Above: Easton Bianchi had the fastest prelim times in the 100 and 200 Thursday afternoon (Mike Newman Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Charleston – Pre-meet 1A team favorite Illini West got through Thursday’s 1A preliminary round without error advancing eight to Saturday’s finals of the IHSA Boys State Track & Field Championships at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.

Connor Artman and Jacob Bryan carried the workload for the Chargers qualifying in five individual events between the two of them. Artman currently is in second place in the Long Jump. On the track, Artman and Mercer County’s Mike Neeld were even as they approached the final hurdle of the 110 Meter Hurdles when Neeld clipped it and fell to the ground. Artman won the heat in 15.15. The two faced off in Heat 2 of the 300 Meter Hurdles. Artman pulled away over the final three hurdles to earn the automatic qualifier with the win (39.75). Neeld finished second and qualified for the finals on time (40.43).

Jacob Bryan was busy on this cool Thursday afternoon running in four races. Bryan ran a 1:59.0 anchor leg to lead Illini West to the Heat 3 win and the fastest prelim time in the event (8:12.69). Bryan hung back in the first heat of the 800 Meter run but pulled away in the final 50-meters for the win (1:58.15) ahead of Carlinville’s Jason Landon (1:58.65) and Seneca’s Cole Westmoreland (1:58.73). Bryan also qualified for the 1600 Meter Run finishing third in his heat running his season best of 4:23.92. Bryan came back to team up with Artman, Jace Norman, and Carson McKee to run the fastest prelim time in the 1600 Meter Relay (3:25.35) edging Rockford Christian (3:26.11).

“I am pretty tired right now,” Bryan said after his races. “At least I have tomorrow off and I have recovered pretty fast this season. I’ll be ready for Saturday.”

Jace Norman was Illini West’s other individual qualifier as he cleared 6-2 to qualify for the finals of the High Jump.

There are not too many other teams in his field that have the numbers that Illini West has. But there are a few teams that have some quality numbers that if everything clicks right ha could win a trophy that could be he championship one.

Defending 1A team champion New Berlin will ride on Kahlil Wassell’s legs in Saturday’s finals. The senior did what he need to do in comfortable looking fashion qualifying in the 100, 200, and 400 Meter Dash. Wassell also anchored New Berlin to the third fastest time in the 400 Meter Relay.

Sterling Newman will rely on Chris Ahlers and Easton Bianchi in Saturday’s finals to try to get a trophy. Ahlers anchored the Comets to a second-place finish in the 3200 Meter Relay (8:19.44) as they qualified for the finals behind Heat 2 winner Deer Creek-Mackinaw (8:17.42). Ahlers also qualified in the 1600 Meter Run finishing third in his heart exerting as little energy as possible.

Bianchi had a dynamite day in the sprints leaving the track with the fastest prelim times in the 100 and 200 Meter Dash. He ran 10.87 to win the final heat of the 100 Meter Dash winning by two tenths of a second ahead of Chicago Marshall’s Marquise Perryman. The junior even surprised himself in the 200 Meter Dash as he set the standard in the first Heat running a wind-aided 21.92.

“I came here for one thing and it wasn’t to finish second, third, or fourth,” a confident Bianchi said. “I did not expect to run under 22-seconds today. I thought that I would do it next year. But I’ll take it.”

Meet Highlights

4x800 – I was not the fastest of prelims in this event. Pleasant Plains took the final qualifying spot running 8:32.76 in the final heat. The finals will have Illini West as the favorite with Deer Creek Mackinaw, Tremont, and Sterling Newman the teams chasing the Chargers.

4x100 – This final will be extremely close. St. Teresa had the fastest prelim time in winning Heat 2 (43.86). Newton was the final qualifier running 44.08. Bismarck Henning won Heat 1 (43.99), Mercer County won Heat 3 (44.03) and Rushville-Industry won the final heat (43.89) just ahead of New Berlin (43.97).

110 Meter Hurdles – Forreston’s AJ Christensen was impressive winning Heat 2 with the fastest prelim time (14.97). Trey Miller of Lewistown was close winning Heat 4 only two hundredths of a second behind Christensen (14.99).

100 Meter Dash – Bianchi’s 10.87 was good. It will be an extremely close final as the next seven runners were within only nine hundredths of a second of each other. Diondre Lewis of Warrensburg-Latham won Heat 1 (10.95), Wassell won Heat 2 (10.94), Jaylon Bester of Belleville Althoff won Heat 3 (11.02), and Ariz Andrew of Kankakee McNamara won Heat 4 (11.16).

