Quemarri Williams and Phillip Hall run the top two times in the 800 Meter Run (Danville Team Photo).

 

By Michael Newman

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This was the second weekend in a row where horrible weather conditions hampered some performances and cancelled meets on Saturday in the northern portion of the state. The weather was great in central and southern Illinois as some super performances in their meets were produced.

Have faith coaches and athletes. It looks to be good for this coming weekend’s meets. We may get every scheduled meet in.

In the meantime, here are some of the highlights from some of the meets that took place. We were at two meets this week. You can watch race video from the Stevenson Patriot Relays and the Bruce Ritter Invitational on RunnerSpace +PLUS.

 

Bruce Ritter Invitational @ Downers Grove North

Rain started out this meet. By the time that the 1600 Meter Relay finished, the winds had picked up and temperatures dropped below 40 degrees.

The winds helped the sprints with some fast times. Lyn’Nikka Vance of Crete-Monee and Dajour Miles of West Aurora were side-by-side for the first half of the 100 Meter Dash. Miles pulled away in the final 20-meters for the win (12.12, IL #6) ahead of Vance (12.23, IL #7). Miles came back 45 minutes later to tie for the state’s fastest time in winning the 400 Meter Dash (57.86). The West Aurora junior was scheduled to run the 200 Meter Dash but scratched due to the extreme conditions that were occurring. Vance did run as she won the event (25.10, IL #5). The Crete-Monee junior also won the Long Jump. Her 18-10 jump (IL #4) was impressive considering it was raining during the event. Miles was also a part of the 400 Meter Relay as she anchored her team to a come from behind win in the event (49.33, IL #8) ahead of Downers Grove North (49.58).

Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West took part of three wins for Glenbard West. She was part of the quartet of Katie Hohe, Lindsey Payne, and Haley Yeager to run the fastest time in the state (9:28.75) to win the 3200 Meter Relay. 60 minutes later, Hart puled away from the field on her way to the win in the 800 Meter Run (2:16.36, IL #3) by five seconds ahead of Glenbrook South’s Emily Noone. Hart also ran a 61.7 split on her anchor leg to help Glenbard West’s Frosh/Soph team to win the 1600 Meter Relay. Hohe and Payne pulled away from Glenbrook South’s Kate Jortberg with 700-meters to go in the 1600 Meter Run. The two teammates finished together with Hohe winning (5:14.14) ahead of Payne (5:14.72).

Sonia Slusarczyk of Lyons Township passed Lane Tech’s Natasha Bernett just before the finish to win the 100 Meter Hurdles (15.13, IL #2) just ahead of Bernett (15.17, IL #4).

 

Bloomington Lady Raider Invitational

The winds were strong, but the conditions were good enough to produce some fast times in this meet Friday evening featuring some of the top athletes in the sprints. The top four runners were under 12.1 in the 100 Meter Dash as Springfield’s Ozzy Erewele ran 11.85 (IL #3) to win by three hundredths of a second ahead of Danville’s Ameia Wilson (11.88). Kiara Pauli of Dunlap (12.07, IL #4) and Serena Bolden of Springfield Southeast (12.10, IL #5) finished third and fourth. The 200 Meter Dash produced three of the top four times in the state as Wilson ran a lightning quick state leading 24.19 for the win ahead of Pauli (24.67, IL #2) and Erewele (24.81, IL #4).

The 400 Meter Dash also produced a state best time as Jessica Franklin of Mahomet-Seymour ran 57.86 to win the event ahead of Dunlap’s Lizzy Hoenes (59.30, IL #7) and Jaylen Muldrow of Springfield Lanphier (59.69, IL #9).

The Long Jump also produced some great performances as Ameia Wilson jumped 18-10.5 (IL #3) to win the event ahead of Aanise Sanja of Dunlap (18-8.25, IL #5), Ozzy Erewele (18-4.5, IL #7), and Serena Bolden (18-3.75, IL #8). Bolden also won the triple Jump with the best mark in the state so far this spring (40-5.5).

The best field event performance of the night came in the High Jump from Urbana’s Diamonasia Taylor. The sophomore cleared a state leading personal best of 5-10 to win the event. Her performance is currently also ranked tied for third nationally.

