IHSA State Track & Field Championships - Class 3A Boys Preliminary Session Recap

Homewood-Flossmoor, Neuqua Valley set up for challenge for 3A team title; Egregious non-call in 4x400m Relay hurts title hopes for Hinsdale Central; Great distance heats set up for great Saturday finals; Daniel Lacy, Billy Bailey Jr. set up for three race challenge in the sprints.

By Michael Newman

Charleston, Ill – Homewood-Flossmoor qualified nine including three of their relays to lead all 3A teams to Saturday’s finals. Neuqua Valley did what they needed to do qualified eight to Saturday. Oak Park-River Forest missed qualifying on some events but still advanced seven to the finals along with Edwardsville.

Kenwood advanced six to Saturday’s finals. There are seven schools that advanced five to the finals including one of the pre-meet favorites Hinsdale Central who had put themselves in good position on most of Friday afternoon until a “non-call” during the 4x400m Relay rocked their title chances.

Hinsdale Central were among four teams in contention for the win in the fourth heat of the 4x400m Relay as Smith Maxwell approached the exchange zone ready to hand off to Mahlum Anjarwala. Two teams stepped out of the zone to receive their team’s exchange as Maxwell tried to get the handoff away. Maxwell stayed in his “alley” but was knocked down as one of the teams moved into Maxwell’s area and knocked him down as the baton flew in the air. Anjarwala picked up the baton and was now in eighth and out of contention to advance. Hinsdale Central was in eighth when Dan Watcke received the baton and ran a 47.7 anchor to get his team into fifth but out of qualifying. During the second handoff, officials did not raise their flags up at first. They conferred and then all three officials raised white flags.

Hinsdale Central coaches tried to protest the interference. They were told since no foul was called; no protest could be made.

Bolingbrook ran 3:22.61 to win the fourth heat with New Trier also the final qualifier with a 3:22.96 time. Oak Park-River Forest missed qualifying by seven hundredth of a second running 3:23.03 to finish third. St. Charles North (3:23.54) and Hinsdale Central (3:26.45) finished fourth and fifth.

Grayslake Central (3:21.46) and Vernon Hills (3:22.03) qualified out of the first heat. Homewood-Flossmoor won the second heat (3:21.27). York came from fourth to almost edge HF as their anchor Joey Valeski ran a 47.62 anchor leg to get close. The Dukes qualified for the finals. Naperville Central ran 3:22.08 as the only qualifier in the third heat. Yorkville came from behind to win the final heat with the relay’s fastest time (3:19.85) behind Josh Pugh’s 48.41 anchor leg.

Hinsdale Central will need to rely on their qualifiers in four distance events to challenge for a trophy. The Red Devils did not run their top two runners Dan Watcke and Aden Bandukwala on Friday, but still won the final heat with a seasonal best of 7:51.70. Plainfield North (7:53.56) and Sandburg (7:53.86) also qualified from that heat. A 1:55.7 second leg by Nicholas Strayer helped Lyons Township into the lead and to win the opening heat with a 7:49.64 time. Hersey (7:51.16), Oswego East (7:52.63), and Downers Grove South (7:53.86) qualified for the finals. The second heat of this event proved to be the fastest with three teams finishing under 7:49. Plainfield South ran 7:48.15 for the win ahead of Downers Grove North (7:48.53) and Naperville Central (7:48.63). Oak Park-River Forest finished fourth (7:51.04) to advance. Prospect had the 12th fastest time overall running 7:55.80 to advance. Wheaton-Warrenville South missed qualifying for the finals by seven hundredth of a second.

