Aurora Christian lead all teams with eight qualifiers heading to Saturday's final

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

Charleston, Ill --- Weather was the story of the day during the 1A Boys Prelims. At 1:30 PM, a lightning strike was detected six miles north of O’Brien Field forcing IHSA officials to delay the meet. Finally at 3:15, the meet started up with the final heat of the 400 Meter Dash. The first heat of the 300 Intermediate Hurdles started completing the first heat. All of a sudden, the sky started to rumble and lightning was scene in the distance. IHSA officials had no choice but to suspend the meet.

Three hours later, the meet resumed with the conclusion of the 300 hurdles. The meet ended close to 7:30 PM.

Aurora Christian leads all of the teams with eight qualifiers (6 individuals, 2 relays). Defending 1A team champion Sterling Newman, Teutopolis, and Tuscola all had a great prelim day putting themselves in title contention. All three teams qualified seven to Saturday’s finals.

Here is an event by event look at each of the events that were contested Thursday

TRACK EVENTS

4 x 800 Meter Relay – It should be a close final on Saturday as the 3 heat winners were within two seconds of each other. Pleasant Plains won Heat 1 (8:06.27) fairly easily by more than five seconds ahead of Dwight. Daniel Plunkett broke the race wide open for his team running a 1:58 second leg. In Heat 2, Shelbyville’s Drennian Martin pulled away in the final 400 meters to give his team the heat win (8:08.12). Sparta was four seconds back in second. In Heat 3, TJ Pitcock broke the race wide open for Byron in his second leg running a 1:57 split. George Gunther closed for Urbana University in the final 50 meters of the race, but Byron’s Nick Wagner held on for the win.

4 x 100 Meter Relay - Aurora Christian will be the favorite in this event heading to Saturday’s final. Led by a strong anchor by Jonathan Harrell, the Eagles had the fastest prelim time (42.99) in winning the second heat. Brett Charlton pulled away in his anchor leg to give Eureka the win in Heat 3 (43.20) six tenths ahead of Staunton. Erie-Prophetstown used strong exchanges to win Heat 1 (43.26) ahead of Rushville-Industry. Leo Catholic won Heat 4 (43.53) without start sprinter Theodore Hopkins. The Leo senior was scratched out of the 200 Finals at the Lisle Sectional last week. It appears he could be injured. Leo held on for a fifteen hundredth of a second win ahead of Arcola (43.53-43.68). On a bad note, Madison was disqualified in Heat 1 because of the final exchange made outside of the zone. That was the second year in a row that a DQ occurred for this school in this event. Their time would have been the 10^th overall missing by one hundredth of a second.

110 Meter High Hurdles – It should be a close final as the top two qualifiers are only separated by three hundredths of a second. Tommy Lovett (Seneca HS) had the fastest prelim time winning Heat 4 (14.93). Regan Todhunter (Newman Catholic HS, Sterling) finished second also qualifying. Eric Matthews (Cisne HS) won Heat 3 (14.98) almost a half a second ahead of Brady Crane (Rushville-Industry HS). Josh Kirby (Peoria Christian HS) held off Vaughn Gentzler (Paxton-Buckley-Loda HS) to win the first heat (15.06 – 15.28). Aaron Luesse (Unity HS, Tolono) won Heat 2 (15.23) ahead of Joe Feemolu (Mooseheart HS).

100 Meter Dash – Winds picked up from the south at the start of the first heat of this event making the times particularly slow. Andre McGill (Madison HS) led all qualifiers running 11.14 to win Heat 1 ahead of Brady Rude (Newman Catholic HS, Sterling). It took a picture to decide who won Heat 2 between Brett Charlton (Eureka HS) and Jacob Sholl (Illini West HS, Carthage). Charlton won by only eight hundredth of a second ahead of Sholl (11.18-11.26). Broc Smith (Tuscola HS) looked extremely strong winning Heat 4 (11.18). Justin Goff (Wesclin HS, Trenton) finished in second. Freshman Jason Rowell (IC Catholic Prep, Elmhurst) won Heat 3 (11.45) by eight hundredths ahead of Bernard Cole (Beecher HS).

800 Meter Run – Heat 3 showed that Saturday’s final could break the 1A record. Defending 1A champion Michael Brown (White County HS, Carmi) stayed on the shoulder of Tye Sutherland (Cumberland HS, Toledo) until the final 50 meters when he made a burst to pass. Brown finished with the fastest prelim time (1:56.63) just ahead of Sutherland (1:56.75). Andrew Warnes (Unity HS, Tolono) nudged by Tristan Fox (Lena-Winslow HS) in the last couple of meters to grab the Heat 2 win by three hundredths of a second (1:57.93 – 15:57.96). Wal Khat (Mooseheart HS) led from the gun running a relaxed 1:58.50 to win Heat 1 by more than a second ahead of Andy Arenz (Auburn HS).

4 x 200 Meter Relay – Aurora Christian added another qualifier in this event. The Eagles had the fastest prelim time (1:29.54) to win Heat 3 by close to two seconds ahead of IC Catholic Prep. Eureka received another strong anchor by Brett Charlton to win heat 4 (1:30.35) holding off an oncoming Andre McGill (Madison HS). Madison qualified for finals running 1:30.85. Sterling Newman Catholic continues to impress winning Heat 2 (1:30.92) by almost a second ahead of Seneca). Erie-Prophetstown qualified its second relay of the meet winning Heat 1 (1:31.29). Leo Catholic finished second, but was disqualified for making an exchange outside of the zone. Knoxville won the final heat (1:31.67) by strong anchor by Michael Randall.