There were two double winners in this meet. Bloomington’s Kelsie Johnson had a 122-10 throw to win the Discus. She also achieved a personal best of 40-3 to win the Shot Put. Dunlap’s Campbell Petersen also won two events. The freshman ran 10:57.07 to win the 3200 Meter Run outdistancing Danville’s Shanice Garbutt by 10 seconds. Petersen came back to run 5:10.70 to win the 1600 Meter Run by two seconds ahead of teammate Franny Verville.

Dunlap won all four relays contested in this meet. The Eagles started by running 9:37.34 (IL #3) to win the 3200 Meter Relay by eight seconds ahead of Urbana (9:45.02, IL #6). Dunlap followed that up by running 48.02 (IL #2) to win the 400 Meter Relay and then ran the fastest time in the state (1:44.17) in winning the 800 Meter Relay. They finished up the meet by running 4:05.65 to win the 1600 Meter Relay.

 

Barrington Girls Invitational

Three double winners highlighted this meet led by Barrington’s Joecelyn Long in the distance races. The senior ran a personal best 10:39.47 (IL #2) to win the 3200 Meter Run by 20 seconds ahead of Juliana Stogsdill of Plainfield North (10:59.58, IL #5). Long and Stogsdill faced off later in the meet in the 1600 Meter Run. Long also won that event (5:20.63) holding off Stogsdill (5:22.63) and New Trier’s Bridget Forbes (5:23.72).

Warren Township’s Janii Jenkins won two events on the track running 58.90 (IL #5) to win the 400 Meter Dash. She came back to run 25.71 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Hoffman Estates’ Makiyha Blackwell ruled the two weight events throwing 106-0 to win the Discus and having a 37-9 effort to win the Shot Put.

 

Stevenson Patriot Relays

Temperatures dipped to close to 45 degrees by the time the meet ended. It did not matter to Nick Laning of Barrington as he ran the state leading time in the 1600 Meter Run. Laning took the pace out fast as he ran a fast 57.4 for the first 400-meters of the race. He settled down to 67-68 laps for the next two laps, then came in with a final 66 second closer to run 4:18.40 for the win. It was a solo effort as Stevenson’s Nikita Smyrnov was 11 seconds back in second-place (4:29.01).

Dubem Anikamadu had a good meet as he led Huntley to two relay wins. He anchored Huntley’s team to a winning 1:29.10 (IL #3) to win the 800 Meter Relay. Anikamadu brought Huntley from behind with a 49.2 anchor split to help his team win the 1600 Meter Relay (3:27.79) two seconds ahead of Barrington (3:29.80). A strong third leg by Chris Simek gave Huntley the lead for good as they won the 3200 Meter Relay (8:11.15) ahead of Stevenson (8:15.90).

 

Capital City Classic @ Springfield Lanphier

The rain held off on Saturday in this meet in central Illinois giving the athletes great conditions to compete in. Nick Oakley of Charleston dominated a good field in winning the 800 Meter Run. Oakley’s time of 1:56.51 was less than three seconds ahead of Evanston Township’s Logan Singer (1:59.18). Normal University took the top two places in the 1600 Meter Run. Jared Shuckman ran 4:22.89 (IL #6) for the win ahead of teammate Matthew Zacharias (4:26.47, IL #9). Evanston Township ran the second fastest time in the state (8:06.73) in winning the 3200 Meter Relay ahead of Chatham-Glenwood (8:08.63).

State leader in the Pole Vault Zach Bradford of Bloomington was in charge of this event again in this meet clearing 16-10 for the meet record. The High Jump was competitive as Springfield Lanphier’s Karl Wright and Bloomington’s James Ellis both cleared 6-6 (IL #2 tie). Wright won the event on fewer misses.

 

Urbana Open

The event of this meet was the 800 Meter Run as the three fastest times in the state were produced. Danville should be one of the teams to watch in May in the 3200 Meter Relay. They demonstrated why when Quemarri Williams ran 1:55.39 to win the race holding off teammate Phillip Hall (1:55.53) and Argo’s Alvaro Barajas (1:56.23). Mattoon’s Mitchell Kremer was the fourth runner in the race under two minutes as he ran 1:56.99 (IL #6) to take fourth-place.

 

Wheaton North Blue and Gold Invitational

Glenbard East’s Kionnah Weaver ran the fastest time in the state despite the unseasonably wintry conditions Friday evening in the 100 Meter Hurdles. Weaver entered this season with a personal best of 15.16 as well as qualifying for last year’s state meet. She bettered that Friday by running 14.99 for the win ahead of Wheaton Academy’s Karyn Best (15.61). Best came back later in the meet to run 46.11 (IL #3) to win by more than a second ahead of Weaver.