Dan Watcke has the fastest time in the state this year and it showed in winning his heat in the 800 Meter Run. Watcke took the lead just after 400-meters into the race and held off Caleb Levy to win the final heat in 1:55.51, Levy was the only other qualifier from the heat with a 1:55.87 time. Four runners qualified out of the opening heat led by Quintin Lowe of Batavia who ran a 1:53.93 time. Michael Polizzi of Taft (1:53.93), John Ihrke of Glenbrook North (1:54.19), and Sam Patel of Wheeling (1:56.09) also qualified. Aidan Hill of York maintained the lead for the first 600-meters of the second heat, then took the lead in the final 100-meters to capture the win with a 1:55.52 time. William Simon of Loyola ran 1:55.99 to qualify. Foster Shelbert of Naperville Central ran the fastest time of the prelims running 1:53.66 to win the third heat. Ryan Eddington of Downers Grove North (1:55.13), Grant Giblin of Sandburg (1:55.19), and Owen Horeni of Yorkville (1:55.35) also advanced to Saturday’s finals.

The 1600 prelims this year was still fast with all 12 finalists for Saturday running within four seconds of each other. Marcellus Mines of Joliet West led all qualifiers with his opening heat win. Mines took the lead 700-meters into the race to run 4:13.58 for the win. Liam Newhart of Oak Park-River Forest (4:15.25) and Liam Naughton of Hersey (4:16.32) also qualified. Three runners also advanced in the second heat of the event. Aden Bandukwala of Hinsdale Central (4:14.33), Trey Sato of Grayslake Central (4:14.38), and Riley Newport of DeKalb (4:15.40) finished first through third all qualifying. The final six qualifiers all came from the third heat. A great final 100-meters gave Camyn Viger of Plainfield South the win with a 4:14.87 time. Alex Das of Oswego East (4:15.36), Caden Weber of Downers Grove North (4:15.60), Theodore Cunningham of Fremd (4:15.68), Trent Anderson of Sandburg (4:17.49), and Owen Forberg of Richards (4:17.51) all qualified.

TRACK HIGHLIGHTS

4x100m Relay – Homewood-Flossmoor was more than in control in this relay running 41.30 to win the final heat. Three teams made it out of the opening heat as Naperville North punched their tickets to the finals (42.22) winning ahead of Oak Park-River Forest (42.30) and Bloomington (42.50). Kenwood ran 42.17 to win the second heat of this relay. York (42.41) also advanced to the finals. Edwardsville won the third heat (42.12) finishing ahead of Neuqua Valley (42.38) and Warren Township (42.44).

110 Meter Hurdles – Jonathan Tegel of Crystal Lake Central led all qualifiers running a personal best of 14.26 to win his heat. Matthew Thomas of Danville edged Saiheed Jah of Moline (14.58-14.63) to win the second heat. Jake Lansdowne of Neuqua Valley won the third heat (15.03) and was the only advancing athlete. Miles Granjean of Evanston ran 14.48 to win the fourth heat.

100 Meter Dash – Olusoga Adeyiga of Homewood-Flossmoor had the fastest qualifying time of 10.67 to win the opening heat of the 100 Meter Dash. Austin Belle of Neuqua Valley (10.79) and Danny Eloe of Naperville North (10.86) finished second and third. Daniel Lacy of Champaign Centennial ran a personal best of 10.75 to win the second heat. John Gore of Homewood-Flossmoor qualified finishing second (10.94) ahead of qualifier Lucas Parr of Marist (10.95) finished third. Billy Bailey Jr. of Joliet West ran 10.90 to win the third and final heat. Caleb Schultz of Oak Park-River Forest and Miles Granjean both ran 11.02 to make it to the finals.

4x200m Relay – This will be a fast final on Saturday as all qualifiers ran 1:28.76 or faster. Neuqua Valley ran a season’s best of 1:27.85 to win the opening heat ahead of Bloomington (1:28.16), Metea Valley (1:28.39), and Kenwood (1:28.76) who all qualified. York was an easy winner in the second heat running 1:27.60 for the win. Naperville North was the only qualifier from the third heat running 1:28.53 for the win. Then came Homewood-Flossmoor who ran the state’s fastest time of 1:26.82 to win the fourth heat ahead of Warren Township (1:27.40). Edwardsville was the final qualifier running 1:28.23 to win the fifth heat.

