The opening of the “new” Illinois Top Times went off without a hitch… hats off to the staff for making things go seamless.  In addition, team trophies were handed out to the winners at the end of the affair.

 

The field events took over the first hour and change of the meet competition. Kyle Landon- the high jumper extraordinaire- literally got things jumping for his Chester HS mates.  He easily got over the 6-4 height that Matt Utterback (Jr., Pleasant Valley) bowed out.  Now, it was on to breaking the meet record of 6-11 set by Zach Riley (Herrin- 2009).  Landon got three good looks which came up short; he was credited with 6-9 winning effort.

 

Freshman sensation Adam Coulon of Downs Tri-Valley is quickly becoming a marked man every time that he is in the field of competition.  This time he had to square up against his friend and foe Jack Denby (Jr., Carlinville).  It wasn’t until the bar reached 14-6 that most eyes turned to the pole vault.  Coulon and Denby traded vaults until the bar reached 15-6.  They both hit a stalemate and missed on all three attempts.  The event judge announced there would be a jump-off at the 15-6 height.  Denby went first and made it with relative ease.  The pressure was now thrown in Coulon’s court to respond or lose.  He got a solid plant in the box but tailed a bit to the right and clipped the bar on his way down.  Denby was announced the winner and instantly became a happy camper.

 

Ryan Pearce (Sr., Villa Grove) earned his season best effort in the final by out dueling Jonah Walker (Aurora Central Catholic) with a winning effort 56-6.

 

Champaign St. Thomas More had big plans to take down Monticello’s 4x800r mark of 8:00.15 set back in 2006.  But they may have had one thing against them… travel wariness.  The quartet returned from spring break in Florida the previous night at Midnight.  Not to make excuses for them because their coach Dave Behm still expected them to perform.  Nick Hess (Sr.) got the assignment to lead off.  He got out well just as the coach scripted.  Hess pushed hard but his form appeared a bit labored.  He was finally past on his final lap and even lost a second or so.  It would be teammate Sean Kelley’s duty to make up ground.  Kelley did with authority.  He caught the offending St. Joe Ogden runner and put distance on him. The anchor leg Sam Powers completed the journey in fine fashion for Sabors.  Final splits: Hess- 2:03.2, Kelley- 2:02.0, Helfrich- 2:01.4, Powers- 2:00.8.

 

Jesse Hahne (Sr., Danville Schlarman) won the 3200m the hard way in 9:31.47.  Hahne took advantage of a sleep walking pack on the first few laps and put the race away with relative ease. The Illinois State University bound Hahne made quick work of 400 splits: 69, 2:19.4, 3:30.1, 4:41.4, 5:53.1, 7:05.9.  Hahne labored a bit over the final four laps of the race due to weaving around a ton of lapped runners, but he was never in danger of getting caught by the second place runner Luke Hill (Ottawa Marquette) who finished in 9:48.82.

 

The 800m victory appeared like a workout for Robinson’s Blake Hale who used easy 200m splits 28, 59, 1:29 to win very comfortably in 1:59.15.  When the statement was brought to him about his “training run” like stroll, Blake offered, “that’s what everyone said… but a win is a win- I ran 1:56.9 earlier this year,” he said in reference to apparently just going for the win.

 

The anticipated match-ups in the 60m between Devin Johnson (Erie), Nick Rude (Sterling Newman Catholic), and Brent Albertson (Flanagan) turned out well with all three speedsters advancing to the finals with ease.  In the final, it was Rude who got the best start and motored his way to an easy victory in 7.07.  Carvel Dixon (Madison) surprised the trio by slipping into second over the final steps of the race to run 7.11.  Albertson finished fourth (7.14) and Johnson fifth (7.16).

 

The third and final section of the 200m was billed as the “championship race.” Joe Morrow (Chicago Hales Fransican) pulled away down the stretch to win in 22.73.  Albertson stayed close and ran a solid 22.80.

 

Kyle Blievernicht (Teutopolis) and Johnathon Harrel (Aurora Christian) both ran 52.10 but it was in different heats.  Harrel won the first section and Blievernicht took the third and final heat.  The official scorer gave the FAT to Blievernicht the win.

