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Bourbonnais, Ill --- Lockport’s John Meyer was ahead of the Shot Put field at Saturday’s Lockport Boys Open at Olivet Nazarene University. Even if he is doing this part time for now.

“I wouldn’t consider it even as part time,” Lockport Coach Tom Razo said. “He has made it to a couple of practices. Most of his time has been with the basketball team.”

Meyer has been doing double duty so far early in this 2017 track season. He has spent most of his time with Lockport’s basketball team whose season is still going on. They start state regional play on Monday. In his spare time, for the time being, he goes into the Shot Put ring heaving a 12-pound shot as far as he can. In this meet, it was hard to tell that he has not spent much time in the ring.

The Lockport junior had a 57-5 season’s best in his first meet last week. His four fair marks all bettered his season’s best. His final throw in the competition was 60-1.25 winning the competition by almost 10 feet. He pumped his fist before he even knew what the distance was. The performance is currently ranked second in the state.

“With basketball season going on, there is not a lot of time to throw,” Meyer said. He had to rush from the meet to make it to the basketball practice at 1:00 PM.

“I didn’t focus on much during the prelims. I just wanted to finish it through and tried to stay forward on the front of the ring. I just tried to keep my mind clear when I stepped into the ring.”

Meyer had a 63-0 personal best at the end of last season and has already improved on his indoor personal best. Just imagine what he will do this year when he goes full-time in the ring once his business on the basketball court is done for the year.

Neuqua Valley uses distance and depth to win the team title

Neuqua Valley ruled on the cross-country course during the fall winning the 3A state championship. That trend could continue into the track season as evidenced by the 100 points they scored to win the team title in this meet. The bulk points were scored in distance events. Ja’Quere Williams was the exception as he pulled away from his section to win the 400 Meter Dash (51.82).

The Wildcats used teamed tactics in the 3200 Meter Run capturing the first three spots. “We were trying to run in an Indian file,” race winner Scott Anderson said. “One of us would take the lead. When the pace started to slow down, one of us would step up and take over.”

Anderson ran 9:24.55 for the win pulling away from teammate Jake McEneaney in the final 500 meters. Jackson Jett finished third.

Isaiah Robinson looked strong in his win in the 800 Meter Run. He took the lead at the break 150 meters into the race. Logan Singer (Evanston, junior) and Stewart Keene (Homewood-Flossmoor, junior) tried to pass in the final lap but Robinson refused to give up the lead. Both Robinson (1:59.55) and Singer (1:59.88) went under two minutes. Keene finished third achieving a personal best (2:00.81).

The best distance race of the day was the 1600 Meter Run. Soren Knudsen (Minooka, senior) was the top seed but the race looked to be wide open. The 3A state cross-country champ was impressive running a 2:01 anchor split to give Minooka the win in the 3200 Relay (8:16.70). You could tell after that race that the 800 leg that he ran took a lot out of him.

“I’m gassed,” Knudsen said after the relay. “I just finished my swimming season. I’ve only done three workouts after that season.”

“He’s only run for about a week full time,” his coach Nick Lundin said. “He ran a personal best for the first 200 (26 seconds).”

The pace played into Knudsen’s hands as a pack of runners went through the first 400 in a sluggish 68 seconds. Paul Milkus (Shepard, senior) pushed the pace for the next 200 meters. Then Josh Mollway (Neuqua Valley, senior) took over the leading chores breaking up the pack going through the 800 in 2:13 and hen the 1200 in 3:18. Knudsen stayed within contact moving closer and closer to Mollway.

Knudsen made his move with 250 meters left trying to get by Mollway. The Neuqua runner would not let him pass on the curve entering the final lap. Knudsen ran out of steam and Mollway pulled away improving his personal best by nine seconds (4:22.79). Knudsen was next (4:27.01) holding off Neuqua’s Ryan Kennedy (4:27.76).

“I knew he was coming. I knew he ran the 4x8 earlier,” Mollway said. “I was surprised he started out slowly. I just started to race my own race. I knew he was coming and I heard people cheering. I did not let it get to me. I just had to keep pushing it from there.”

Homewood-Flossmoor steps into the spotlight

The one comment that was prevalent among coaches leaving the meet was how strong Homewood-Flossmoor looked especially against strong teams like Edwardsville, Minooka, and Neuqua Valley. The Vikings captured the 800 and 1600 relays against some strong sprint teams.

They took command of the 800 Meter Relay early after the first exchange. The quartet of Joshua Bridges, Christian Reed, Grant Floyd, and Jesuseun Adeyiga brought the baton around to win in 1:32.05. Evanston closed in for second only 39 hundredths behind (1:32.44). Adeyiga looked strong in the 60 Meter finals finishing second (6.95) behind Plainfield North’s Marcellus Moore (6.91) who set a new school freshman record.

Their dominance continued in the 1600 Meter Relay. Minooka took the lead with Evanston and Homewood-Flossmoor a second back. A strong second leg by Matthew Lewis-Banks gave the Vikings the lead for good. Knikolas Bentley-Dean, Lewis-Banks, Davell Clemon, and Tyler Roberson ran 3:31.69 for the win four seconds ahead of Neuqua Valley (3:35.35).

The 1-2 finish by Roberson and Clemon was a thing of beauty. The duo took over the lead from Shepard’s Caleb Washington after the first 250 meters of the race and rolled from there. They passed 400 meters in 54 seconds. Roberson out leaned Clemon for the win by one hundredth of a second (1:25.13 – 1:25.14). Washington finished third (1:26.92).

The Vikings scored 87 points to finish second. They will be a team to watch out for in the next couple of months.

Meet Notes

Defending 3A 110 Hurdles champion Travis Anderson (Edwardsville, senior) was in mid-season form even though that this was only his first meet of the season. He was not pushed in the finals of the 60 Meter Hurdles winning by 57 hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Matt Griebe. His time of 8.00 is currently ranked second in the state and ninth nationally.

Throw away the fact that Brad Garron (Evanston, senior) that ran 53.49 in the 400 Meter Dash to finish fifth. Just 15 minutes earlier, he had led off his team’s 800 Meter Relay. He did have some time to rest before the 200 Meter Dash. Freshman Phenom Marcellus Moore got off to a great start and had the lead off the curve with 50 meters to go. Garron passed Moore in the past 15 meters and then held him off for the win by just six hundredths of a second (22.28 – 22.34). Garron then came back 15 minutes later to anchor his team’s 1600 Meter Relay.

It’s simple. His times will drop in May at the right time. He is just putting in the work now to get his rewards later.

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