Photo: Peyton Frankenreider edges Donovan Turner for the win in the 110 High Hurdles at Saturday’s Red Ribbon Classic

By Michael Newman

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We are getting closer to “State-Time in Charleston”. Conditions were not favorable for some of the meets on Friday evening. But we did get some good days in. The weather will continue to improve as well as the performances.

Here is a look at some of the highlights from the past weekend. We were at Sandburg on Thursday. You can read the recap of the meet here.

Performances of the weekend

It was a pair of 800/1600 doubles that caught our attention this weekend. We could have said the performance of John Meyer (again) in the Shot Put was tops of the weekend, but we are going to stick with the distance double.

Enyaeva Michelin of Evanston Township put up some impressive times Saturday at the Palatine Relays. In the morning session of the meet, Michelin won the 800 Meter Run (2:11.33) by six seconds ahead of Barrington freshman Molly FitzPatrick of Barrington (2:17.81). Michelin’s time is currently ranked second in the state. Three hours later in the afternoon session of the meet, Michelin stormed away with the win in the 1600 Meter Run as she ran a state leading 4:50.03. She won by 20 seconds ahead of Barrington’s Jocelyn Long (5:10.66).

Glenbard West’s Katelynne Hart turned in the same double in a shorter time frame at Friday night’s Tiger Invitational at Wheaton-Warrenville South. Weather conditions deteriorated at this meet first with rain pelting the runners and then after the storm temperatures dropping with wind chill factors under 30 degrees. That did not seem to bother Hart as she turned in the same double within a period of 80 minutes. The 800 Meter Run was tactical as Hart and Schaumburg’s Madison Marasco went through the first 400-meters in a sluggish 70 seconds. The pace picked up with Marasco pushing the pace with Hart staying close to her side. Hart had the final move as she pulled away in the final 100-meters to win the race running 2:14.31 (IL #3) two seconds ahead of Marasco (2:16.34). Hart’s last 400-meters was a staggering 64 seconds.

Hart came back approximately 70 minutes later in the 1600 Meter Run with the outcome the same. Hart took the lead early having a three second lead on Naperville North’s Sarah Schmitt entering the final lap of the race. Hart pulled away again for the win (4:51.14) finishing nine seconds ahead of another impressive run by Schmitt (5:00.23). The weather conditions slowed the pace of the race down, but the depth in this race was still there as eight runners finished under 5:11.

Hart and Michelin are two of the top elite runners in this state. Those two doubles this weekend demonstrated why. With the state meet more than three weeks away, it is fun to see these two runners face off against each other for the first time this season. The question will be at what distance?

Meanwhile at the Palatine Relays

There were some other great performances besides the double of Michelin that popped up at this meet. Mundelein’s Bobby Nuzzio turned in an impressive sprint double in winning both the Boys 100 and 200 Meter Dash. Nuzzio started out by winning the 100 Meter Dash (10.71, IL #4 tie) to win by more than three tenths of a second. Nuzzio came back to run 21.92 (IL #7) to win the 200 Meter Dash ahead of Barrington’s Luis Cozzio IV (22.20). Earlier in the meet, Cossio IV ran 50.51 to win the 400 Meter Dash.

Barrington’s Nick Laning had an impressive double win running 9:42.40 to win the 3200 Meter Run six seconds ahead of Palatine’s Evan Eckels, St. Ignatius Prep’s John Walls, and Mundelein’s Robert St. Clair who finished within a second of each other. It came down to the final lap to decide the winner in the 1600 Meter Run. It was Laning again with the win (4:26.03) as he finished more than a second ahead of Mundelein’s Michael Parduhn (4:27.80).

De La Salle’s Ryan Curington had a break through performance with a 22-9.75 (IL #9) to win the Long Jump by almost two feet.

