O’Brien Stadium.

Davis had lofty goals heading into this weekend. He was the big favorite to win both the 3200 and 1600 in this classification. He wanted to take it one step further and break the two 1A records in those events. It looked doubtful that he could achieve that on Saturday. Due to the ominous weather that was heading to the Charleston area Saturday afternoon, the IHSA made the decision to speed the meet up going on order of events instead of the predetermined time schedule so that the meet would be completed before the storm hit.

So much for the records right?

Wrong.

The weather was not optimal for the distance runner on Saturday. Temperatures were hovering in the low 70’s with a humidity level way past saturation point. It did not bother the Oakwood junior when he stepped to the line for the 3200. By the completion of the first 200 of the race, Davis was already on his own opening up a 10 meter lead. He knew he had to do all the work.  It was just him against the clock.

The clock was having its way with him as he tried to get Jeremy Stevens 9:10 record. He wanted to go through the first 1600 in 4:30. He passed in 4:34.8. The lead continued to grow for him as the crowd got louder and louder each lap he ran.  He was on a 70 second lap pace the next three laps. As the bell rang, he passed in 8:04. He was laboring but knew what he had to do. At the state cross country meet last November, he ran the last 800 to just miss Stevens cross country record. When he approached 200 to go, he found another gear and picked up the pace. He was lapping runners as he approached the finish.

He hit the line and the crowd gasped. He had run the last 400 in 61 seconds crossing the line in 9:05.23 breaking the record by five seconds. His time is the fourth fastest in the state. If he was in the 3A race, he would have been challenging for the win.

“I wanted to run close to 4:30,” Davis said. “I ended up running negative split kicking it in at the end. I think that hurt my chances for a record in the 1600.”

As he received his medal, the meet was suspended for a weather delay that lasted close to two hours. While some of the distance athletes welcomed the break, Davis felt differently about it.

“I think the time worked too well,” Davis added. “I was relaxed a little more. My legs were accustomed of not moving fast. It is what it is.”

The break showed in his legs after he passed the first 400 in the 1600 in 62 seconds. That was the kind of pace he would need to break Dorian Ulrey’s 4:09 record. He was going to win. He had the same type of gap as he did in the 3200. The pace started to lag on his second circuit of the track as he passed the 800 in 2:08. He held that pace as he passed for the final lap in 3:14. Once again, Davis found some kind of energy to pick the pace up as passed behind the scoreboard on the north side of the track. The record was not his but he crossed the line in a personal best 4:15.44. He was eight seconds faster than second place Ross McCormick (Seneca HS).

If the spotlight was not on Davis in the 1A meet, it deserved to be on Marcus Sitko (Staunton) had a memorable Saturday afternoon. He sat in second place after the preliminaries of the Long Jump trailing prelim leader John Ward (McNamara HS, Kankakee by more than an inch. He used the tailwind to his advantage taking the lead on his first final jump (22-9 ¼). That gave him the lead that he would not relinquish. He did improve that lead on his final hump when he jumped 23-2 ¼ to cement his state championship.

Next up was the Triple Jump finals. Waiting for him was two-time defending champion Corey Kersey (Neoga HS) that a foot lead on him after the preliminaries on Thursday. The confidence that he had in the Long Jump carried over to the Triple Jump. Sitko again took the lead on his first jump soaring 46-2 ¼. Kersey responded with a 45-0 ¼ jump. When Sitko jumped 45-1 ¼ on his second jump, he pretty much sealed the title. Kersey fouled on his second attempt and jumped 44-6 in the third round. Sitko had his second state championship within 90 minutes.

Sitko was settling into the blocks for the 100 final when the weather delay was called. He almost did not make it back into the blocks when the race resumed.

“I had done some strides during the delay to try to stay loose. I then decided to rest underneath the stands before they called us back,” Sitko said after his race. “Someone told me to get over to the tent. They were ready to start my race. I rushed over there. I really did not have time to warm up.”

Sitko got out of the blocks slow compared to Andre McGill (Madison HS) and Jordan Rowell (IC Catholic Prep, Elmhurst) who had a slight lead on him 40 meters into the race. Sitko accelerated catching McGill in the last five meters. The Staunton senior edged McGill by two hundredths of a second for state title #3 (10.65 – 10.67).

McGill redeemed himself in his final high school race winning the 200 Meter Dash (21.73) a quarter of a second ahead of Jacob Sholl (Illini West HS, Carthage). Sholl has some success of his own winning the 400 Meter Dash. He held off Rowell and Aaron Harris (Lisle HS) in the final 100 meters to capture the win (48.74). Rowell edged Harris by seven hundredths of a second for second place (49.04 – 49.11).

Tolono Unity had the hopes of winning the team championship grow after they left the preliminaries on Thursday with the most qualifiers with 10. They scored 53 points Saturday to win the 1A championship nine points ahead of Illini West who scored 44 points. Arcola’s moved into third when they won the final event of the meet in the 1600 Meter Relay.

The 3200 Relay was tight throughout as Tolono Unity, Shelbyville, Robinson, St. Joseph-Ogden, and Chicago Christian traded off the lead. Andrew Warnes took the lead on the final lap and held off Robinson to give Tolono Unity the state championship (7:59.63) two seconds ahead of Robinson (8:01.82). Shelbyville was another two seconds back in third (8:03.65).

Tolono Unity tried to make it two for two in the 400 Meter Relay but a strong anchor by Arcola’s Jamie Warren caught Unity’s Steven Migut and Hales Franciscan Nick Barnes in the final 10 meters to give Arcola the win. The three teams were only separated by four hundredths of a second as Arcola (42.96) edged Tolono Unity (42.99) and Hales Franciscan (43.00).

Aaron Luesse (Tolono Unity HS) was even with Josh Kirby (Peoria Christian HS) half way through the 110 Meter High Hurdles. Luesse pulled away to run a personal best (14.31) ahead of Kirby’s 14.54. Kirby did get his revenge in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles having the lead off the curve to hold off Luesse and Clayton Strader (Arcola HS) for the win (38.71).

Andrew Gardewine (St. Anthony HS, Effingham) took the lead just after the 400 and pulled away to win the state championship in the 800 Meter Run. Gardewine, who also placed sixth in the 400, ran 1:55.78 to defeat Michael Cook (Wethersfield HS, Kewanee) by more than a second.

Noah Adams (Meridian HS, Macon) and Logan Ross (North Greene HS, White Hall) both cleared 6-10 in the High Jump. Adams was awarded the win on fewer misses. Blake Murfin (Illini West HS, Carthage) had a slight lead heading into the finals of the Shot Put. He extended that on his second attempt improving his personal best by more than three feet (59-8 ½) to win the event by more than six feet ahead of Stephen Gibson (Tuscola HS). Murfin had a lead on Gibson by four feet heading into the finals of the Discus. That changed in the first round of the finals when Gibson ripped a 175-9 throw. Murfin responded with a 173-10 attempt. Neither athlete improved in the final two rounds giving Gibson the state championship.

The meet was delayed towards the tail end of the Pole Vault with only Riley Smith (Casey Westfield HS) and Adam Coulon (Tri-Valley HS, Downs) left at 16-0. If Smith had it his way, he would have liked to stay outdoors. Officials moved the event indoors for the completion of the event. Both missed all three attempts at 16-3. Officials determined that they would allow Smith a fourth attempt due to the standards set incorrectly. Smith capitalized on that clearing the height and capturing a state championship after finishing second the last two years.