By Michael Newman, [email protected]

We are only in the second week of the Illinois season and there are a couple of Illinois athletes that are among the top ten nationally. It will be exciting to see how this state compares when it gets fully up and running by the time we get to March.

The big news of the weekend was the accomplishments of Kathleen Young (Warrensburg-Latham HS, senior) in two meets in Ohio on Saturday and Sunday. She went past the 50 foot mark (50-4 ½) easily winning the Shot Put at the Ohio State HS Open Meet #3 Saturday. As it turned out to be, that was only a warmup for what she was to do Sunday afternoon at Tiffin University.

Young, who will be attending the University of South Carolina this fall, unleashed a personal best 52-4 to win the Shot Put. It is the best performance ever for an Illinois Girls athlete (indoors or outdoors) in the event. She set the IHSA State Meet Record in the Shot Put last May with a 51-0 performance. She improved her personal best by 4 ½ inches. The 52-4 put keeps her ranked second in the nation.

Young also improved on her personal best in the Weight Throw finishing third overall with a 55-9 effort. She is currently ranked ninth nationally in the event.

It will be another busy weekend for Young as she will compete at the University of Kentucky High School Invitational on Saturday and then travel to the University of Missouri for the Big River Series High School Finals on Sunday.

Jaimie Robinson (Homewood-Flossmoor, senior) has started off her season strongly in the horizontal jump events. She is currently ranked eighth nationally in the Triple Jump with a 40-7 ½ jump at the Arkansas High School Invitational on January 14 representing the University of Chicago Track Club. In her first meet of the season with Homewood-Flossmoor last Tuesday at Homewood-Flossmoor’s Track Facility, Robinson jumped 19-2 ¾ to move her ninth nationally in the event.

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The distance events picked up especially in Girls meets over the weekend.

Glenbard West hosted a triangular meet on their home 160 meter track on Saturday. Their star distance runners Katelynne Hart and Lindsey Payne both competed and did quite well. 

Payne, the defending 3A champion at 3200 meters, ran a solo 5:09.9 in flats to easily win the 1600 Meter Run.

“I felt great today. I feel I am at a better start than I was last year,” Payne said. “I did not have the breathing problems like I did during cross-country. I definitely felt great on this small track.”

Payne earlier in the meet ran a 2:22 split on her team’s 3200 Meter Relay that ran 10:10.2 to win the event. Katelynne Hart opened her high school track career on a high note running a 2:18 split for her team. She came back to win the 400 Meter Dash (1:01.8) and helped her team win the 1600 Meter Relay.

“I was so excited. I had done some track meets before,” Hart said. “I had done high school cross-country in the fall and heard that this was a lot different. I was just ready to get started today.”

A 2:18 split in flats on a 160 meter track is an attention getter. It has us wondering what she will do later in the season when we get to the state series.

“For indoors, I am just running and seeing how it goes,” Hart added. “I would love to run a sub 4:50 mile outdoors. I think that would be awesome. I have never run a 3200 on the track, just a 3 kilometer. I just want to do my very best.”

The Hinsdale Central Six Team Meet on Saturday provided the deepest of the mile fields to take place this weekend. Only less than two seconds separated the first three runners. Claire Hamilton (Naperville North, senior) won the 1600 (5:10.8) just three tenths ahead of her teammate Sarah Schmitt (junior) who ran 5:11.1. Downers Grove South freshman Erin Reidy ran 5:12.3 to finish third.

Sarah Harden (Hersey, senior) anchored her team to the win in the 3200 Relay as Hersey ran a state leading 10:06.40 for the win. Harden came back to run 5:11.42 to win the 1600 Meter Run. Her teammate Teagan Beckley (sophomore) ran the fastest time of the season so far (11:14.45) to win by 31 seconds.

Sara Atkins (Wheaton-Warrenville South, senior) started her season on a winning note on her home 177 meter track Friday evening. Atkins ran 5:11.90 to win the 1600 Meter Run by 25 seconds.

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The field events for Boys had the most action this past weekend. John Meyer (Lockport Township, senior) started of his track season with a 57-5 effort in the Shot Put at a home quad meet. He is currently second in the state behind the 61-11 ¾ mark achieved by Sam Sikon (Carbondale HS, senior) at the Vanderbilt High School Invitational on February 4.

The Pole Vault has been another event that I am sure will catch our attention as the season progresses. Lucas Weaver (Providence Catholic, senior) cleared 15-0 to win the event at the Lonnell Poole Invitational at Bloom High School last Saturday. He is currently ranked second in the state behind the 16-4 clearance by defending 3A champion Zach Bradford (Bloomington, junior) at the Reno Pole Vault Summit in January. 

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Proviso West’s Girls relay performances at their own relay meet last Saturday were perhaps the best of last weekend. Running 1:46 in the 800 Meter Relay was good. The 4:07.45 meet record that they ran later in the meet shows the potential that they could have when we get to May.

There was so much graduation in the 3200 Meter Relay from last year making that event wide open. Whitney Young showed that they are hungry for the top of the podium in that event this May in Charleston. They only ran 8:15.98 to easily win the event at Proviso West on Saturday. They were in position to run a super time when Marc Harvey opened in 2:00 followed by a 1:59.9 by Anthony Tuman.

The Dolphins achieved that time without Evan Radomski and Clayton Mendez. Radomski ran 1:26.4 in the 600 at a meet at Proviso West on February 3. Mendez had a super start to the season after a so-so cross country campaign as he ran a 4:20 1600 in the same meet.

Lyons Township was in the meet but did not have their stars Danny Kilrea and Vince Zona in the relay. We could see them at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in March according to Zona. Both runners are healthy. It should be fun to see what they achieve in the next couple of months.