Stewart runs IL #2 60 Hurdle time in Illinois at Inaugural Co-Ed Invitational

By Michael Newman

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Flossmoor, Ill – Imagine if you were a coach and your school district came up to you asking what you wanted in a new track facility. That is what happened to Homewood-Flossmoor track coaches Nate Beebe and Rob Aassie when the idea of a new track facility was brought to their attention. Even though there have been a month’s worth of meets in this new building, Saturday’s Homewood-Flossmoor Co-Ed Invitational was the unofficial ribbon cutting for the track.

It is a 200 Meter Mondo track surface. No spikes are allowed on the track. That was the school administration’s decision. There is an area east of the track where the Shot Put athletes competed at. By the way, it also doubles as a 30-40 yard practice area for the Vikings’ football team. The weight room over-looking the track is state of the art with a 30 meter sprint area. The superlatives just keep going on and on.

Even though spikes are not allowed on the track, there were some state top performances achieved Saturday. In some of the races, Homewood-Flossmoor proved to be rue hosts capturing events with some quick times. Jayla Stewart (Homewood-Flossmoor HS) did not run the perfect race in the 60 Meter Hurdles. Her performance was good enough for an 8.87 time and the second fastest time in Illinois for that event. Stewart also owns the fastest time in the 55 Meter Hurdles.

“My block start was a little slow,” Stewart said. “Everything else in my race seemed to be fine.”

Stewart’s teammate Antoinette Broughton had a great start in the 60 Meter Dash. That start gave her the advantage to hold off Amira Young (Whitney Young HS, Chicago) to win the race (7.82 – 7.87). Broughton’s time is the third fastest time in the state. The Whitney Young freshman came back later in the meet to win the 200 Meter Dash (25.87, IL #9) ahead of Asia Brown (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort).

Bloom Township pulled away in the final two legs to win the 800 Meter Relay (1:46.66, IL #3) ahead of Whitney Young and 2 time defending 3A champion in the event Lincoln-Way East. The Griffins have a deep sprint squad this season and have experimented with different lineups. There was no concern in their camp. “We see each week as an audition on the track,” Lincoln-Way East coach Brian Evans said about his deep squad. “The only lineup that matters is the one we put on the track in May.”

Bloom also came back at the end of the meet to win the 1600 Meter Relay (4:10.66, IL #4) more than three seconds ahead of Lincoln-Way East. Rachel Wilson (Homewood-Flossmoor HS) had the best field performance of the Girls meet she won the Shot Put (41-2, IL #5) ahead of Lane Kadlec (Lockport Township HS).

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The color purple ruled in the Boys Meet sprints events. Even though some key members of last year’s squad graduated, Thornton looks ready to challenge for the top spots in the 3A sprint events this spring. Martise Craig (Thornton HS, Harvey) pulled away from Tony Bello (Homewood-Flossmoor HS) in the final 15 meters to win the 60 Meter Dash (7.07, IL #12 – 7.16). Craig, Tionte McDaniel, Demarcus Johnson, and Jajuan Jasper led from wire to wire to win the 800 Meter Relay (1:33.16, IL #6) more than a second ahead of Minooka.

The 60 Meter Hurdles was the closest race of the day. Elijah Douglas (Crete-Monee HS) edged Demetius Mitchell (Thornton Township HS, Harvey) by six hundredths of a second to win the race (8.39 – 8.45). Jaylan McConico (Bolingbrook HS) placed third only two hundredth of a second behind. Joshua Collins (Bolingbrook HS) held off Tionte McDaniel to win the 200 Meter Dash (23.02 – 23.15).

Christian Hoover (Homewood-Flossmoor HS) took the opening 400 of the 800 Meter Run out in 56 seconds with Chris Drey (Minooka HS) right on his shoulder. In the next 10 meters, Drey fell to the track clutching his hamstring. Hoover went on solo to win the event (2:00.41). Minooka did come back at the end of the meet without Drey to win the 1600 Meter Relay with their best time of the season (3:31.43).

The surprise of the meet was the 600 Meter Run. Peyton Chapman (Bolingbrook HS) pushed the pace early in the 600 going out for 56.2 for the first 400 of the race. Will O’Keefe (Granite City HS) closed on Chapman in the final 200 passing him in the last five meters to win the race (1:25.38) by 25 hundredths of a second.