Irwin Loud is surrounded by his biggest fans, his teammates after winning a thrilling 3200m
The biggest weekend of track and field proved its worth and hype. The biggest meet of the season was highlighted by the state led by the 51st Annual Proviso West Boys Invitational. The stars inside the Proviso West High School Field House induced 7 state bests as well as 2 meet records. But all was not perfect though. A 30 minute delay followed by a controversial disqualification in the boys mile had many people buzzing aloud. Still at the end of the day the meet was rocking (literally) with a live DJ plus innovative sponsors such as Chick Fil-A, First To The Finish, and A+ Math tutoring services.
The real deal highlight reel-
- 4x800 relay: The first final of the day was supposed to be a case where defending 3A champion Sandburg was entered as an at-large selection. The Eagles backtracked a bit and did not run either Torpy twin and finished sixth. Instead it was a clash between Cahokia and York that played out like two gladiators in a cage without a key to get out. The Comanches took the lead on the anchor leg with senior Tyran Lyons being the aggressor. He put the pressure on York senior Rob Tomaska. The verdict was Cahokia holding 8:03.53-8:04.19. Both times are #1 and #2 in the state. Lyons' 2:00.3 was just good enough to overcome the 1:59.6 that Tomaska ran. Oak Park-River Forest finished a distant third (8:09.11) but picked up IL #3 in the process. Additionally, six team finishers made the top 10 in Illinois.
- Tyrone Jones (Sr., Oak Park-River Forest) may be a guy to watch this year outdoors in the 100m after missing the state meet by a place. On Saturday he blazed the homestretch with a stunning state leading 55m dash in 6.43. Perhaps the most impressive part in Jones' wake was the six at-large entrants.
- The 4x200 relay was once again hyped as the most see event to watch. A virtually clean affair throughout each of the two sections was good for the "championship round." The favorite Cahokia got clear on the lead off leg as expected with jump ace Ja'mari Ward. However, the Comanches were unable to shake Proviso West and Morgan Park who stayed close. But it was the slick and concise curve running by Cahokia that prevailed for the win in 1:32.17. The host Panthers took second ahead of the Mustangs 1:32.44-1:32.57. The #1, #3, and #4 times in the state were produced.
- Four of the top five 400m runners in the state were lined up and ready to duel in section 7. #1 ranked Chris Thompson (Sr., Lemont) was paired with a field that challenged to be as good as any ever assembled in a regular season meet. Aaron Harris (Sr., Lisle) and 2A defending state champion Tyler Higgins (Sr., Highland) was ready. Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan as Harris would led until 350m fell to the track re-injurying his hamstring. Thompson then basically skipped to the finish line in 50.34.
- A coach remarked before the race that several 3200m runners who were ranked in the top 5 in the state would be relegated to the section 1 "slow heat." Downers Grove South sophomore Stephen Pipilas set the tone with a solid 9:39.52 mark As it would later turn out 9 of the 10 marks in the state came from section two. The anticipated re-emergence of Oak Park-River Forest junior Irwin Loud was met with caution by the distance running faithful. Loud, who is one of the best runners in the state, fell victim to some unfortunate circumstances during the latter portion of the cross country season. He put his physical and mental health on display with a thrilling race that picked up after a solid 4:39 opening mile. Loud and Sean Torpy (Sr., Sandburg) departed from a tight pack and virtually sprinted the final rotation on the track with Loud holding on for the win in IL #1 9:18.36. Torpy ran great in his season debut copping the silver medal 9:19.94. Loud was asked afterwards if he was back. He responded: "I'm back!"
- The hype coming into the class 800m field was US #6 Dustan Davidson (Sr., St. Louis University). The former O'Fallon runner knew many of the athletes that he competed against when he was a freshman. He also knew several of them were ready for him like Torrain Haughton (Sr., Maine East). Haughton was fresh off of a state leading 600m that he ran on Wednesday night at York in 1:23. Haughton moved to the lead after a first lap in 27 secs. It appeared he was off and running on a blistering pace that took him through the 400m in 56.1. However, he soon ran low on fuel and was captured by Chris Torpy (Sr., Sandburg) on the gun lap. Torpy took off like a mad man on the field and despite a last gasp effort by Davidson, it was too late. Torpy won convincingly in 1:55.60.
- Proviso West Invite runs the mile not the 1600m. It was another stellar field assembled and littered with West Suburban Conference foes. At-large entrant Kevin Salvano (Sr., Buffalo Grove) indicated that he wanted to drop down in distance to test his mettle with the more leg speedy foes. Salvano, the 3A state xc champion, will run the deuce at his conference meet next month. The race got off to a bit of a rocky start but nothing out of the ordinary when you assemble a deep cast that contained 14 runners. In essence there is going to be some tripping, pushing, elbow throwing until things clear out. There did not appear to be any grumbling among the runners. The pace was locked in stone for the first three laps until at-large entrant Connor McCue (Sr., West Aurora) was bidding his time. After a luxury running 2:13 first half by the field, McCue had enough and hit the gas checking in at the 1200m in 3:17; it was indeed a sizable lead on the field. McCue initially hit the tape in 4:20.53 and good for a big state leading time. But hold up! It was determined that he along with Lyons runners Connor Madell (Sr.) and Vince Zona (Jr.) were disqualified for physical infractions. Salvano was then awarded the win in 4:26.24.
The amazing Ja'mari Ward had the entire sardine packed field house watching him (Itai Epstein photo)
- The field events had several hits starting with the jumps. The event up was the long jump where super star athlete Ja'mari Ward was literally the center of attention. Ward has captured the allure of his peers at each meet that he attends, and even Proviso West Athletic Director Calvin Davis was swept into the hype pulling out his phone to grab a memory or two. One such jump was a huge 26-plus foot effort that barely scratched the board. It had the fans surrounding the pit as well as those in the stands frenzied out. Ward had fouled on his first two attempts and in danger of scratching out of the competition despite providing great fireworks. His third and final attempt was a safe effort 24-8.25 that smashed the 28 year old meet record that was held by Proviso West head coach Johnny Nolan-Jenkins... Ward returned several hours later to easily dispose of a great triple jump field. Ward took only one jump- a measurement of 47-11.75 that was a foot better than 3A defending champion Chris Walker's (Sr., West Aurora) 46-10... Anthony McRoberts (Sr., Cahokia) got in the record breaking act with his teammate Ward leaping 6-10 in the high jump. McRoberts also competed in the triple jump but when it comes to the cross bar he is at his best. McRoberts took three attempts at 7-0 but was close but no cigar.
