Above: Deion McShane crosses the line with a new IHSA State Meet record in the 300 Meter Hurdles (Laura Duffy Phoo)

By Michael Newman

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Charleston – When Freeport’s Deion McShane finished his preliminary race on Friday in the 300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles, his 37.27 time into a strong head wind gave indications that he could do something special in the 2A Finals Saturday at Eastern Illinois University.

He did.

And boy was it special.

McShane was pushed by 110 High Hurdles champion Brett Dannis of Peru St. Bede through the race. The Freeport junior showed a speed over the final three hurdles that we had not seen in any of the hurdle races throughout the meet.

He crossed the line and the clock still was at 36-seconds. It did not hit McShane or the capacity crowd right away when the scoreboard showed the time of 36.53 next to his name. He then realized that he had broken the 18-year-old IHSA State Meet Record of 36.77 that Jon Schweighardt ran in 1999. The time is also the fastest run ever in Illinois. McShane collapsed to the infield turf realizing what he had accomplished.

“I just wanted to do the best that I could today,” McShane said after the second hurdle race. “I ran way faster in the first 100 today. I wanted to see where people were at. I know the feeling of people behind me. It makes me want to run harder.”

McShane still had one event left in his busy weekend which meant a lot to him and his team. Freeport was trailing Normal University 37-29 for the 2A state team championship. A win would give them the state title outright.

McShane was hot on this weekend but Rodrick McMiller of Chicago Perspectives/Leadership was also on a hot streak. He had earlier won the 100 Meter Dash (10.85) edging Montini Catholic’s Mitchell West by six hundredths of a second (10.91). McShane had the edge coming out of the curve but McMiller’s finish was spectacular. He finished in a personal best 21.69 ahead of McShane’s 21.93. It gave Freeport eight points and a share of the 2A title with Normal University.

McShane and Jered Allison were the only two scorers for the Pretzels. Allison finished fourth in the Shot Put. McShane’s 22-4 prelims jump held on for as fifth place finish in the Long Jump. He finished second to Dannis in the 110-Meter-High Hurdles.

Normal University started the meet off with a flurry scoring 30 points early in the meet. Myles Aldridge was a huge part of that as he swept the horizontal jumps. The senior jumped a wind-legal 23-4.5 to win the Long Jump ahead of Marmion Academy’s Seth Groom (22-10) and Rodrick McMiller (22-8.75). Aldridge and Groom took the top two spots in the Triple Jump as Aldridge jumped a personal best 47-8.5 to win his second state championship ahead of defending champion Groom (46-2.5).

The Pioneers started on the track they wanted to in the 3200 Meter Relay. Jared Schuckman gave U-High an early lead in the relay that they never gave up. Zachary Wolford and Harris Porter stretched out the lead more. Jack Martin brought the stick home in 7:48.13 for the state title. They missed the 2A state meet record by less than two seconds (7:46.38) that Illiana Christian had run in 2014.

U-High had to wait until the 1600 Meter Run to score their final points as Schuckman finished third in the 1600 Meter Run.

Kaneland scored 33 points to finish third edging conference rival Geneseo for the final trophy by two points. Six-time champion Cahokia rebounded from a disastrous Friday prelims to tie for fifth place with Rich Central and Metamora with 30 points.

Meet Highlights

The showdown between Brett Dannis and Deion McShane in the 110-Meter-High Hurdles was one of the anticipated matchups in the 2A Meet Program. It did not disappoint. The two were even through the first eight hurdles. A final surge brought him home across the line in a new 2A State Meet Record (13.93). McShane finished second in 14.22.

“Coming from 1A, you really do not know what to expect,” Dannis said. “Today I did not have the best start that I had. It was good enough to keep me up with the pack. Farther into the race I can open up my speed.”

Sam Sikon of Carbondale broke his own 2A State Meet record in the prelims on Friday. He did not improve on his 63-6 record throw. He did leave the ring with his third straight state championship. Sikon was third after the prelims in the Discus. He threw 172-7 in the finals to move up into second. It was not enough to catch Sycamore’s Connor Weckerly as he threw 176-10 to win the state championship in the event.

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One of the toughest doubles to run on the Illinois track & field schedule is winning the 800 Meter Run and then coming back to win the 1600 Meter Run. Many great distance runners have tried this double with no success. For Jake Gillum of Metamora, he accepted the challenge and was successful.

