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Edwardsville overcomes adversity to win second 3A state title in three years

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Illinois IHSA Outdoor State Championships   May 28th 2017, 8:01pm
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Ruiz and Bradford set IHSA State Meet Records

 

Above: Fractions of a second separated 1600 winner Soren Knudsen with runner-up Brian Griffith (Laura Duffy Photo)

 

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

 

Charleston -- Edwardsville’s Travis Anderson had just won his second state championship of the day in the 300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles and was surrounded by reporters. He tried to stay standing but had to sit down. He had left everything on the O’Brien Field track to win those state championships.

It was typical of the performances that Edwardsville had this weekend at Eastern Illinois University. The Tigers clawed for every point that they could get to win their second state championship in three years with 42 points. Defending 3A champion East St. Louis-Senior was next with 39 points followed by Bloomington with 32 points. All three trophy teams fought through injuries and mishaps. It was Edwardsville that gutted it out a little more.

Travis Anderson had hamstring injuries throughout the outdoor season forcing him to miss two meets before sectionals. They flared up again in prelims but he fought his way through. The 110-Meter-High Hurdles was just a summary of this outdoor season of how dominant he was at this distance. He had the lead by the fourth hurdle crossing the line in 13.79. It was mot his fastest of the year but it was a defense of his state championship. He was more than half a second ahead of Antioch’s Landon Keefover (14.34). Anderson’s teammate Matt Griebe culminated a successful season by finishing third (14.55).

Anderson was pushed by Fremd’s Jaden Jackson throughout the 300 Intermediate Hurdles. It looked like Anderson’s tank was empty. He dug deep for the win (37.83) ahead of Jackson (38.06).

“I hit a hurdle during warmups and my hamstrings were hurting,” Anderson said. “I wasn’t worried about anyone around me. It was my senior year. I just had to give it my all.”

It seemed that Edwardsville’s AJ Epenesa was in neutral ever since his 200+ throw in the Discus in the middle of April throwing in the 180-foot range until this weekend. After not qualifying in the finals of the Shot Put on Friday, all his attention was on the Discus. He still stood in second going into his final attempt. His final high school throw of 197-11 gave him the win.

Devonte Tincher had bad luck at sectionals not qualifying for state in the Long Jump as well as the 400 Meter Relay that did not advance. It continued in prelims when Edwardsville’s 800 Meter Relay did not finish their heat due to a bad exchange. He did qualify in the 200 Meter Dash finals. In his final high school race, Tincher dug down deep to finish fifth in the finals. The five points that he earned clinched the title for his team. What a way to leave high school on that kind of a note.

Two State records broken in the field events.

Zachery Bradford of Bloomington came to the state meet in eighth grade to watch the Pole Vault. He saw Luke Winder break the state meet record in the event clearing 17-3. Winder is now at North Central College where he just won his third straight NCAA Division III outdoor championship in Ohio.

More than 300 miles to the west Bradford was making history of his own going after his second straight championship. In the process, a state record came his way. Bradford had the event won as Crystal Lake South’s Sam Peschke, Lucas Weaver of Providence Catholic, and Hunter Whitwood of Normal West all were out of the competition clearing 15-3. Bradford had the bar raised to 16-6 where he cleared that. It was then raised to 17-4, one inch ahead of the record.

His second attempt at the record was right. His take off was right. His plant was right. Everything was right including when he cleared the bar.

Bradford is normally reserved when he clears a height. On this occasion, it was uninhibited jubilation jumping up and down on the pit hugging his parents and coaches. He deserved this moment. He earned it.

“I saw Winder jump, I thought that was really, really high,” Bradford said. “I think the weather helped today. We really got good weather. A big crowd always helps. Everything just clicked today.”

Cameron Ruiz of Lakes Community was not too happy after the Long Jump. He had to settle for second after winning the year before. Davion Cross of West Aurora jumped 23-11.25 for the state championship with Ruiz jumping 23-7.5 for second.

He took out his disappointment in the Long Jump out on his three attempts in the Triple Jump. His second attempt was his best. Every phase of the jump worked. You knew the jump was big as the field event meet referee had to be called to the pit. A measurement of 51-1 was more than enough to take the lead away from Cross who had jumped 49-0. The wind was legal (+1.4 m/s). It was a half inch longer than the IHSA State Meet Record that Chris Hercules had jumped in 1997. Ruiz’s jump is currently second nationally

“I think that second-place in the Long Jump pushed ne to do what I did today,” Ruiz said. “I thought the first and second phase of the jump were perfect. I just needed to concentrate on my push and hand. That’s what went perfect today.”

It was all heart

There was a mix of pain and sadness in the face of Cary Lockhart after he led Bloomington to the heat win in the 800 Meter Relay Friday afternoon. A hamstring injury that hampered him last year had reared its ugly head after the finish. He had a healthy season. Why now?