Erin Oleksak of Palatine won both hurdle events on the Girls side of this meet. She started the meet by running a personal best 46.52 to win the 300 Meter Hurdles ahead of Lane Tech’s Natasha Bernett (47.01). It was closer between the two in the 100 Meter Hurdles with Oleksak winning again (15.24) but just by three hundredths of a seconds ahead of Bernett (15.27).

Barrington’s quartet of Sophie Hoeltgen, Morgan Magro, Katherine Shen, and Molly FitzPatrick ran the fastest time in the state this season (9:28.09) in winning the 3200 Meter Relay by over 30 seconds ahead of Palatine (9:59.89). Wheeling was just as strong in running 3:59.98 (IL #2) to win the 1600 Meter Relay.

Great Illinois performances in Kentucky

The Swift and Staley Midwest Team Challenge in Paducah, Kentucky has grown continuing to attract some of the top athletes in Illinois to this meet. Imani Carothers of Brooks came away from this meet with three individual wins. She dominated the horizontal jumps jumping 18-11.75 to win the Long Jump and 38-9 to win the Triple Jump. Carothers ran a season’s best 14.26 (IL #2) in winning the 100 Meter Hurdles by almost two seconds. Carothers finished her day by running 12.28 to finish third in the 100 Meter Dash behind Valesha Watson of Tilghman KY (12.12) and Homewood-Flossmoor’s Jacqueline Bassey (12.16). Olivia Oliver of Homewood-Flossmoor won the 200 Meter Dash (25.05) ahead of Bassey (25.51).

Homewood-Flossmoor won three of the four relays contested in this meet. The Lady Vikings ran 49.08 to win the 400 Meter Relay, then ran the state’s fastest time (1:42.34) to win the 800 Meter Relay, and concluded the meet by running 4:06.14 (IL #9) to win the 1600 Meter Relay. Hoffman Estates made it an Illinois sweep by running 9:43.32 (IL #11) to win the 3200 Meter Relay.

Red Ribbon Classic produces memorable performances

When the weather cooperates, this meet is one of the top meets of the weekend. It was a little windy effecting the sprint times and a dust devil hit the meet for the second time in four years as the “mini-cyclone” spayed straw from a nearby construction site across the track just before the start of the 1600 Meter Relay. The meet also showcased two of the top 3A teams in the state Neuqua Valley and Homewood-Flossmoor.

Yorkville’s Peyton Frankenreider was a double winner. He tied the meet record in winning the Triple Jump (45-11.5) by less than two inches ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor’s Quinton Stringfellow (45-9). Frankenreider won the 110 Meter Hurdles (14.98) ahead of Neuqua Valley’s Donovan Turner (15.13). Turner turned the tables in the 300 Hurdles running 39.16 for the win ahead of Homewood-Flossmoor’s Matthew Lewis-Banks (39.71) and Frankenreider (40.58). Frankenreider was also a part of Yorkville’s winning 400 Meter Relay that ran 42.52 to finish ahead of Neuqua Valley (42.92), South Elgin (43.24), and Hoffman Estates (43.39).

Hoffman Estates’ Declan Rustay was on relay duty for the Hawks in this meet running in all three relay events. Rustay anchored his team to a come from behind win in the 800 Meter Relay (1:30.06) just ahead of Neuqua Valley (1:30.21). Rustay took the baton with the lead in the 1600 Meter Relay and held off Homewood-Flossmoor and Neuqua Valley for the win (3:23.81) running a 49.5 anchor split. Homewood-Flossmoor (3:25.24) and Neuqua Valley (3:25.34) finished second and third.

Matthew Blanco of Oswego East pulled away from the pack in the third lap of the 3200 Meter Run. His time of 9:31.88 was ten seconds ahead of second-place finisher Chris Keeley of Neuqua Valley. Blanco took the lead early in the 1600 Meter Run and then held off Michael Ronzone of Marmion Academy for the win as the two came in within a second of each other (4:27.22 – 4:27.60).