Gillum was close to the front in the 800 Meter Run as Sycamore’s Evan Jacobs and Freeburg’s Drew Wilkerson to the pack through the first 400-meters in 56.7 seconds. Gillum edged up to Jacobs side with 150-meters to go and pulled away from Jacobs for the state championship (1:53.74) ahead of Jacobs (1:54.59), Rochester’s Josh Cable (1:55.58), and Wilkerson (1:55.99).

It was a great weekend for Jacobs who was not on the state radar heading into this weekend as he ran four great 800 meter races. He ran a 1:54.9 split for his team in the Friday prelims and then came back to run 1:56 in the open 800 to qualify for the finals. His open 800 on Saturday was preceded by a 1:53.7 opening split to help his team finish eighth in the 3200 Meter Relay.

Gillum had 90-minutes to recover before the start of the 1600 Meter Run. There were two things that were at his advantage. The meet schedule was on a time schedule instead of rolling from one event to next. The humidity was at 60% but the temperature was manageable at 75 degrees.

Jared Schuckman and Sterling’s Jacob Gebhardt pushed the pace early stretching out the 12-runner field into a single file line going through the first 400 in 63.5 and 800 in 2:09. It slowed down the third lap of the race. It was the moment Gillum took advantage of just before the bell lap. He looked exhausted as he came down the final 100-meters but found energy to pick up the pace closing towards the finish. He completed double crossing the line in 4:14.28. He broke the 2A State Meet record in the process (4:14.51) that was set by Alexander Bruno in 2015.

“It has been my goal to win a state championship for as long as I can remember,” Gillum said. “I felt good at the end of the day yesterday. I thought I could come back here and give it a solid effort. This was the last time on this track. I calculated that I had run 40 laps on this stupid track. I was determined to make that last lap a quick one.”

Gebhardt ran 4:19.39 to finish second ahead of Schuckman (4:19.91). Both are juniors and will return to this track next year. For Gillum, it was his final lap on the big blue oval. It was a good one.

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The pace of the 3200 Meter Run played into the hands of Rock Falls’ Brayden Hammblen. All 13-ruuners in the second section were within two seconds of each other as the pack crawled through the first 1600-meters in 4:47. He stayed in front controlling the pace waiting for the right moment to strike.

Hamblen started looking around in the final two laps waiting to see who would make a move in which he would counter. None of the runners were willing. He started to stretch the pack out on lap 7 with Kaneland’s Matt Richtman close. The bell ran at 8:25 and Hamblen took off with Richtman in tow.

Hamblen was still looking around coming out of the final turn in which Richtman noticed. The Kaneland junior move to the right to try to pass. Hamblen refused to let him by as he made one final surged. The Rock Falls senior closed with a 57-second final lap to win his second career state championship (9:22.90) less than a second ahead of Richtman (9:23.47).

“After the 1600 prelim yesterday, my coaches thought I had a chance to win both,” Hamblen said. “I just wanted to come out here and get a win and get ready for the 1600.”

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Rich Central picked up three wins to get to their fifth-place finish on Saturday. The Olympians pulled away early to win the 400 Meter Relay (42.16) ahead of Montini (42.58), Morgan Park (42.83, and Hillcrest (42.87). It was closer in the 800 Meter Relay as they won (1:28.71) holding off Cahokia (1:28.84) and Peoria (1:29.14).

VanHarvey Vance was the third winner for Rich Central as he had a convincing winner in the 400 Meter Dash (48.76) ahead of Chicago University’s Charles Marks by more than a second (49.85). Keep an eye on Rich Central in 2018. They return all their scorers and could be one of the teams to beat in Class 2A. Geneseo ran 3:21.27 to win the 1600 Meter Relay finishing ahead of Thornridge (3:22.66) and Burlington Central (3:22.86).

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It is tough for a freshman to place at the Illinois State Track & Field Championships. When a freshman wins, you rub your eyes in disbelief. That is not the case when you look at the performance of Tyler Carrel of Urbana in the Pole Vault. The freshman cleared a school record and personal best of 15-10 to win the state championship. He has the top freshman performance in the United States in that event.

“15-10 was my school record. That is what I wanted to go for,” Carrel said. “At 15-10, I was just thinking how I could fix my form. I needed to go right down the middle. I needed to stay tight on my pole. I just tried to clear my mind. If I think about it too much, I worry too much.”

Nicholas Jackson of Champaign Central has been one of the top 2A athletes in 2A this year. He proved that even more as he cleared 6-9 for the state championship.

Seth Groom completed his successful day in this meet as he cleared a personal best of 6-8 to finish second. He also finished second in the Long Jump and the Triple. Only a junior, Groom is set up to do some powerful things in 2018.