Don’t let the gentle smile or the gentleman demeanor of Coach Leroy Milsap get a hold of you. The reality is he is about the business of winning championships on any stage whether it’s small or big. He was once overheard saying, “Man look, we will travel anywhere there is competition.” The Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University was the place where Milsap’s team rocked the spot. The Comanches won the inaugural team championship scoring a massive 95 points. Bloomington took second with 54 pts and Chicago North Lawndale Prep copped the final team plaque by tallying 33 pts.
The girls team was a title tilt between team and individual. Carbondale held off Shamier Little’s Chicago Lindblom 36-30. Marengo took the third spot with 26 pts.
-[Boys]-
-Cahokia use all their arsenal against the competition
Cahokia is becoming one of those great teams that come around once in a long time. The Comanches coaching staff are well versed in their team plan of attack. They have tons of notes on their team and key opponents. That’s what great teams do.
The day started in the field with the long jump. Ja’Mari Ward (Fr.) is not your normal 15 year old. He has been around this sport and the Cahokia team most of his life. He has an older brother (La’Derrick Ward) who starred on the team. So, Comanche track and field is family and life for the young lad. As well, Ward is competing like a seasoned veteran. He trailed most of the competition because he wasn’t focused according to his coaches. Coach Milsap said he missed a great on his fourth jump by a toe nail. Meanwhile, teammate Chris Moore (Sr.) was leading at 23’2.25 and out of jumps- the competitors jumped six in a row. Ward had one more shot and he nailed it- 23’4.5” and just like that he is the winner.
The Comanche jumpers returned to compete in the triple jump and scored an impressive 1,2,3 finish. Moore was victorious this time. He didn’t have his best day with several fouls mixed in with a 46-8 effort. He won it with a 46-11 and didn’t take all six attempts. Ward placed second in 46-0. The third wheel Jalon Monigan (Jr.) leap-frogged a solid 45-1.25.
Antonio Pierce placed third in the high jump (6-6) helping his team score five points. He stayed around after bowing out to watch one of the nation’s best jumpers Alex King (Jr., Massac County) jump 6-10. Pierce took mental notes on what it’s like to sky into the stratosphere. King was able to attempt 7-0 to the delight of Pierce and everyone else near the competition.
Cahokia is more that sprints and jumps. They also have pretty stout middle-distance runners. In fact, top runner Darren Payton (Sr.) has great speed (49.78) and pretty decent endurance (16:01-3m/4:27-1600m). The 4x800r is an event that Coach Milsap feels is important because track and field is more than sprints and jumping. “You can’t be one dimensional,” he has said on more than one occasion. Marlon Brady got the assignment to lead off. The goal was to give his team a lead after the first leg and hopefully keep Payton from exerting himself on anchor. Brady was unable to deliver and put his team into a big hole with a 2:03 split. Pontiac and several other teams were ahead of Cahokia going into the final leg. What will Payton do with a sizable deficit to make up? He had the 800 to run later so he had to pick. Payton went after Pontiac, Illiana Christian, and two other teams right away. The crowd buzzed aloud and his coaches howled just as loud for him to race. The senior leader hit the 400 in 55.7 and closed the once sizable lead down to a slap on the back. It didn’t stop there at 600, Payton kept the momentum going to the finish: 1:56.4/8:05.39 for the team.
Cahokia finished out their assault winning a close 4x200r in 1:31.33. Bloomington hung but could not reel in the Comanche quartet. The 4x4 closed things out with a winning 3:26.76
-Sprints: Boey sets the track on fire
For awhile it seemed as though Jonathan Boey (Sr., Decatur MacArthur) was stuck in a holding pattern when he competed. He had started the season in a blazing fashion running 6.85 and 22.4 on 2/22. He didn’t show much improvement and whispers started to circulate about him possibly hitting a plateau.
Finally, he exploded in the 60 prelim running 6.86. It wasn’t the time but more the smooth effort in gliding down the track and well ahead of second place Treston Fowler (Dunlap). No one else broke 7.00.
Boey was ready for the final. He got out of the blocks like he was shot out of a rocket launcher. The race was over at 30m. All he needed to do is maintain his form and hit the finish line hard. The scoreboard lit up 6.79! It was his fastest time ever and a new state best. Several meet personnel got excited as did Boey with the amazing effort. His new mark moved him from US#12 to US#8 in the national rankings. It also gave him credence to feel good about the forthcoming 200m. “I felt good today,” Boey said with a smile, “I just stayed calm and tried to run as fast as I could.”
Mr. Boey came back in the 200 with his spikes laced tight and ready to go. The outcome was eerily similar to the short dash because he was able to get out well. Kendrick Lewis (E. St. Louis Sr.) and company was no match for Boey who left them in quicksand. The final result was a scorching 22.18 clocking- a new classification meet record. Once again it supplanted the previous state best held by him. The time was the 7th fastest time on a standard 200m flat track in the United States of America.
