Photo: Wyatt McIntyre and Logan Hall will challenge each other this spring in the 1A Distance Events (Laura Duffy Photo).

By Michael Newman

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Logan Hall of Arthur-Lovington and Wyatt McIntyre of Athens will face off against each other this May for one more state meet before they become teammates at the University of Illinois.

It was a tug-of-war between the two runners in the past year. Hall had the advantage during the track season winning the 3200 Meter Run and finishing third in the 1600 Meter Run while McIntyre finished third and fifth. It was McIntyre’s turn during the fall as he won the 1A Championship at Detweiller Park while Hall finished second.

Let’s not forget about Riley Wells of Rockford Christian. He won the 800 Meter Run title last May as a sophomore. He is back to defend in what is the strongest event in the 1A Classification.

Here is a look at each of the three 1A distance events as well as the 3200 Meter Relay

3200 METER RUN

Top Returnees

Notes – Logan Hall is the defending champion and will be challenged again for the title. Five other all-state runners from last year’s race are back. Wyatt McIntyre, who finished third last year, should be one of Hall’s chief competition. Both finished within tenths of a second of each other at Distance Night in Palatine last April. There was a 16 second difference between the two at state as Hall won by three seconds ahead of Tanner Chada by three seconds running a 9:13.74 time. Hall came back two weeks later at the Midwest Distance Classic to run a personal best of 9:05.75. Jon Davis set the 1A meet record three years ago (9:05.23). Hall and McIntyre could push each other past that time or maybe under nine-minutes.

Let us not forget the impression that Jack McNabola made on everyone last fall at the 1A State Cross Country Meet when he pushed Hall and McIntyre until the final 600-meters of the race running 14:41 to finish third. McNabola finished seventh in this event. It would not surprise me if he will be chasing after the event win in May.

Trey Houmes of Hoopeston Area, Jackson Stewart of St. Teresa, and Javon Watkins of Madison all have showed improvement over the past year after being all-state in this distance. Top five finishes are within their reach. Luke Goebel of Breese Mater Dei, Kort McClellan of Toledo Cumberland, Wyatt Wolfersberger of St. Joseph-Ogden, and Chris Collet of Seneca are some of the other athletes that could make their presence in this event.

800 METER RUN

Top Returnees

Notes – How tough could this event be this spring? The top eight finishers in last year’s state finals all are back led by state champion Riley Wells. 10 of last year’s 12 finalists are also back looking for a top finish.

It is tough to beat Wells. Ask anyone who ran against him at state. He has this will of not wanting to finish second. That shows in a final kick that is lethal. Only a junior, it will be interesting if he lowers his 1:52.84 personal best this season. Peter Callahan ran 1:51.22 to set the 1A record nine years ago. That time could be broken this season.

Two runners that I believe could push for the win are Brandon Schnitker of Nashville and Jacob Bryan of Illini West who finished second and third last May. Both runners were under 1:55 in 2017. Bryan ran a remarkable four races in last year’s finals making his face known. Nothing he would do this season would surprise me.

The returning all-state runners (Jason Yaccino of Westminster Christian, Gary Cates of Deer Creek-Mackinaw, Ian Hussung of Oregon, Jason Landon of Carlinville, and Koby Brackmeyer of Morrison) all should have great spring flirting with times near or under 1:55. Brackmeyer could have a breakout season. He ran 1:57.56 last year as a freshman. Yaccino was a surprise in finishing fourth last year. This senior could be close to Wells, Bryan, or Schnitker. Ryan Skowronski of Shelbyville only ran 2:01 last track season. He has a career best of 1:59 but should go lower this spring. Keep an eye on him.

1600 METER RUN

Top Returnees

Notes – The one 1A runner that could step out of the shadows of Logan Hall and Wyatt McIntyre this spring could be Pittsfield’s Eli Ten Eyck. He surprised some last year finishing second behind Tanner Chada in the state finals at this distance. His 4:19.01 personal best is the top returning time just ahead of Hall’s 4:19.48. He finished fifth in the 3200 and third at this distance indoors at the Illinois Top Times Championships. He is a two-time all-state runner in Cross Country finishing 18^th last fall. The month of May could be his time.

Hall was just a couple of strides behind Ten Eyck in the 2017 finals after winning the 1600. He does have the leg speed running 1:58 for 800-meters. He is stronger entering this season and could go after the distance double. The same applies to McIntyre who had a seasonal best of 4:24.13 finishing fifth. His state meet win last fall gives him confidence and that vision to go lower than 4:20. Jacob Bryan ran four races in the state final including all-state in this event finishing fourth. This double will not seem as hard when he attempts again this May…if he does.

Jack McNabola and Jackson Stewart made last year’s finals and showed their improvement during last fall’s cross-country season. One, maybe both, of these runners could find their way into the top five. Negus Bogard of Palestine and Jack Holden of Lawrenceville are some of the runners that I would watch out for this spring.

4x800 METER RELAY

2017 Top Times

Notes – This event kind of surprised me in 2017 but not in a spectacular way. Illini West dominated the event running 8:03.91 for the state win. There were no other 1A teams under 8:10 in this relay last season. The year before in 2016, four schools were under that mark including two teams running 7:54 – 7:55 in the state finals. Hopefully, we see some faster times this spring.

This event is wide-open. Defending state champion Illini west only returns Jacob Bryan from last year’s team. There are a couple of last year’s teams that made the finals that could be difference makers. Pleasant Plains returns their entire quartet led by Luke McGraw that finished fourth last season. Gary Cates leads three back for Deer Creek-Mackinaw that finished fifth. Sterling Newman and Elmwood both return three from their all-state teams that could find their way towards the front if they can find that fourth runner. Nashville finished 12^th in last year’s final but did that without 1:53 800-meter runner Brandon Schnitker. They ran 27 seconds faster in the prelims. With three runners back from that team plus Schnitker, this team could challenge for a state title.