On-Site Coverage
Complete Results & Meet Coverage
Photos by COLINBPHOTO (Over 400 photos from 2A)
Cahokia won their third state championship in a row and fifth in school history scoring an IHSA record 99.50 points to outdistance runner-up East Saint Louis Senior HS who copped 40 pts. Bloomington earned the third place trophy by tallying 37 pts.
Cahokia wins third title despite several big missteps-
If you would have shown up to O’Brien Field on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, you wouldn’t have thought that Cahokia won the state title- certainly not by the landslide margin in which they did. Not too many witnessed Ja’Mari Ward (Fr.) and Chris Moore (Sr.) win the long jump in 23-7.75 and 22-11.75 efforts respectively. Nor did they probably see the potential sweep in the triple jump get broken up. “We expected to score 120 [points] today, but our kids don’t like the cold and rain,” was Head coach Leroy Millsap’s rationale for the “low output.” Nevertheless, the Comanches collected 34 points before the ink was dry on the first track final.
Cahokia came into the track setting with the top seeds in all four relays but didn’t win a single race. Yet they scored hefty points in those events: 4x100 (3rd- 42.84), 4x200 (9th- 1:34.61), 4x400 (3rd- 3:20.79), 4x800 (5th-7:56.74).
The good news overall was that it was still a team effort in scoring the points in a state championship. Gary Hickman (Jr.) finished second in a tight 110HH race to foe D.J. Duncan (Sr., Harrisburg). Hickman appeared to be on his way to victory but the hard-nosed Duncan inched it out 14.41-14.46 (+0.5).
Marlin Brady (Jr.) got the only track win for the dominant Comanches by winning the 400m over an evenly matched field in which five sprinters broke 50.00. Brady tied up badly in the final meters of the race but was able to prevail over Ryan Olsen (Sr., Burlington Central) 49.30-49.39.
The field events set up the track very nicely-
It was mentioned earlier that the Cahokia jumpers dominated the horizontal jumps by going 1-2 in the long jump and 2-3 in the triple jump. The first event in track and field is the long jump and the freshman beast Ja’Mari Ward made his first attempt count when he nailed 23-7.75 (+1.2) in a classification record. The conditions were terrible for a championship with the rain making the runway slow and slick. It’s a shame too considering he and mate Chris Moore have 24-foot efforts from the regular season on their resumes.
Phillip Thompson (Sr., Dolton Thornridge) didn’t seem to mind the anonymous status among Moore and Ward considering everyone already penciled them in for 18 points. Thompson quietly entered the final sitting in third place and no threat; he didn’t have a spectacular prelim series: 46-0, 45-3.25, and 41-1.5. So, it was presumed that the Cahokia duo would light up the final. But they never got untracked as Ward didn’t improve and Moore improved only to 47-2. Thompson seized the moment and hit the board for 47-5 under perfect wind conditions (0.0). That middle jump was the difference and ball game.
The University of Missouri bound football signee Josh Augusta wanted to make his last prep shot put appearance a memorable one. He did in once sense in that he earned his second title in a row throwing 62-4 in Friday’s prelim. His mark was just short of Kevin Farley’s (Springfield Lanphier) 62-4.5 record mark set in 2011. The incessant light rain prevented Augusta from stretching out and thwarted his technique. Mike Hyc (Sr., Burbank St. Lawrence) and Luke Vaughn (Sr., Champaign Centennial) were the only key throwers who improved from prelims to final; they earn second and third place medals.
Tyler Ginger (Sr., Stanford-Olympia) got what he wanted in “perfect weather conditions” for him. He won the first gold medal for his school in the pole vault (15-3) and placed third in the 110HH in 14.64. Ginger had visions of going much higher in the vault, but he appeared gassed after the hurdles final. He said that he was given 10 minutes to recover before making an attempt. “I don’t mind going from the track to the vault,” he said after making his way back to attempt 16-4. Ginger’s body appeared too fatigued as he had to settle for the 15-3 winning effort.
It seemed like the previously unknown Ryan Njegovan (Sr.) was a flash in the pan when he threw launched a monster 196-5 discus throw in a small quad meet back in April. However, he proved that he wasn’t with efforts all over 180-feet for the duration of the season. The end result was a classification record 188-4 in the prelims. His Friday mark held up easily despite not topping the effort on Saturday.
The high jump was moved inside because of slick and dangerous conditions. The outcome saw indoor co- US#1 Alex King (Jr., Massac County) take back his “title” over the previous classification leader Justin Kretchmer (Jr., Waterloo) who leaped 7-0 for second. For that matter you can include the fan favorite Kyle Landon (Sr., Chester) who he beat head to head during the indoor season. King refused to lose in beating Kretcher with an eye-popping 7-1. The competition lasted well after the overall meet had concluded.