He could hardly walk as he went back to the trainer’s room. It was doubtful that he would compete on Saturday. He had to scratch out of the 200 Meter Dash prelims.

As the runners entered the blocks for the 3A finals of the 100 Meter Dash, there was Lockhart in Lane 4. There was thought that he would just try to get down the track just to get his team a point. No one knew how bad the injury was except him.

He ran down the straight away finishing sixth. He gave it all he had. Those four points were needed for Bloomington. Without them, the Purple Raiders finish behind Hoffman Estates.

This sport is defined by who finishes first, or who runs the fastest, throws the longest, jumps the highest. People years from now may not remember what happened at this meet. They will remember the unselfishness that Lockhart had giving his body for the glory of his teammates.

Meet Highlights

There were some great performances in the distance events. All were equally great.

The biggest may have been the win by Chris Conrad of O’Fallon in the 800 Meter Run. Conrad stormed to the lead in just before the bell lap edging up to Bloom Township’s Antonio Davis. The two pulled away from the pack around the curve. Conrad broke away from Davis just over 200-meters to go. He came down the straight away with no one insight behind him. That is how fast he was running.

The O’Fallon senior just missed the IHSA State Meet Record of 1:49.71 but won the state title with a personal best of 1:49.91. It is currently #2 in the nation. Brian Kuehl of Geneva moved past Davis to finish second (1:53.79). Then a pack came in led by York’s Charlie Kern in third (1:54.26) and Davis in fourth (1:54.29).

“My coach asked nme yesterday if I was going to go for time or place,” Conrad said. “I wanted to go for the title. I just didn’t think I was going to run 1:50 today.”

The 3200 Meter Relay expected to be a challenge between Neuqua Valley and Lake Zurich after the teams had the two fastest prelim times. It did not look that way on the first exchange when Fremd led the pack with Neuqua Valley in eighth and Lake Zurich trailing in 12th. After Kyle Griffith got the baton, he tried to weave his way through the stopped runners. Griffith was tripped up going through a maze of runners falling to the track and dropping the baton. Griffith picked it up but they were out of it with no chance of getting back into the race.

(Editor’s Note: Lake Zurich Coach JD Hansen had a picture of relay exchange zone judges with white flags up in the air before all the runners passed. Lake Zurich filed an appeal that was heard by the jury of appeals. The appeal was denied.)

Lyons Township had the lead but a strong second leg by Jake McEneaney moved Neuqua Valley from eighth to fourth. Josh Mollway gave Neuqua Valley a three second lead for anchor Isaiah Robinson. Prospect and Whitney Young were second and third. Sandburg’s Dylan Jacobs got the baton in sixth.

The Sandburg All-American moved through the pack getting into the top three as they turned towards the finish. Robinson glanced to his right and saw Jacobs coming. The Neuqua senior made one more surge holding off the Sandburg runner. Neuqua Valley got the win (7:45.51) with Sandburg just 24-hundredths of a second back (7:45.75). Jacobs ran a 1:52 anchor leg to get his team into that position. Lyons Township ran 7:46.89 to finish third.

It was great for my team to get me the lead,” Robinson said. I just had to trust in my kick that final lap.”

There was plenty of drama heading into the 3200 Meter Rub. Four runners had run 9:05 or under in the second section of the race. There was mystery in the first section of the event with Irwin Loud of Oak Park-River Forest who had qualified in the 1600 Meter Run finals the day before.

“We left it up to Irwin on what he wanted to do,” Oak Park-River Forest coach Tim Hasso said. “He wanted to do both.”

Loud’s had lofty but attainable goals. He was paced to run 8:54 for the race. A time like that would put pressure on the second section. It was 68 degrees when his race started but the humidity was at 82%.

Loud would have to do all the work. He had the lead by 200-meters. He was on pace through the 1600-meters mark in 4:26. He clicked off 68-second laps until 2400-meters. That is when the paced started to hit him as he struggled to run a 74-second seventh lap. He came across the line in 9:14.22. He did not hit his goal but he did give the second section something to think about.

Loud: 63.0 / 2:10.2 / 3:17.9 / 4:26.2 / 5:35.0 / 6:48.2 / 8:02.2 / 9:14.2

Soren Knudsen of Minooka said in an interview the week before state that he wanted to run 8:45 at state. Would that be fact or fiction? It seemed that it was something to get the other runners and media something to think about. It looked that Knudsen was content to stay in the middle of the pack as Whitney Young’s Clayton Mendez and Lyons Township’s Danny Kilrea leading the first lap in 66.4 seconds.

