McShane forced out of 2A Meet due to injury; Groom qualifies in four events; Meyer sets new meet record in Shot Put; Homewood-Flossmoor sets 3A 400 Meter Relay State Record

By Michael Newman

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Charleston – Where there was celebration, there was heartbreak for some at Friday’s 2A/3A prelims at the IHSA Boys State Meet. Temperatures in the upper 80’s did play a factor for some, but not for Marmion Academy’s Seth Groom. The senior leads qualifiers in the 2A Long Jump and Triple Jump, while also qualifying in the High Jump and the 200 Meter Dash. It did not look like Groom would compete in this meet during the indoor season. A dislocated disc in his back sidelined him all the indoor season.

“The doctors told me that I could not do anything. That frustrated me,” Groom said after his prelim day had completed. “Once I started up physical therapy, that made me happy. At least I would be able to do something. It has been a long slow process. I was happy to compete today.”

Groom is the main reason why Marmion Academy is in contention for a state championship. The Cadets along with Mahomet-Seymour qualified seven for Saturday’s finals. Four other schools (Dixon, Mascoutah, Metamora, and Normal University) are next with six qualifiers.

The 2A prelims ended early for Freeport’s Deion McShane. The senior was the defending and is the state meet record holder in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles. He had already qualified for the finals of the Long Jump when he stepped into the blocks of the 110 High Hurdles. Three days before the state meet, McShane had injured his hamstring in a workout. As he went over the third hurdle in his preliminary heat, he felt the injury flare up. He finished the race in second, but he grabbed his leg after the finish.

Mascoutah was the team on the roll at the beginning of the morning session winning their heats in the 3200 Meter Relay and 400 Meter Relay to qualify for the finals. Edward Wilson then qualified for the finals of the 100 Meter Dash. Wilson anchored Mascoutah’s 800 Meter Relay to heat win also qualifying for Saturday’s finals.

Other 2A Notes

Rich Central could also be in the mix for a state trophy qualifying five to the finals. Three of them came from VanHarvey Vance. The defending champion in the 400 Meter Dash has the fastest preliminary time in the 400 Meter Dash (48.83). Vance also qualified in the 100 Meter Dash and had the second fastest time in the 200 Meter Dash behind Marengo sophomore Finnigan Schirmer who ran 22.09 to win his heat. Decatur MacArthur’s Ronald Reed leads all qualifiers in the 100 Meter Dash as he ran a personal best 10.59 to win his heat.

Hometown favorite Nic Oakley of Charleston won his heat in the 800 Meter Run (1:56.96). Oakley has the second fastest prelim time advancing to the finals behind Hayden Wimberly of Salem and his 1:56.79 heat winning time. The five fastest 1600 Meter Run prelim times came from the first heat where Spencer Smith of Alleman pulled away from Normal University’s Jared Shuckman to win the first heat (4:19.92) ahead of Shuckman’ s 4:20.79. It was the second event qualifier for Shuckman. Earlier in the meet, Shuckman had qualified in the 800 Meter Run. Marion had the fastest prelim time in the 3200 Meter Relay running 8:00.17 to win heat 1 ahead of Normal University (8:00.57).

It should be a close battle in the Discus on Saturday as Harley Russell of Mt. Zion threw 186-11 to hold a six-foot lead ahead of Roxana’s Jordan Hawkins. Dunlap’s Austin Klokkenga threw 55-2 to lead all qualifiers in the Shot Put ahead of Russell (54-3.50) and Hunter Hendershot of Mahomet-Seymour (54-0.25).

Meyer and the sprints highlight the 3A prelim afternoon

It was just a matter of time before Lockport Township’s John Meyer Jr. would get the state meet record. He did it Friday afternoon in the prelims as the senior threw 68-8 to set a new meet record breaking the old record of 66-5.75 set by Jermaine Kline in 2011.

The hype for the 3A sprint events at this state final became reality with some fantastically fast times on the big blue oval. Homewood-Flossmoor made the first statement in the 400 Meter Relay running 41.34 to set a new 3A record. Saturday’s finals should be great with Plainfield North, Hoffman Estates, and Huntley at or under 42-seconds.