Sprints were a wash literally-
Whenever you mix rain and cool temperatures in a track meet, the sprint results are usually not favorable in terms of sweet performances. It also did not help that the state’s overall top speedster Jonathan Boey (Sr., Decatur McArthur) could not advance out of the prelim round due to persistent hamstring and quad injuries. Instead, the underdog and defending state Century champion Reggie Bratton (Sr., Jacksonville) first anchored his team to a come from victory in the 4x100 relay (42.54). He overcame a deficit to spear Grayslake Central (42.54) and Cahokia (42.84). The top seeded Chicago North Lawndale Prep quartet bobbled a wet exchange and finished fifth in 43.05. Of course, the overall feat delighted the mostly umbrella waving crowd. As well the adrenaline rush propelled a shouting and baton pointing Bratton well clear of the finish line and past the photography crew. The dash race was less dramatic as Bratton won easily in 10.68 (+1.3).
Grayslake Central did get a measure of revenge by winning their first state relay championship in 1:28.67 over the likes of E. St. Louis Sr. and the heavy favored Cahokia who dropped the baton and finished last.
Marcus Greer (Sr., E. St. Louis Sr.) returned a disappointment in not making the short hurdles due a false start to set the classification record in the 300H running 37.82. Greer ran with a sense of toughness over every hurdle in the driving rain and smashed D.J. Duncan who finished second.
Dion Hooker (So., Sycamore) won the 200 on a rain slick track in 22.23. He held off Trey Story and Bloomington’s Christian Neal.
There were some pundits who thought E. St. Louis’ trip out to the Penn Relays last month was one of novelty. However, the final event of the day saw the eastside crew grab a sizable lead on the first two legs courtesy of Ken Lewis (Sr.) and Roosevelt Davis (Fr.) to breeze in 3:19.04. Maple Park Kaneland grabbed the runner-up spot after fighting Mahomet-Seymour for second and then had the lead on the anchor leg. Dylan Nauert (Jr.) made his move early on the Flyerettes- knowing that 300H hurdle champ Marcus Greer would be tough to beat. Nauert ran hard but Greer finally woke up before entering the homestretch and faded Nauert. Cahokia finished third and Mahomet scraped themselves to a fourth place finish.
The hometown favorite Riley McInerney gets his long await state 3200m title-
Don’t blame the local favorite Riley McInerney (Sr., Charleston) for winning his first title without the cross country champion John Wold (Jr., Glen Ellyn Glenbard South). Wold opted for the 800 and win in record time 1:54.66. Those feats of Wold would not have guaranteed him a victory over McInerney whose magical track season turned out a classification best 9:06.41- good for IL#9 from the regular season.
McInerney took over the final like a champion should after the first 400. He turned out workman like splits of 2:12.4, 3:22.3, and 4:35.3. Jake Brown (Sr., Mt. Zion) and Marc Maton (Sr., Chatham-Glenwood) gave their best effort in battling McInerney. The next three circuits saw McInerney roll through the 2k in 5:46.6- good for sub-9:05 pace. It was with less than two laps remaining that it was either going to be McInerney or Maton as the champion. The bell lap sounded in 8:09.8 and the crowd really began to cheer on McInerney. Maton did not relent as he tried to move on McInerney. However, McInerney’s kick on the homestretch had a bit of turbo juice in it and he won by a full stride in 9:08.44. Maton earned a tremendous consolation prize clocking 9:08.49.
The far Southern Illinoisian Chris Martin (So., Mascoutah) pulled away late in the 1600m to win by nearly three seconds in 4:18.62.
And finally the 4x800 relay-
Maple Park Kaneland 7:50.26 [1:57.3, 1:57.1, 1:59.4, 1:55.9]
Maple Park Kaneland had the slowest of Friday’s 4x800 relay prelim heat winners in 8:06.45.
But that didn’t matter.
The Knights bid their time for Saturday’s final to unleash their real fury. The other 11 teams didn’t matter check for after a near disaster dropped handoff that still produced a solid split by Conor Johnson (Jr.). Kyle Carter (Jr.) was able to recover in fine fashion and take the lead thereafter. The Knights had their way with the competition despite some pressure from Lansing Illiana Christian nipping at their heels midway through the race.
The race tightened on the anchor carry between Nathan Kucera (Jr.) and Normal U High’s J.D. Lafayette (Jr.). Lafayette is one of the classification’s toughest middle-distance runners. He was able to close hard on Kucera with less than 200 to go. But Kucera regained the finishing momentum and closed the race in winning form.