Meyer improves on his All-Time Illinois Best at the Arnold Invitational

Lockport Township’s John Meyer Jr. did it again Saturday in Glen Ellyn. The senior, who has the second best outdoor mark nationally, improved on his All-Time state best with a 69-9 mark to win the Shot Put. Meyer also holds the best All-Time Illinois Indoor Best (70-4.25). He also took home the win at this meet in winning the Discus (179-0). A 70-foot effort is coming from this University of Michigan signee. He was throwing near 72-feet in his warmups. That could happen this Friday at Lockport in his final home meet.

Oak Park-River Forest scored 126 points to win the Varsity team title ahead of conference rival Glenbard West (96 points). Part of that success came from their two relay wins. The Huskies ran 43.20 to win the 400 Meter Relay ahead of Batavia (44.03) and Lowell IN (44.04). Oak Park-River Forest also ran 3:25.86 to win the 1600 Meter Relay ahead of Glenbard West (3:28.62).

Koren Leonard also helped Oak Park’s cause by winning both hurdles. Leonard ran 15.68 to win the 110 High Hurdles ahead of teammate JT Lowder (15.72). Leonard came back to run 40.85 to win the 300 Intermediate Hurdles ahead of Wheaton North’s Eli Odell (40.96).

Elsewhere across the state

Sterling Night Relays – The weather has kind of kept Freeport’s Deion McShane under the radar. In less than optimal conditions, McShane ran a state leading 37.13 to win the 300 Intermediate Hurdles ahead of Dixon’s Jared Harrison by more than a second. Nyrell Sullivan of Sterling jumped into the state top ten when he jumped 23-2.5 to win the Long Jump.

WWS Tiger Invitational – We already mentioned the double by Katelynne Hart in winning the 800 and 1600. Halle Bieber of Naperville North also picked up a double win running 15.82 to win the 100 Hurdles and 45.77 to win the 300 Hurdles. Her win in the longer hurdle race was by almost two seconds ahead of Bolingbrook’s Kayla Walters. It was close in the 3200 Meter Relay as York ran 9:31.57 (IL #3) finishing ahead of Oswego (9:32.61, IL #4) and Schaumburg (9:39.48, IL #8)

Prospect Wanner Knights Invitational – Conditions at this meet deteriorated from the start as officials had to stop the first section of the 3200 Meter Relay due to “weather concerns”. Minooka took home the team title with 126.5 points ahead of Prospect (105.5 points) and York (98.5 points). Danny Kilrea of Lyons Township pulled away from the field to win the 3200 Meter Run (9:05.94) ahead of Drew Bosley of Homestead WI (9:05.94). Brandon Adams of Minooka ran 49.65 to win the 400 Meter Dash. It was an impressive time considering the weather. Francis Parker’s Jack McNabola ran 4:24.01 to win the 1600 Meter Run ahead of Eddie Siuda of Downers Grove South and Hersey’s Josh Methner by two seconds.

Hunt Invitational – Thursday’s weather was near perfect with temperatures near 60 degrees with no wind. Plainfield North’s Marcellus Moore again had quite a night winning two individual events along with being a part of winning relays. Moore ran a solo 10.71 to win the 100 Meter Dash by more than half a second. He came back to run 21.33 to win the 200 Meter Dash by almost two seconds. His relay work (with his teammates) was just as impressive. Plainfield North ran 41.89 to win the 400 Meter Relay. Plainfield North came back to run a state leading 1:28.15 to win the 400 Meter Relay.

St. Clair County Girls Championships – Top state times were all over the place in this meet last Wednesday. The top three state times in the 300 Hurdles were achieved when East St. Louis-Senior’s Rokelle Stanley ran 44.32 to win ahead of teammate Veronica Sherrod (44.82) and Belleville West’s LaQwasia Stepney (44.89). Stepney earlier in the meet ran the state best time of 14.13 to win the 100 Hurdles ahead of Stanley (14.79, IL #4). East St. Louis-Senior recorded the state’s fastest time this year in running 3:57.05 to win the 1600 Meter Relay.