Above photo: Jon Davis on his way to the win in the 3200 Meter Run (in training flats) – Doug McDannald photo

By Michael Newman

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Charleston, Ill --- After a brief rain shower dampened the opening ceremony for the IHSA Boys State Track & Field Championships, meet management made the decision to put the meet on a rolling schedule speeding the meet up missing the “possibility” of thunderstorms. A message on the stadium’s PA system was made. A message on the IHSA’s weather Twitter link (@ihsaweather) was made once.

That message did not get to Jon Davis (Oakwood HS, Fithian). With skies cleared by 10:30 AM, Davis presumed that his race would go off on time at 12:10 PM. But when it comes to decisions made by the meet management of this IHSA championship, you should presume that none of the decisions that are made by them are logical. Yes, it is the responsibility of the coach and the athlete to know that the meet is moving quicker than expected. Shouldn’t the same apply to meet management when making a decision that it should make sense?

Davis had just finished his warm-up near 11:40 when he was told that his race was about to go to the starting line. He rushed to the tent where officials let him in. By this times, athletes had been moved to the starting line. Davis appeared from the tent still in his training flats trying to get his spikes on. It was lucky that the race was held up for a minute so that Davis could get the line. Officials told Davis that if he wanted to race, he needed to get to the line now. Davis sprinted to the line and laced up his training flats and stood on the line.

The start had Davis bolting to the lead opening up an eight second lead as he powered through the first 400 in a mile-like pace of 61.1 seconds. “I did not know what was going on,” Davis said. All my frustration of what had just happened came out in the first lap.”

By the time he got to the mile in 4:26.4, he had opened up close to a twenty second lead ahead of the rest of the pack. He could not keep up that pace. The combination of a flu bug that hit him on Tuesday and Wednesday along with what had happened before the race had caught up to him. The pace slowed down to 71 seconds, and a pair of 74 seconds the following two laps. He crossed the line in 9:14.15 to win his eight state championship and the third straight in that event. Logan Hall (Arthur-Lovington HS) was next running 9:37.76 to take the second spot. Hall ran over to the tent along with Davis for the start of the race.

Davis was stirring around the infield after the race still mad what had happened. He pointed at his feet showing the heavier training flats that he wore for that race compared to the spikes that he wanted to.

“It is the coaches and the athlete’s responsibility to be aware of the schedule. Every coach received a text about the schedule,” an IHSA official said who wished to remain anonymous (Writer’s notes: In talking to ten coaches after the meet, none of them received a text). “Instead of being mad, he should be appreciative that we allowed him to run.”

“The officials told me before the race (in the tent) that I was not going to run. I told them that I beg to differ. This has been a long journey and I did not want it to end with a DNS (Did Not Start),” Davis said. “I was talking to people in the tent before the start of the 1600. They told me that they were afraid of weather. I don’t know how they could be afraid of sunny weather. I’m not going to argue.”

Davis led the pack through the first 62.3 first 400 of the 1600 Meter Run. He had hopes of going after Dorian Ulrey’s 1A record of 4:09, but he knew that the record was not going to happen considering what he had gone through the past few days. He slowed the pace down going through the 800 in 2:11.4. Hunter Cobbley (El Paso-Gridley HS) took the lead but Davis stayed close. Davis took the lead at the bell lap as the pace had slowed to 3:21.1. It was his race from there. He ran the final 400 on the Eastern Illinois track in 58.6 as he crossed the line in 4:19.72. Cory Landon (Carlinville HS) finished second six seconds behind (4:25.07).

That championship gave him his ninth state championship overall. He won the 1600 for the third straight year along with winning the cross country title, 3200, and 1600 three straight years. The crowd at O’Brien Stadium stood up and cheered as he got close to the finish line. They realized that they were watching one of the greatest distance runners ever in Illinois High School history.

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New Berlin came to Charleston with three individual qualifiers and two relays. With schools ahead of them coming to EIU numbers, they needed everything to click in order to leave with a trophy. When they left the stadium on Thursday, all five had advanced to the Saturday finals. Everything clicked in Saturday’s finals as they left O’Brien Stadium with a state championship. The Pretzels scored 46 points to capture the program’s first state championship. Peru St. Bede, who only brought three athletes to Charleston, finished second with 32 points. Rock Island Alleman scored 31 points to finish third just one point ahead of Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.

