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Newms Notes - March 5, 2014
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By Michael Newman
It is snowing outside again! We look outside hoping that we will ever will be able to see Lane 8 of our outside track again. Spring will come hopefully sooner than later.
In the meantime, the action has started to heat up underneath the roofs of some great facilities in the state of Illinois. Here is a look of some of the stories behind the stories that we have reported on the past week.
Maurice is better than you… Cahokia Coach Leroy Milsap does a great job in motivating his athletes. He also keeps their feet on the ground as well. Ja’Mari Ward has felt some of that gentile encouragement.
“All that I have been telling him is that Maurice is better than you,” Coach Milsap told me. The Maurice that he kept referring to is Maurice Robinson. Before Milsap moved up to coach at Cahokia, he coached in Alabama. While he coached in Alabama, Robinson jumped 49-9 in the Triple Jump just missing on the 50 foot barrier. Robinson continued the process jumping 52-3 ¾ before he graduated from high school. So up until a feew eeks ago, Robinson was the best Triple Jump athlete that Milsap had ever coached.
Ward finally cracked the 50 foot barrier at Troy Triad two weeks ago. “I think he was getting tired of me telling him that Maurice was better,” Milsap joked. “I think he needed to shut me up.”
Ward will be back on the runways this weekend at the SIU High School Invitational on Saturday. Then it is on to the New York Armory for the New Balance Indoor Nationals in two weeks.
The things we have to do Cahokia did have a busy time the last weekend. They traveled up to Bloomington to the Normal West Invitational Thursday afternoon. They returned back to Cahokia at 3AM Friday morning. They turned around at 12 noon on Friday to head to Kankakee for the Thornwood Boys Open. That was a five hour trip. It would make sense just to head north. The administrators of the school did not approve that idea. They insisted that the team return back to Cahokia.
The Thornwood trip came from the pockets of Leroy Milsap. Some of the things that this team does comes not from funding from the school district, but from Milsap himself. He believes so much in the young men that he teaches that he is willing to make that sacrifice. I got that from talking to his athletes this past weekend. The team has won three straight 2A championships. The recognition has not come from the school. According to his athletes, the school does not have any of the team championship photos on the walls of their school. It has hit this team hard that their school has not done that simple thing. It has been the simple things that Coach Milsap has done that keeps them going.
No longer flying under the radar Thornton’s Boys Track team usually is not noticed earlier in the year. Most of their meets are hand timed meaning you do not see those times on TFX. It still means that they are lurking out there. Never was that so obvious in the way that the Wildcats let their running do the talking Saturday at the Thornwood open.
They could be a team that will challenge for a trophy. Cavion Clanton won the 55 Meter Dash at that meet. He perhaps is not the team’s top sprinter. Jauan Wesley, who was all-state last year in the 200 Meter Dash, false-started in the 55 prelims. Wesley came back and placed third in the 200. Ti’fonte Hunt proved he was one of the state’s top hurdlers by running the state’s top 55 hurdle time in nipping Antonio Shenault. Hunt also could be tough in the 200 and is part of their tough sprint relay squads. 1:30.88 in the 4x2 show the potential this team could have outdoors.
Who is the top sprinter? It is a different scenario than it was a year ago. During the early part of the track season in 2013, Jonathan Boey was throwing down some great times in the 55 and 60 Meter Dash. This track season is completely different.
You could point at any sprinter that his name at the top of the TFX list and be correct. Marcus Jones (Brother Rice HS, Chicago) ran a 6.53 at ICOPS on Sunday. He is in that discussion. Cavion Clanton ran 6.55 at Thornton? What about him? Khamari Montgomery (Central HS, Plainfield) and Devin Ingram (Minooka HS) put down some great times in January. Do not forget of them. Josh Eiker (Galesburg HS) exploded on the scene with a 6.51 at Knox College last Friday. He could be forcing himself into that discussion.
This argument could be all moot by the time Cole Henderson (Pekin HS) steps to the line at the end of March. Last year when Boey was getting all of the sprint headlines, Henderson stepped in at the Charleston High School Invitational at the end of March and defeated Boey. That is when Pekin starts their season. The soft spoken Henderson will then again start his season at the same place where it will end…the campus of Eastern Illinois University. Henderson did have some injuries during the football season that he has healed from. He is just following the plans that his coach has laid out for him to be successful. The discussion on who the top male sprinter in the state can start when Cole Henderson steps onto the track.
Remember when? I was looking for a quiet place to interview Matt Anyiwo (pronounced a-new-o) after he won the 400 Meter Dash at Saturday’s Thornwood Open. We got near the stands and saw that someone had lost their lunch. We side stepped from that area and did the interview.
Afterwards, Matt asked me if I remember the interview I did with him at the World Youth Trials at Edwardsville last June. I took me a second but jarred my memory. Matt had just run a great prelim to get to the finals of the 800. It was extremely hot with the temperatures close to 100. Under a tent, we started the interview. Half way through, he had to stop. Almost on queue, Anyiwo lost his lunch. I had never had that happen to me before in the middle of an interview. That had never happened to Matt before either. We both laughed.
This weekend This will be an extremely busy weekend as the big invitationals kick into high gear. It could be the Girls that take center stage.
Hononegah will be hosting their own 34 team girls only invitational underneath the Hononegah Dome at the school. It is a 200 Meter track that even though you cannot wear spikes on it, fast times usually come from it. With Yorkville and St. Charles East now joining the field, the competition should be fantastic. Emma Spagnola (West HS, Aurora) will be one of the athletes to keep an eye on along with Yorkville’s Skyler Bollinger. Proviso West will also be having their Lady Panther Invitational. Madeline Perez will be on the track looking for fast times in either the 1600 or 3200. There will also be great Girls meets at Bloomington, Argo, Bloom, and Hinsdale Central.