Mikenna Robinson of Neuqua Valley ran 59.00 (IL #6) to win the 400 Meter Dash ahead of Downers Grove South’s Erin Reidy (1:00.92). Earlier in the meet, Reidy ran 2:22.35 to win the 800 Meter Run.

Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Samantha Poglitsch used a strong final lap to win the 1600 Meter Run (5:11.22) by more than a second ahead of Maine South’s Olivia Niziolek (5:12.73).

 

Yorkville Matt Wulf Invitational

Emily Eberhart of Yorkville won the 800 Meter Run (2:20.03, IL #5) six seconds ahead of teammate Helena Kleronomos. Both runners were also in the 3200 Meter Relay and with teammates Nicole Greyer and Olivia Borowiak ran 9:49.73 to win the event.

Peyton Frankenreider of Yorkville was a triple winner in the Boys section of the meet. The senior jumped 42-11.5 to win the Triple Jump, 14.82 (IL #5) to win the 110 Hurdles, and 40.82 to win the 300 Meter Hurdles. His teammate Jackson Torok picked up two wins running 11.16 to win the 100 Meter Dash and 22.42 (IL #10) to win the 200 Meter Dash.

Riley Wells of Rockford Christian kicked off his outdoor season by running 1:56.97 (IL #5) to win the 800 Meter Run. He won by less than three seconds ahead of Jason Yaccino of Westminster Christian (1:59.66).

 

Galesburg Streak ABC Meet

The story of this meet was the three individual wins picked up by Geneseo’s Reed Vanderheyden. He sept both hurdle races running 15.48 to win the 110 Hurdles and then a state leading 38.85 to win the 300 Hurdles. Vanderheyden’s third win came when he ran 23.05 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Fellow Geneseo athlete Nick Swartzendruber ran 49.28 (IL #3) to win the 400 Meter Dash. He was also a part of Geneseo’s winning 3200 Meter Relay team (8:18.61) and 1600 Meter Relay squad (3:34.86).

 

Homewood-Flossmoor Boys Invitational

The move from Saturday to Friday night paid off for the athletes in this meet as it would have been cancelled if it took place on Saturday. John Meyer of Lockport started his outdoor season last Wednesday in a quad meet at Bradley-Bourbonnais where he had a 66-1 effort in the Shot Put and 189-6 effort. The less than perfect conditions on Friday did not phase Meyer as he won both events in this meet. He started with a 65-4 put to easily win the Shot Put by over 17 feet. He came back to throw 177-11 to win by 37 feet.

Rock Island’s Courtney Lindsey traveled east to this meet and left with two impressive wins against strong fields in the sprints. The winds did make a difference in this race. Lindsey started by running 10.72 to win the 100 Meter Dash ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor’s Jesuseun Adeyiga (10.93) and Josh Bridges (11.06). Lindsey came back to run 21.94 to win the 200 Meter Dash ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor’s Grant Floyd (22.19). The sprint relays at this meet were also good as Crete-Monee ran 43.15 for the win in the 400 Meter Relay just ahead of Rock Island (43.17) and Homewood-Flossmoor (43.33). Homewood-Flossmoor had the advantage in the 800 Meter Relay as the Vikings ran 1:29.95 to win the race ahead of Rock Island (1:30.21).

Jamal Safo of Crete-Monee won over a strong field in the Long Jump where four athletes went past 22-feet. Safo had a state leading winning jump of 23-5 ahead of teammate Stefan Baldwin (22-11.25, IL #4). Baldwin won a close race in the 110 Hurdles where he ran 14.74 to finish just one hundredth of a second ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor’s Matthew Lewis-Banks (14.75).

 

Gus Scott Invitational @ Naperville North

This three-level meet had some good performances despite the unseasonably freezing weather. Naperville North’s Sarah Schmitt ran 5:02.31 (IL #3) to win the 1600 Meter Run by five seconds ahead of Latin School freshman Marianne Mihas (5:07.89). Halle Bieber of Naperville North was a double winner in the hurdles as she ran 15.92 to win the 100 Hurdles and 46.61 (IL #10) to win the 300 Hurdles. Naperville North swept three of the four relays starting by running 9:33.60 (IL #2) to win the 3200 Meter Relay by 40 seconds. The quartet ran 1:46.58 (IL #7) to win the 800 Meter Relay as well as running 4:09.55 (IL #8) to win the 1600 Meter Relay. Romeoville ran 50.46 to win the 400 Meter Relay ahead of Waubonsie Valley (50.84). Naperville North’s Sarah Wastek was a double winner as she had a 40-3.50 effort (IL #8) to win the Shot Put and threw 112-10 to win the Discus.