 

 

 

There were a few masterful performances in the field by the ladies.  The first one was of high jumper Kandie Bloch (Sr., Argenta-Oreana).  Bloch made a subtle start to her season after coming off the basketball campaign hers to remember.  The University of Illinois bound Bloch first had to contend with a new event the triple jump.  She won that in a personal best 35-4 over the favored Sophie Fairman (Staunton) 35-3.  

 

Bloch trotted over to the high jump which was already in progress and “jumped” right in.  Ms. Bloch allowed Karissa Roman (Kewanee Weathersfield) and Peyton Wade (Aurora Christian) to duel it out.  The pair only cleared 5-4 compared to their seed marks 5-8.  Bloch proceeded to go to work by achieving 5-4, 5-6, 5-8, and the bar was moved up to the meet record 5-10.  It looked as though she had 5-10 on the second attempted but the bar fell on the landing.  There is no doubt she will be among the nation’s elite by season’s end.  Afterwards, Bloch commented that she felt fine coming from one event to her specialty. “I felt fine coming over from the triple [jump]- I got my PR over there so I’m happy,” she said with a big smile. 

 

Defending state long jump champion Amelia Glueck (Tremont) won the long jump in between her sprinting duties.  The talented junior leaped a season’s best 18-0.5 and overtook the previous leader Courtney Croy (Neoga) who could only produce 17-4.5.

 

Taylor Knauf (Aurora Christian) erased Alyssa Applebee’s one year old pole vault record of 11-6 with a new mark 12-0.  The crowd sensed the record when she got to the 11-6 height.  Knauf cleared 12-0 to equal her personal best from the Windy City Pole Vault Summit.  

 

The 3200m favorite Brittney Burmester (Red Bud) completed the first mile in 5:45.9 to win going away in 11:32.47.  Her teammate Deanna Deterding was second in 11:39.06.  The pair concluded the indoor campaign just like they started- on top.

 

Cassie Mundekis (Manito Midwest Central) cruised along the first two laps in just under 70-seconds- before deciding to take over the chores of winning the race.  Mundekis received only light pressure from Julie James (El Paso Ridley) at the bell in 1:44.2.  It was a wrap with less than 100m to go when Mundekis blazed him in 2:18.88- a classification best.  James clocked a season best 2:10.17.

 

 

Senior Jessica Jump of Edwardsville Metro East Lutheran has been a mainstay in the classification sprints for several years now.  This season she led the 55/60 and 200 dashes all season.  She has also been among the leaders in the 400 as well.  The standout speedster won the 60 in 7.87- the 11th best time for an Illinois girl this season. 

 

Jump later moved over to her other specialty- the 200m- where she had intentions of setting a season best.  But it seemed from the moment that something wasn’t right and several people in attendance noticed that she was laboring in her stride.  The tension was probably building in the first 100m and the first back turn was probably where she damaged her hamstring.  Jump tightened up bad in the last few meters of the race but held on for the victory. However, she hit the track in tremendous agony.  The university training staff as well as her teammates and coaches assisted in getting her off the track.  The status was not known of Jump’s condition at meet’s end.  Hopefully, it was just a cramp and nothing serious.

 

 

Decatur St. Teresa only trailed briefly in the 4x800 relay before smashing the field to win in 9:58.90.  The quartet produced solid splits of 2:27.5, 2:30.6, 2:31.6, and cross country champ Ivy Handley anchored in 2:29.2.  St. Thomas More placed second in 10:06.10.

 

Jenny Kimbro (Catlin) edged Peyton Wade in the 60HH 9.42-9.43.

 

In the 4x200r, Clinton was the favorite on paper but an awful collision on the final exchange between them and Carthage resulted in a 10th place finish.  Erie won in 1:48.02.  Seton Academy won the penultimate heat in 1:50.60 to earn second place.

 

Sophie Fairman edged Rayanne Wright (Clifton Central) by four one-thousands of a second to earn the 400m crown.  Fairman and Wright competed in different heats but had the same raw time 59.64.  However, Fairman’s 59.633 appeared to be a bit superior to the 59.637 that Wright ran.

 

Rachel Devereux (Decatur St. Teresa) clocked a close one in the 1600 to edge Brittney Burmester 5:23.28-5:24.75.   Devereux stalked her teammate Ivy Handley for most of the race but finally passed her late in the final 400 when Handley appeared too labored to lead.  When Handley fell back Burmester put on an assault to catch Devereux but it was too late.

 

Erie completed the meet by winning the 4x4 in 4:10.06.  It was a season best for the classification.