Khalil Wassell carried the load for New Berlin qualifying for three finals and also a part of his team’s 400 Meter Relay. His Saturday started anchoring New Berlin’s 400 Relay to the win (42.67) to the state title ahead of Warrensburg-Latham (42.95). He was back on the track a short time later for the 100 Meter Dash finals. It was a close final as Connor Icenogle (Williamsville HS) nipped Wassell at the line for the win (10.77 – 10.79).

Wassell had a little time to rest but got to see his team run the 800 Meter Relay. The quartet of Dylan Treece, Connor Burger, Jacob Pearson, and Kyle Sandhaas carried the stick around the track twice with the lead all along. The Pretzels ran 1:29.81 for the championship. Fulton was almost a second back in second (1:30.64).

Wassell captured the team title in the 400 Meter Dash. He had to come from behind to do that passing Jordan Rowell (IC Catholic Prep, Elmhurst) in the final twenty meters to capture the state title (49.00) just fifteen hundredths ahead of Wassell (49.15). He closed his day finishing second in the 200 Meter Dash (22.14) just two hundredths of a second behind Jeremiah Davis (Collins Academy, Chicago). In his two second place finishes on Saturday, he was only four hundredths of a second out of first.

“Before sectionals, we were feeling really good. I knew the 400 team was doing really well,” Wassell said. “I knew for sure I could make it in my events. Then the relays got in. Then, we got it.”

St. Bede was led by two individual wins by Bret Dannis in both hurdle races. The sophomore showed in this meet that he will be one of the stars in 1A track and field the next couple of years. Dannis was the big favorite in the 110 Highs and he showed that. He ran a personal best of 14.25 to win the title ahead of Lewistown’s Trey Miller (14.78). He completed the double by running 38.89 for the win. Lucas Doiron (Chester HS) ran 39.14 to finish second just three hundredths of a second ahead of Clayton Strader (Arcola HS).

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Highlights

Nick Schultz (Gibson-City-Melvin-Sibley) came from behind in the finals of the Long Jump with a 22-5 mark in the finals to win just ½ inch ahead of Kevin King (McNamara HS, Kankakee.) Schultz cleared 6-7 in the High Jump placing third in what was a classic event. Tyler Owen (Georgetown-Ridge Farm HS) duplicated his win at Illinois Top Times clearing 6-10 for the win ahead of 2015 champion Noah Adams (Meridan HS, Macon). Adams also cleared 6-10 but finished second on more misses at lower heights.

Schultz also was in the Triple Jump where he finished fourth (44-10 ¼). The top three were separated by less than three inches. Ethan Meyer (Vandalia HS) jumped a personal best 45-11 to win the state championship only two inches ahead of Dazhee Horton (Momence HS). Dalton Edwards (Bismarck-Henning HS) jumped 45-8 ¼ to place third. Meyer’s teammate Curtis Gordon cleared a personal best 16-0 to win the Pole Vault. Three athletes cleared 15-3 led by second place Nathan O’Connor (Tremont HS). Ethan Mizer (St. Joseph-Ogden HS) and Adam Coulon (Tri Valley HS, Downs) tied for third.

Kyler Yodts (Alleman HS, Rock Island) was clearly the best in the Shot Put as he had a 60-7 mark to win the state championship ahead of Colton Yeakley (Arthur-Lovington HS) who had a 54-7 ¾ put. Devin Jones (DuQuoin HS) threw 172-11 to win the Discus. John Barnes (St. Bede HS, Peru) threw 170-9 to finish second.

Rockford Christian won the 3200 Meter Relay but it was not easy. Riley Wells dug deep to find one more burst of speed to pass Shelbyville’s Josh Bernson on the final straight to get his team the win (7:54.78) just under a second ahead of Shelbyville (7:55.71). Rockridge ended the 1A meet by winning the 1600 Meter Relay (3:26.73) just twelve hundredths of a second ahead of St. Joseph-Ogden (3:26.85).

Michael Bennett (Dwight HS) had a remarkable weekend in Charleston including the win in the 800 Meter Run. The senior did not look back after he took the lead at the 400 going past in 55.2. Bennett came home with a seasonal best of 1:54.06 almost two seconds ahead of Newton’s Joseph Stone (1:55.92). Bennett an hour earlier ran a 1:54 anchor split to give Dwight a fourth place finish in the 3200 Relay. Bennett ran a 1:53.3 split in Thursday’s preliminary heats.