It looked like the pace was suffering as the pack went through 800-meters in 2:16.0 and 1200-meters in 3:24.9. By the time the pack went through 1600-meters, they were at 4:34.7 more than eight seconds behind Loud’s pace. It was getting interesting.

Mendez took over the lead from Kilrea on the fifth lap with Grayslake Central’s Jack Aho close along with Knudsen. The Minooka senior made his move with 600-meters to go. With 800-meters to go, the pack was 10 seconds behind Loud’s pace. But Knudsen was ready to wind it up.

He had the lead going through the bell lap in 8:02.2. Aho was trying to stay with Knudsen. Kilrea and Mendez were another second back.

Knudsen’s strategy had paid off. He had run the final lap in 60.9 seconds, the final 1600 meters in 4:28.7, the final 800-meters in 2:04.4. Knudsen finished in 9:03.41 with Aho (9:07.12), Mendez (9:08.75), and Kilrea (9:09.23) next. Neuqua Valley sophomore Zach Kinne finished fifth (9:11.48).

With no rolling schedule, runners doubling back from the 3200 had more than 2two hours to recover. Lake Zurich’s Brian and Kyle Griffith did not run so hard in the relay and would have plenty of energy coming back. They also were coming in determined because of the relay mishap.

Knudsen stayed in the middle of the track just waiting for the moment to make his move. Both Griffith brothers stayed near the front. Just waiting for the right time to go. Downers Grove North’s Alec Danner stayed close just a second back.

Knudsen took off with 300-meters to go. It was tougher this time because he had company in the Griffith’s and Danner close.

Brian Griffith and Knudsen came off the curve together with neither wanting to give up the lead. Knudsen tried to take the lead just could not shake Griffith. A final surge was just enough as Knudsen nipped Griffith at the line by just five hundredths of a second (4:10.51-4:10.56). Kyle Griffith was close in third (4:12.54) with Danner (4:14.66 and Loud next in line.

Who would have thought with everything that Knudsen had gone through in the last six months with injuries, illnesses, and other factors would claim two state championships completing the distance triple crown (XC, 3200, 1600).

“The injury at sectionals hurt me last fall at state. I could not run at Foot Locker and NXN. It kind of messed with my head. I just had depressive sad moments into January. It just made it tough to do workouts,” Knudsen said after his second win. “Slowly but surely, I got my confidence back. I just did everything right. I changed my diet. Went to bed at 10 o’clock. It all worked out in the end.”

~~~

With all eyes being on Plainfield North freshman Marcellus Moore most of the season, Hoffman Estates’ Declan Rustay knew in his mind that he was the guy to beat in the 3A sprints. He was the top placing returnee and in better shape than the year before.

Rustay made a statement in the prelims when he finished with Moore both running 10.40. That gave him confidence in the finals. Moore got off to a good start but Rustay moved into another gear 50-meters in. He got the championship (10.54) ahead of Moore (10.65) and Lincoln-Way East freshman AJ Henning (10.75)

“Seeing all the talk about him (Moore) and his times, it just made me work that much harder, Rustay said. “Once I got down to state, I wanted to beat him even more.”

It was the same story in the 200 Meter Dash. Rustay ran a good curve and had the lead. He won his second state championship (21.57) ahead of Evanston’s Brad Garron (21.70), and Huntley’s Dubem Anikamadu (21.77) Moore finished fourth (21.85). 

Luis Cossio of Barrington and Deonte Anderson of East St. Louis-Senior were together with 50-meters left in the 400 Meter Dash. Neither would budge as they across the finish. It was a lean by Cossio that gave him the state championship (48.33) just two hundredths of a second ahead of Anderson.

~~~

The relays were exciting as usual.

Homewood-Flossmoor pulled away on the final leg to win the 400 Meter Relay (41.87) over a surprising Yorkville team (41.97), East St. Louis-Senior (41.98), and Plainfield North (42.05).

The finish of the 800 Meter Relay was memorable as Batavia’s Michael Stanley finally made the pass with 10-meters to go winning with a lean (1:27.01), Hoffman Estates (1:27.06), and East St. Louis-Senior (1:27.08).

The success of East St. Louis-Senior in the relays was one of the reasons for their second-place team finish. The Flyers ran 3:14.76 to win the 1600 Meter Relay title just a second ahead of Bloom Township (3:15.98) and Neuqua Valley (3:18.03).

~~~

Camron Donatlan of West Aurora has only been participating in the High Jump for a little over a year. He has earned two state championships in that time. His second state championship came when he cleared 7-0 to win the event. His first attempt at the state record 7-3.5 was a good attempt with his feet just nipping the cross bar.

John Meyer of Lockport Township did not improve on his preliminary mark of 65-10.5 in the Shot Put. It was good enough to win the 3A state title for the second straight year.

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