400 Meter Dash – This will also be a close final. The second through eighth qualifying runners are separated by 16 hundredth of a second. Daniel Pugh of Yorkville led all qualifiers running 48.08 to win his heat. Ramontay Abram of Belleville West (49.06), Ikechukwu Inoma of Bolingbrook (49.19), and Nelson Sparks of Homewood-Flossmoor (49.23) also advanced. Daniel Lacy win the second heat timed in 49.07. Doug Anderson of Highland Park edged Austin Rowswell of Lincoln-Way West (49.08-49.11) to win the third heat. Both athletes advanced to the finals. Billy Bailey Jr. ran 49.10 to win the final heat with Dominik Balenda of Prospect (49.61) to finish second.

300 Meter Hurdles – A number of surprises in this event.  It was no surprise that Ryan Schaefer of Glenbrook South was the fastest qualifier. He ran a personal best and state leading time of 37.79 to win the fourth heat. Myles Ellis of Homewood-Flossmoor (38.96) and Simon McClaine of Alton (39.37) also advanced to the finals. The big surprise of this event was Amari Williams of Wheaton-Warrenville South. The sophomore is in his first year of running track. He ran a personal best of 38.24 (IL #3) to win his heat. Marcus Caselberry of Stevenson (38.98) and Jake Slavish (39.00) qualified. Saiheed Jah (38.94) and Jonathan Tegel (39.00) qualified in the second heat. Henry Hartsfield of Loyola Academy (39.63) was the lone qualifier winning in the third heat.

200 Meter Dash – Daniel Lacy qualified for the finals in his third individual event running the state’s fastest time of 21.23 to win the fourth heat. This was a fast event with 21.86 the last time in. Olusoga Adeyiga (21.54) and Austin Rowswell (21.84) also advanced out of that heat. Robert Scott III of Homewood-Flossmoor won the opening heat with a wind-aided 21.34 time. Miles Granjean (21.79) qualified for his third final finishing second. Cael Hiser of Minooka was the final runner (21.86) to advance to the finals. Alassane Ba of East Moline ran 21.92 to win the second heat. Billy Bailey Jr. also qualified for his third final running 21.43 to win the third heat ahead of Austin Belle (21.55).

FIELD EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

Pole Vault – One of the bigger surprises in this event was that one of the event favorites Josh Meister of Oak Park-River Forest passed on three heights before coming into the event at 14-7.25. He missed all three attempts on that opening height and did not qualify for the finals. 11 athletes advanced to the finals on Saturday led by Andrew Undesser of Minooka and Kyle Eppenstein of Plainfield South.

High Jump – 18 athletes advanced to the finals of the High Jump all clearing 6-2.75. State leader Chris Taylor of Normal Community was one of the notable qualifiers.

Long Jump – Ryan Schaefer leads after prelims in the Long Jump with a 22-5 best. Jaden Turner of Warren Township and James Ammenhauser are second and third.

Triple Jump – Malik Allen of Edwardsville has almost a foot lead on the field after Friday’s competition. Allen jumped 46-7.25 with the lead. Will DiSessa of Lyons Township (45-() and Enoch Appiah-Kubi of Loyola (45-0.50) are second and third.

Shot Put – Alex Sohn of Normal Community had a 60-7.25 best after preliminaries and leads the field in the Shot Put. Javaris Ambrose of Thornton stands in second (59-0.25) ahead of Tyler Michelini of Lake Park (58-1.75) and Kaden Garland of Oak Park-River Forest (57-8.25).

Discus – Reece Ihenacho of Cary-Grove and Maverick Ohle of Naperville Central stand first and second after the preliminary round of the Discus. Both threw their leading throws in the third round. Ihenacho threw 175-10 to take the lead in that round. Ohle followed throwing 172-0.