It was a matter of can you top this in the three heats of the 100 Meter Dash. It started with Declan Rustay of Hoffman Estates winning his heat in 10.50 just ahead of Mundelein’s Bobby Nuzzo (10.54). Then it was Rock Island’s Courtney Lindsay’s turn as he ran 10.45 to win Heat 2. Plainfield North’s Marcellus Moore closed the book as he glided across the line in 10.40 in the final heat to lead all qualifiers. If conditions are right, we could see a winning time under 10.3 in Saturday’s finals.

It was the same story in the 200 Meter Dash. Rustay, Lindsey, and Moore won their heats with Rustay heading into the finals with the fastest times. The battle in the 800 Meter Relay was again the story of Rustay vs. Moore. Moore led Plainfield North to a win in the first heat setting a statement running 1:26.78. Glenbard West won the second heat (1:27.53). Rustay and his Hoffman Estates stepped to the track with something to prove. The Hawks ran the fastest prelim time 1:26.58 to just outdistance conference rival Barrington (1:26.95).

The 3A battle could come down to Homewood-Flossmoor and Neuqua Valley. The Vikings lead all teams with 11 qualifiers to Saturday’s finals with Neuqua Valley advancing with 9. Next was a surprising Glenbard West team that advances 6 qualifiers.

Other 3A Notes

The 110 High Hurdles turned in some blazing times as four athletes ran 14.15 or faster in the preliminaries. Sam Conger of Batavia led the way with a wind-legal personal best of 13.96 ahead of Donovan Turner of Neuqua Valley (14.04) and Matthew Lewis-Banks of Homewood-Flossmoor (14.13) who won the other heats. Fremd’s Jaden Jackson ran 38.26 to lead all qualifiers in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles.

Luis Cossio IV of Barrington sacrificed individual glory instead to help his team. Cossio, the defending champion in the 400 Meter Dash, failed to qualify in the finals in that event but helped Barrington advance to the finals in the 400 and 800 Meter Relay. Jason Thormo of Grant Community leads all qualifiers in the 400 Meter Dash running a personal best and state leading 47.84.

The heat seemed to play a little affect into what some of the distance runners will be doing this weekend. In the 3200 Meter Relay, three teams under 7:49 in the first heat set the tone with Neuqua Valley (7:48.28) just edging Batavia (7:48.29) and York (7:48.83). Danville (7:51.41) and Metea Valley (7:54.80) were the other heat winners. Perennial relay power Sandburg just made it in to the finals qualifying 11^th overall with Dylan Jacobs running a 1:52.7 anchor leg to get them in. There could be a possibility that Jacobs just runs the 1600 Meter Run in this race going after the meet record.

Jacobs was one of the 12 qualifiers in the 1600 Meter Run as Thomas Shilgalis of Naperville Central ran 4:15.80 to lead all qualifiers. Joshua English of Eisenhower ran 55.2 for the first 400-meters on his way to winning his heat in 1:53.43. Other heat winners Wes York of Waubonsie Valley and Charlie Kern of York will be waiting for him in the finals.

Zachery Bradford of Bloomington only needed a 14-6 clearance to lead all qualifiers in the Pole Vault where he could break his meet record of 17-4. Bradford came back to help Bloomington in the 1600 Meter Relay qualify for the finals running a 48.9 anchor to get the Purple Raiders to the finals with their heat win (3:20.24). Proviso West led all qualifiers into the finals running 3:19.54 ahead of other heat winner Bloom Township (3:19.61).

Jordan Johnson of Quincy threw a huge personal best of 196-9 to lead the qualifiers in the Discus. John Meyer Jr. is next with a 179-6 performance. Neuqua Valley’s Ife Oketona jumped 23-6.25 to lead all qualifiers in the Long Jump just ahead of Plainfield East’s Brian Keubeng (23-1.75).

Josh Boulanger of Brother Rice has the lead in the Triple Jump unleashing a 46-7.25 personal best. Jonathan Wilburn of Evanston Township is currently in second (46-5.75). Peyton Frankenreider of Yorkville, who had the best sectional performances in the Long Jump and Triple Jump, failed to qualify in both events, The Yorkville senior did make the finals of the 110 High Hurdles and the 300 Intermediate Hurdles.