The first of the big “college-site” invitationals throughout the state starts on Friday evening in Carbondale for the SIU High School Invitational. Some of the top athletes in the south will converge on this campus looking for some great performances. The Boys meet takes place on Saturday.
Champaign Centennial hosts its Charger Classic at the U of I Armory Saturday. The ABC style meet produced some great performances a year ago. There should be more of the same in 2014. The York Boys Invitational usually produces some great distance times early in the year. Nolan McKenna (Wheaton-Warrenville South HS), Zach Dale (Conant HS, Hoffman Estates), and Graham Brown (Palatine HS) will be some of the athletes on the track guaranteeing some fast running.
The Jacksonville Invitational on the campus of Illinois College usually produces some good times. The 2A meet takes place on Friday evening. The smaller schools hit the track on Saturday morning. Batavia will host their boys and girls invitationals beginning Friday evening. Meets at Illinois State University, Buffalo Grove, and Maine East are some of the meets to keep an eye on.
The capper of the evening is the Windy City Pole Vault Summit at Rolling Meadows High School. Luke Winder (Central HS, Plainfield), Adam Coulon (Tri-Valley HS, Downs) and Lindsay Murray (Harrisburg HS) will headline some of the top athletes in the event in one place.
And finally… I’m not one to find significance in dates on the calendar. February 28, 2013 is one date that I will always remember. It was the day that DyeStat came back to life so to speak. It was quite a journey to say the least.
ESPN decided to drop high school coverage in a June 2012 meaning that DyeStat was without a home. I was working on something for an upcoming article. All that came to a stop once that we heard the news. The next day, I went into Chicago to meet with a headhunter about a job possibility in management with a company in Minneapolis. Before and after the meeting, I was receiving e-mail from Bob Geiger about plans after DyeStat. I was also receiving e-mails from John Dye with updates about what was going on. John was in Greensboro for New Balance Nationals. Even though DyeStat was basically no more, the team was on-site covering the meet.
He asked me if I was willing to input the results into TFX for that weekend. We did not know where DyeStat was going, but I agreed to do that. Later in the day, he e-mailed me and thanked me for doing this. He also told me that he was going to try to restart DyeStat. Would I be interested?
That following Monday, I was on a plane to Minneapolis to meet with the executives of the company. It was impressive. If I had to make a decision right away, I would have taken it. The one thing was that I would have had to relocate that area. I had just moved back to Chicago after living seven years in Cleveland. Being back in my home town revitalized me. It gave me new life.
It would have meant a ton of money. It also would have meant being away from my kids who were living with their mother in the Chicago suburbs. By the time I got off the plane, I had made my decision. I could have commuted on the weekend back to Chicago. That’s not a lifestyle I treasured. I had a choice of two roads to go on. I went on the road that was less traveled full of uncertainty.
Later in the week, I spent an hour on the phone with John. He told me his plans. He wanted me to be on board but could not give me a commitment. I wanted to be on board. I had thought about it before the conversation. John had sent an e-mail to us. At the end of the e-mail, it said:
There are times in life where you have to struggle to get to the point where you need to be at. There are no certainties that you will get to that point, but having faith in the process gets you there.
I went to my family cottage in Michigan for a week just to get away from everything. No internet. Just my computer looking over a lake. It gave me a chance to reflect. While I was there, I spent two hours writing down plans. If the Illinois site was coming back, how would it function? It was something similar that I did in management. I wrote a blueprint of what I wanted to do in regards to coverage, features, etc. that would be on a website that would be dedicated to covering Illinois cross country and track & field. I still have that piece of paper. I am still following that blueprint. You can’t be successful reacting to what someone else is doing. Look at running. Does your coach change a workout because someone else is doing something different? I hope not.
There is more to the story. Maybe a new blog? All I know to getting DyeStat Illinois up and running was hard work. Nothing worth doing comes easily.
It is an easy answer why I do what I do. I think most of you can see that through what I write. When I decided to move back to Chicago, I dedicated myself to this profession. It would have been easier for a management job but that is not where my passion would be. I wanted to give back to a sport that has given me so much. Yes, it means hard work with solitude as my friend. It means not knowing what is going on in the rest of the world because you do not want it to influence what you are writing. Many hours are spent at looking at notes, ideas, and a blank screen
I receive e-mails with thanks for covering the sport. The one message that influenced me to write this happened at the Proviso West Invitational a couple of weeks ago. A coach handed me a note. Later in the meet in between recording a race, I read that note. I have read it again and again. It sits on my desk as I write this.
I have not said this enough but that note reminds me to do this. I want to thank all of you that read what I create every week. You choose to look at what I do and I will be forever grateful for that. The reason why DyeStat Illinois is what it is comes from the cooperation that I receive from the athletes and coaches in Illinois. A few hours after Jonathan Wells cleared 7-2, I had a video of that jump in my mailbox. It was up on DyeStat Illinois that night. You guys make this site as great as it is.
I thank you for your help in this journey that I am on. Thank you for the faith that you have in me to cover your meet. Thank you for letting me serve you. The note reminds me that it is never me that the focus should be on, but the event itself. I think we have done a pretty good job in doing that.
Thank you to John Dye that had faith in me. I am glad that now in retirement, he can enjoy that we are continuing on what he had created and started. Thank you to Ross Krempley that believes in my crazy ideas and brought back DyeStat and TFX.
The next year should be fun. I am still following that plan. Wait until you see what we have in store for you in year two of DyeStat Illinois.
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