Romeoville’s Amiri Buchanan was a double winner in the Boys section of the meet. Buchanan threw 139-11 to win the Discus and 52-6.5 to win the Shot Put. Patrick Norrick of New Trier ran his first race since running in the Lake Park Sectional in October. Norrick ran an impressive 9:36.64 to win the 3200 Meter Relay ahead of the pack by 18 seconds.

 

Granite City Invitational

Double winners were the story in this meet. Jermarrion Stewart of Collinsville swept the sprints running a hand-timed 10.5 to win the 100 Meter Dash and 22.58 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Stewart was also a part of Collinsville’s team in winning the 400 Meter Relay (43.61).

Andrew O’Keefe was impressive on his home track winning two distance events. The Granite City junior started by running 9:36.21 to win the 3200 Meter Run ahead of Edwardsville’s Roland Prenzler (9:44.87). His race in the 1600 Meter Run was better as O’Keefe ran 4:21.23 (IL #4) to win ahead of Edwardsville’s Franky Romano (4:24.61).

Edwardsville’s Amari Brooks was the king of the weight events in this meet. Brooks threw 164-2 (IL #5) to win the Discus. He also had a 52-3 mark to win the Shot Put. Freeburg’s Zach Pluff cleared a state leading 6-8 to win the High Jump.

 

O’Fallon Girls Invitational

LaQwasia Stepney looks to have a good comfort level at her new school Belleville West after transferring from Cahokia. Stepney started this meet by jumping 18-0 to win the Long Jump. On the track, Stepney ran 46.03 (IL #2) to win the 300 Meter Hurdles.

O’Fallon’s sprint relays looked strong in this meet. Their squad ran 49.53 (IL #10) to win the 400 Meter Relay. The Panthers came back to run 1:45.86 (IL #3) to win the 800 Meter Relay ahead of Belleville West (1:46.30).

Alton’s Jeanea Epps was a double winner in the sprints running 12.48 to win the 100 Meter Dash and 26.10 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Jenna Schwartz of Waterloo won a close 1600 Meter Run as she ran 5:07.50 finishing just ahead of Edwardsville’s Abby Korak (5:08.50).

 

Minooka Girls Invitational

Brimonet Buggs had a great meet as she was involved in four wins for DeKalb. She won the 100 Meter Dash (12.62) and the 200 Meter Dash (25.97). Buggs was also a part of DeKalb’s winning 400 Meter Relay (49.44, IL #9) and the 800 Meter Relay (1:46.16, IL #5).

DeKalb’s Katherine Olsen moved into the state top ten in winning the 3200 Meter Run (11:00.80, IL #6) by 23 seconds ahead of Minooka’s Vivian Van Eck. Mackenzie Brownrigg of Lincoln-Way Central won a close 1600 Meter Run (5:14.40) finishing ahead of Olsen (5:15.80) and Minooka’s Emily Shelton (5:19.60).

 

Belleville West Invitational

This meet was moved to last Wednesday after being weathered out on April 7. Collinsville’s Jermarrion Stewart swept the short sprints starting by running 10.89 to win the 100 Meter Dash just five hundredths of a second ahead of Triad’s Johnnie Caswell (10.94). Stewart came back to run a wind-legal 21.60 state leading time to win the 200 Meter Dash. Caswell ran 22.16 (IL #4) in a different section to finish second.

The top two times in the state occurred in the 400 Meter Dash as East St. Louis-Senior’s Willie Johnson ran 48.80 for the win ahead of Minooka’s Brandon Adams (49.04).

East St. Louis-Senior won two of the relays contested. The Flyers started with a state best of 1:28.62 to win the 800 Meter Relay more than a second ahead of Belleville West (1:30.19). In a close 1600 Meter Relay, the top two state times were also produced as East St. Louis-Senior took home the win (3:21.49) ahead of Minooka (3:22.13). Minooka was victorious in the 400 Meter Relay (42.84) ahead of Mascoutah (43.25) as East St. Louis-Senior was disqualified due to a pass outside of the exchange zone.