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2017 New Balance Outdoor Nationals: A look at the Illinois entries

Published by
ILXCTF - Mike Newman   Jun 14th 2017, 4:00pm
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By Michael Newman, ILXCTF.com Editor

[email protected]

 

Defending national champion Jelena Rowe and multi All-American Kathleen “KD” Young lead a group of Illinois athletes to the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina beginning Friday morning.

You can watch the live webcast of the meet via RunnerSpace.com.

Entries | Schedule | Live Webcast

Here is a look at some of the athletes that will compete in the 2017 national meet.

 

Girls Entries

 

Jelena Rowe of Bloom Township looks to defend her national title in the high Jump (Sunday, 1:00 PM CDT). The IHSA 3A State champion is the top seed in the event having cleared 6-1 at the Sue Pariseau Invitational in April. She has cleared 6-0 or higher eight times this track season. The only other athlete in this field to clear 6-0 is Tyra Gittens of The Ellsworth School (TN). She cleared 5-10 to win the TSSAA D2 State Championship at the end of May.

Kathleen Young of Warrensburg-Latham looks to repeat her All-American status in the Shot Put (Sunday, 12:00 PM). “KD” has the second-best seed mark entering this meet with the 53-5 throw she had at the Iron Wood Throws Classic on June 3. Young is almost four feet ahead of the rest of the competition. The only athlete above her is Alyssa Wilson of Donovan Catholic (NJ) who holds the indoor national record (57-4.5) as well as throwing 57-1.25 in May. Young threw 172-0 in the Hammer Throw at Iron Wood and is ranked fourth nationally. She will compete in that event on Sunday (10:00 AM). Young will also compete in the Discus (Saturday, 10:00 AM).

Three Illinois athletes will compete in the Pole Vault (Saturday, 3:00 PM) led by 2A state champion Aliyah Welter of Monticello. The junior has a 13-1 outdoor best which ranks in a tie for sixth in this field. Josephine Held of Mt. Zion, who finished second in the 2A state meet behind Welter at state, and Lauren Seaver of Normal University, who finished third in the 3A State Meet, will also compete in the event.

Imani Carothers of Brooks College Prep had a great track season including monster efforts in the horizontal jumps. Her 19-9 best from the 2A Thornridge Sectional is fifth best in the Long Jump field (Sunday, 2:00 PM). We could see her go past 20-feet in this meet. Carothers will also compete in the Emerging Elite 100 Meter Hurdles (Friday Prelims, 10:50 AM) where her 13.72 winning time in the 2A state meet is the top seed.

Grace McLaughlin of Rockford Boylan Catholic picked up double wins at state in the 3200 and 1600 Meter Run. The junior will also be doubling this weekend running the 500 Meter Run on Friday (5:40 PM) and then in the 3200 Meter Run on Saturday (5:20 PM Section 2). McLaughlin’s time of 10:35.18 is currently 13th in this field of 30 runners. Her seed time of 17:27.06 is ranked eighth in the 5000 Meter Run.

Bloomington’s Kylie Welch is entered in the 400 Meter Dash (Sunday, 1:00 PM) where she is seeded with her 54.90 time from a meet in April. The 3A state champion in the event in 2016 finished second behind DaJour Miles this May. Karyn Best of Wheaton Academy is the 2A State champion in the 300 Meter Hurdles. She will test her luck in the 400 Meter Hurdles (Sunday, 11:15 AM) where 2016 Olympian Sydney McLaughlin of Union Catholic (NJ) is the defending national champion as well as the national record holder in the event (54.03).

Urbana, who finished 2nd in the 2A State Meet in the 800 Meter Relay, is entered in that event (Saturday, 8:45 AM) with their state meet time of 1:42.70. The quartet of Kynze Boastick, Jyana Anderson, Diamonasia Taylor, and Ayanna Kelly-Weatherspoon are scheduled to run for Urbana.

Boys Entries

 

Field events will be the focus especially with 3A state champions Zachery Bradford of Bloomington and John Meyer of Lockport Township competing.

Bradford set the IHSA State Meet Record in the Pole Vault clearing 17-4. He has the second-best mark in the event trailing only KC Lightfoot of Lee’s Summit (MO) who cleared 17-8.5 two weeks ago at the Great Southwest Classic. The Pole Vault in the Championship division begins Sunday at 1:30 PM.

Meyer is one of the top entries in the Shot Put field (Saturday, 2:45 PM). The junior completed his IHSA season by winning his second straight 3A title. His 67-2 at the Lockport Sectional is the second longest throw in Illinois High School history. He could surpass that in this meet. Meyer is the third seed in this event. Adrian Piperi of The Woodlands (TX) leads this loaded field with a 74-11.5 nation leading throw. Jordan Geist of Knoch (PA) is close behind with a 74-10.25 best mark. Meyer will also compete in the Discus (Sunday, 1:00 PM). His best throw this season was 189-5 at the state meet where he finished second.

Peter Rudelich of Batavia and Frank Massey of Bloom Township both cleared 6-8 his outdoor season and are entered in the High Jump (Sunday, 10:00 AM). Rudelich finished 8th in the 3A state finals. Jean-Luc Soglohun of East Moline United finished 4th in the 3A State Meet Triple Jump. His season’s best of 47-10.5 got him in the championship level of this meet (Saturday, 4:00 PM).

Clayton Mendez of Whitney Young displayed at last Saturday’s Midwest Distance Classic that he is ready for this weekend after he ran a solo 4:11.26 to win the 1600 Meter Run. The junior was all-state in May placing third in the 3200 Meter Run and then seventh in the 1600 Meter Run. Mendez will be one of the favorites in the 2 Mile Run (Saturday, 4:05 PM). He has the third fastest 3200 time in the field with the 8:59.46 run at Palatine in April. Dalton Hengst of McDonough (MD) and Nicholas Dahl of Germantown (PA) will be his chief competition.

The other action on the track for Illinois athletes in this meet will be mostly in relay events. Bloom Township’s quartet of Mikael Boyd, Antonio Davis, Darren Harris, and Amitai Wheat finished second in the 1600 Meter Relay in the 3A State Meet. They are currently seeded 9th in the event that is scheduled to begin at 2:25 PM on Sunday. Davis is also scheduled to compete in the Emerging Elite 800 Meter Run (Sunday, 10:35 AM).

York finished second last year in the Championship Distance Medley. They will be back to compete in that race (Sunday, 4:35 PM) led by Charlie Kern who finished third in the 3A State Meet 800 Meter Run. Ethan Kern, Kurt Namini, and Jackson Bode are scheduled to compete in this relay for York.

Charlie Kern and Jackson Bode, along with Sean MacGregor and Tim Stevenson, will compete in the 4 x 1 Mile Relay (Sunday, 7:40 AM) where they currently have the 5th fastest seed time. Ethan Kern, along with teammate Daniel Klysh, are entered in the Freshman 1 Mile Run (Saturday, 2:10 PM) where Kern has the second fastest seed time. The freshman ran 4:24.14 at the Wanner Knights Invitational in April.

Glenbrook North surprised some by finishing 4th in the 3A 3200 Meter Relay last month at the IHSA State Meet. The quartet of Michael Ocasek, Dana Sullivan, Luke Amen, and Kyle Foley will compete in the Championship 3200 Meter Relay on Saturday (6:25 PM).

Brayden Hamblen of Rock Falls was a last-minute entry in the 2000 Meter Steeplechase (Saturday, 11:50 AM). The 1A state cross-country champion as well as the 2A 3200 Meter Run champion ran this event for the first time last Saturday at the Midwest Distance Classic where he ran 6:13.10 to finish second in the race.

 

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