800 Meter Run – It took 1:59.21 to make the finals. Only two seconds separated the 12 qualifying runners. Three runners were under 1:59 in Heat 1 with Illini West’s Bryan winning. Brandon Schnitker of Nashville built up a lead in Heat 2 but had to hold off Rockford Christian’s Riley Wells for the win. Schnitker’s time of 1:57.12 was the fastest of the prelims. Wells was only two hundredths of a second back (1:57.14). Jason Yaccino of Westminster Chrisian took the lead in the final 200-meters of Heat 3 running 1:57.96 for the win ahead of Riverton’s Shane Yamco.

4x200 – Rockford Christian ran the fastest prelim time (1:30.16) in winning Heat 3. Colfax Ridgeview followed running 1:30.19 to win Heat 4. Mercer County won Heat 1 (1:31.34) while Kankakee McNamara won Heat 2 (1:31.48).

400 Meter Dash – Ben Friesen of Chicago Christian was the only athlete under 50-seconds as he ran 49.75 to win Heat 1. Ben Buresh of Kewanee-Wethersfield won Heat 1 (50.14) ahead of Leo Catholic’s Michael Mays (50.43). Caleb Logan of Pinckneyville, who had earlier qualified in the 100 Meter Dash, won Heat 3 (50.26) to qualify for his second final. Kahlil Wassell’s 50.21 to win Heat 4 was his third even qualifier of the day.

300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles – Mason Barr of Colfax Ridgeview had the fastest prelim time (38.71) in winning Heat 4 ahead of fellow qualifiers Dontez Pittman of Madison (39.33) and Elmwood’s Hayden Golemon (40.00). Riley Baker of St. Joseph-Ogden caught list-leader AJ Christensen at the final hurdle to win Heat 1 (39.51) ahead of Christensen’s 39.74. Hunter Lee of Watseka ran 39.84 to win Heat 3.

1600 Meter Run – No questions were answered in these prelims except this should be a fun final to watch. Eli Ten Eyck of Pittsfield took the lead with a lap to go in Heat 1. Tanner Chada of Hinckley-Big Rock repassed him in the final 150-meters to take the win (4:23.24) ahead of Ten Eyck (4:23.80), Athens’ Wyatt McIntyre (4:24.87), and Justin Phillips of St. Joseph-Ogden (4:25.83). It was the same strategy in Heat 2 with Logan Hall of Arthur-Lovington pulling away at the bell lap. Hall eased across the line in 4:22.92 ahead of Jacob Bryan (4:23.92) and Chris Ahlers (4:25.41).

200 Meter Dash – Easton Bianchi has the big advantage with his 21.91 heat winner. Kahlil Wassel’s fourth qualifier came when he ran 22.33 to win Heat 3. Tate Walcott of Colfax-Ridgeview won Heat 2 (22.45) while Bismarck-Henning’ Blake Reifsteck ran 22.38 to win Heat 4.

4x400 – We mentioned the top two times earlier with Illini West and Rockford Christian. Pleasant Plains ran 3:28.49 to win Heat 2 ahead of Pana (3:29.16). Tuscola was the only qualifier in Hea1 as they ran 3:28.68. It had looked like Litchfield won Heat 3 (3:28.74) just nine hundredths of a second ahead of Nashville (3:28.83) but there was a yellow flag for the race. According to officials, Litchfield’s lead-off runner had run on the lane line for eight steps forcing officials to disqualify the team. Nashville won the heat and the automatic qualifier.

Field Events

Long Jump – Jordan Rowell of IC Catholic Prep holds the lead after the prelims with a 22-9.25 effort. It will be an interesting final three jumps on Saturday as Rowell suffered an injury during his heat of the 100 Meter Dash. He had to scratch out of the 400 Meter Dash prelims and looks doubtful to compete in the finals. Connor Artman is the closest to Artman (22-7.75).

Triple Jump – Forreston’s Mason Wright is in control of this event as he leads by over a foot with his 45-1.25 personal best. Jason Duncan is currently second (43-11.75).

Shot Put – Nick Olson of Flanagan-Cornell leads after the preliminary rounds with his 55-3 throw. Andy Bird of Hamilton/Warsaw is in second (54-6.25) followed by Elmwood’s Jackson Harkness (53-4).

Discus – It is close after the prelims with St. Anthony’s Ty Kinkelaar leading (164-6) followed by DuQuoin’s Devin Jones (163-7).

High Jump – 13 athletes cleared 6-2 to qualify for Saturday’s finals led by Pleasant Plains’ Tristen Tewes and Illini West’s Jace Norman. Adam Miller of Pana, who had cleared 6-8 this season, failed to make the finals clearing only 6-1.

Pole Vault – Defending 1A champion Curtis Gordon of Vandalia led 10 other qualifiers to Saturday’s finals all clearing 13-0.