400 Meter Dash – The event was interrupted after the third heat of the 400 due to a lightning delay for 1 hour 45 minutes. Jason Pokalsey (Central A&M HS, Moweaqua) passed a tiring Jonathan Harrell (Aurora Christian HS) in the last 100 to win the first heat with the prelims fastest time (49.54). Harrell, who had just run a leg in his team’s 4x2 relay, finished just behind (49.71). Kurterry Singleton (Holy Trinity HS, Chicago) followed up winning Heat 2 (49.75) ahead of a charging Ryan Mayberry (Morrison HS). Ben Montgomery (Athens HS) won Heat 3 (49.84) ahead of second place Tristan Fox by almost a second. Fox qualified in the 400 after qualifying in the 800 30 minutes prior. Then the delay came. Andrew Sharp (Altamont HS), the converted distance runner now “fly boy”, ran the second fastest prelim time (49.62) to finish ahead of qualifiers Kyle Blievernicht (Teutopolis HS) and Tim Doll (Westmont HS).

300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles – The whopper of the day’s delays happened after Trenton Lowery won Heat 1 (40.43). It started to rain and the sky started to rumble. Almost three hours later, the meet resumed with Logan Podowicz (Central HS, Clifton) edged Riley Drees (Teutopolis HS) to win Heat 2 by only twelve hundredths of a second (39.70 – 39.82). Ronnie Drummond (Wesclin HS, Trenton) won another close race in this event edging Cole Deming (Hillsboro HS) by only eight hundredths of a second (40.10 – 40.18). Matt McCoy (Lewistown HS) followed by running the fastest prelim time in the event (39.61) winning by only two hundredths of a second (39.61 – 39.63). Bryce Holesinger (Fulton HS) won the final heat pulling away from Vaughn Gentzler on the final hurdle for the win (39.69 – 40.10). Only eight hundredths of a second separate the top four runners. This should be an exciting final Saturday afternoon.

1600 Meter Run – The storms delaying the meet was a big help to the 800 runners that were trying to double back in the 1600. Michael Cook (Wethersfield HS, Kewanee) had the only successful double placing third in the final section. The delay also took the intense humidity that was in the air before the storm out of the air and also dropped the temperature down 15 degrees. It was a tale of three heats. Each heat was run completely different. In heat 1, Nick Ponder (Tuscola HS) broke the pack in the first 400 as he went by in 59 seconds. Ben Scamihorn (Marshall HS) caught up to Ponder just after the 800 Meter point. Ponder held on and tried to kick Scamihorn down. The Marshall senior passed Ponder back in the last 100 for the win (4:22.29). Ponder was just behind only three tenths back. In the second heat, Nick Hess (St. Thomas More HS, Champaign) had control of the race at the gun. He ran fairly evenly (64, 2:10, 3:16) and won (4:20.39) by three seconds ahead of Cory Landon (Carlinville HS). Jon Davis (Oakwood HS, Fithian) stayed behind Caleb Imig (Tremont HS) as the two went through the 1200 in a sluggish 3:19.6. Davis moved in the last 250 meters running the last 400 in 60.5 to run the prelims fastest time (4:20.28) ahead of Imig by only six tenths of a second.

200 Meter Dash – It should be an extremely close final with the top three runners only separated by seven hundredths of a second. Jacob Sholl (Illini West HS, Carthage) won Heat 2 with the prelims fastest time 22.12. Broc Smith followed by winning Heat 4 with also the same time 22.12. Smith was given the top seed as they are separated by one thousandth of a second. Brett Charlton qualified for his fourth final (2 relays and an individual event) by winning Heat 1 of the 200 (22.19) ahead of Johnathan Harrell (22.43). Jordan Rowell was the other heat winner qualifying for the finals with a 22.32 win in Heat 3.

4 x 400 Meter Relay – The nine finalists in this event are separated by only a little more than two seconds. Care to declare a definitive favorite? Mooseheart has the fastest seed time winning Heat 2 (3:26.44). The other heat winners included Teutopolis (Heat 1: 3:27.35), Toledo Cumberland (Heat 3: 3:27.16), and Tremont (Heat 4: 3:28.51).

FIELD EVENTS

Long Jump – Corey Kersey (Neoga HS) leads all qualifiers heading into Saturday’s final of this event. Kersey jumped 22-6 ½ with a 2.1 wind at his back. Marcus Sitko (Staunton HS) is currently second (22-2).

Triple Jump – Corey Kersey took command in this event as well. He leads all competitors with a 47-2 ¼ jump. His lead ahead of second place Ben Montgomery (Athens HS) is close to a foot and a half.

High Jump – 12 athletes qualified for Saturday’s final led by Derek Wegman (Tri Valley HS, Downs) and Matt Utterback (Pleasant Plains HS). All finalists cleared 6-3.

Pole Vault – Jack Denby (Carlinville HS) and Riley Smith (Casey Westfield HS) lead 13 qualifiers into Saturday’s final. All finalists cleared 13-6.

Shot Put – Jason Fry (Stewardson-Strasburg HS) leads all qualifiers heading into the Saturday morning final of this event. Fry’s leading put of 55-1 ½ currently leads the competition by close to three feet. Stephen Gibson (Tuscola HS) is currently in second place.

Discus – Jonah Walker (Aurora Christian HS) could give his team some big points. He leads after the prelims with a 165-10 throw. He only leads Blaze Murfin (Illini West HS, Carthage) by only five inches.