-Distance running…
Sam Doud (Jr., Bloomington) traded pleasantries with Pat Yerkes (Sr., Oak Park Fenwick), Keith Meyer (Sr., Bloomington) and Josh Rodenberg (Sr., Waterloo) for a good portion of the race. But then it was Yerkes who over the race with about 800m left to win comfortably in a big personal best 9:35.39.
There was only one runner that broke 2:00 in the 800m and that Zac Justus (Pontiac). Justus had to fight back from a deficit and early pace set briefly by Darren Payton. Payton faded badly which allowed Justus and several peers to move up for the final circuit kill. Justus exploited the opportunity and won comfortably in 1:59.67. Matt Myers (Aurora Central Catholic) placed second in 2:00.79. Payton finished last with a 2:12.37 clocking.
The future Eastern Illinois University product Riley McInerney stayed composed through much of the race while Marc Maton (Chatham-Glenwood) led. The first half pace was pretty honest when it hit 2:10. But McInerney soon got past Maton and made his move for a personal best win in 4:18.49. Maton held on for second in 4:20.59.
-[Girls]-
-Sarah Bell rings the bell in the pole vault
The girl is on fire! That girl is Sarah Bell (Sr., Bloomington Central Catholic). It seems that no one really watches the pole vault until the bar reaches a certain height. But when it comes to Bell that wait is usually longer. She doesn’t normally start at introductory heights. So, when the bar reached the 11-0 and then 11-6, the reporters and fans began to turn their attention to the pit.
After Bell got over the early heights, she continued to fight with Jessica Melchi (Mahomet-Seymour) at 12-0. Now, it’s just Bell on her own now with the bar over 13-0. Then it was moved up to 13-3. She cleared with it rather well on her second attempt. She broke her previous record and all-time meet best. The meet announcer then asked the fans to turn their full attention to the vault as the bar was raised to 13-5! This would no doubt take Bell to a level that no girl in Illinois has ever done. The first two attempts were solid but not quite there. For the final attempt, Bell took her time prepping for it. Then with serious speed on the run way, she made a good plant and it was up and over. But ugh! She lay on the mat and the bar fell on her. Bell would later say that she did not touch the bar and honestly did not know how it came down.
Bell would receive a nice round of applause for her wonderful effort. The goal for outdoor will be to continue to get better and train for some very big meets down the line.
-Distance events show compelling side
Katie Adams (Sr., Marengo) split the two longest distance events. But before Adams placed second in the 1600m to Sydney Billingsley (Jr., Normal University), she staged a tremendous comeback in the 3200m over the final 200m to beat Maura Beattie (Jr., Woodstock). Adams fell behind by more than five seconds late in the race but was able to muster up tremendous courage and heart. “I thought why not? I was tired of finishing second in big meets. I want to win this one,” she said. Adams actually gapped Beattie to win 10:58.97- 11:03.15.
-Little shows off individual stuff once more
Shamier Little (Sr., Chicago Lindblom) has become a house hold name in Illinois whether it’s girls or boys. She decided to come to the Top Times at the last minute to compete because of her love for the sport and the people that watch her. Ironically, she traveled to Bloomington without her track spikes because they were in her coach’s car. There were attempts to buy a pair at the meet site but nothing came up. The alternative would be to run in her training shoes. Training shoes are not meant to race hurdles in.
Little got through her first prelim in 8.92; she cop the overall top seed for the 60H final. As she has customarily has done in prelims, she continued to stride hard after the finish and round the curve all the way out of sight. She would not be seen again until the final. In the final, Little showed the faithful just how strong physically and mentally by murdering the field with a monster 8.60. This time would be good enough to place her among the nation’s top 5 hurdlers in the country. She did this with training shoes!
Little was not done with her day. She came back later to run the 400. The time would be great for someone other than Little who was less than thrilled with her 57.90 time. She easily beat Brittani Griesbaum (Lakes). Little was doubled over after her race for several minutes due to fatigue. But that would last long for the prodigy who completed the sprint sweep- 200m copped in 25.15. Little earned another trip home with hardware. She placed third as a team with 30 points and was able to take home a team plaque.
-Best of the rest
Junior Lena Giger of Highland produced her best ever throw and meet action hurling the shot put 46-3.25. She was just a few feet from the immortal Dani Bunch’s (Mahomet-Seymour) mark of 46-11.5. The outdoor season should be a very fruitful one for Giger.
The multi-talented Greisbaum held off Lauren Zick (Maple Park Kaneland) to win the long jump 18-6.5 to 18-5.
Defending state champion Brion Portis (Sr.) won the triple jump by nearly two feet in 38-9. Portis will be shooting to top the 40-foot mark like her former teammate Alex Harden.
Ebony McClendon (Jr., Chicago Brooks) was a surprise winner in the 60m when she clocked 7.60. This time makes her the fourth fastest girl in the state going into the outdoor season.
Monticello used a late rally to keep their #1 status by running a season best 9:50.31. Montini 9:51.13 turned back Rochester 9:51.27 for third. Before the start of the race there were no teams under 10:00, but afterwards there became seven squads under the mark.