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Roselle Lake Park won their fourth consecutive state title scoring 63 points to outdistance a surprising New Lenox Providence Catholic who scored 33 pts. Pekin on the strength of the legs of Cole Henderson (Jr.) took the third place trophy with 31 pts.
Lake Park is in the midst of a dynasty-
The dominating Lake Park program led by Head Coach Jay Ivory may not be aware that his team is in the midst of a dynasty. Well his squad is and the Lancers should be favored again if Cahokia isn’t moved up to 3A. There are some rumblings about the three-time defending Comanches taking their equally dominating machine up to the major league. Well, before the investigation into 2014 matchups and rumors begin let’s focus on the Lancers exploits from this weekend.
The Lancers joined three other teams in IHSA history to win four consecutive champions. The other great programs were former East Saint Louis rivals Senior and Lincoln HS, Chicago Heights Bloom, and South Holland Thornwood. Thornwood was the most recent team to do it from 2001-04.
The flurry of points actually began during Friday’s preliminary round. Scott Filip (Sr.) and Marcus Jegede (Jr.) scored fifth and sixth place in the long jump soaring 23-2 and 23-0.25 respectively. The jumps scoring machine did not stop as Shawn Koch (Sr.) swapped out for Filip in the triple jump and joined Jegede and won the event in an all-classification best 48-4.25 (+0.0). The selfless Koch was sitting in third place after day one with an already solid 47-5.5, but decided it was time to give more. His teammate Jegede was watching from the stands last year as a proud member of the second unit. This season and time he earned a bronze medal leaping 47-10.
Per Johnson (Sr.) added one point in the discus throw to keep that event’s scoring state meet scoring streak alive by finishing ninth (153-5).
The high jump and pole vault were moved inside the field house because of steady rain making footing dangerous. Jonathan Wells (Jr., Fox Lake Grant) was the clear winner of the high jump with a clearance of 6-11, but Filip scored vital team points with his jump off third place 6-9 against Providence Catholic’s Mike Monroe. Derrick Smith (Sr.) and Tim Ehrhardt (Sr.) performed extremely well in the vault notching second (16-0) and fourth place (15-3) efforts.
The 4x800 relay final is a classic-
Barrington 7:45.94 [1:58.0, 1:57.7, 1:55.8, 1:54.4]
Bartlett 7:46.32 [1:57.7, 1:56.9, 1:59.1, 1:52.4]
What a difference a year makes. Last year it was the surprise from the Chicago Public League Lane Tech taking top honors in 7:47.42. Barrington was not even in the final in that affair. On Saturday, the tables turned completely around as the Broncos came in looking for the gold medal.
The opening leg started out very conservative as all 12 twelve teams bunched together on the first lap in 57-58 seconds. Palatine’s Christian Zambrano (Sr.) was leading the charge. He continued to hold the pole past the 600m mark and on to the homestraight. Ed Carter (Jr., Lyons Twp.) took over with 50m remaining and handed the stick to teammate Connor Delaney (Sr.). Arlington Heights Hersey, Palatine, and Barrington followed suit.
Delaney did not hold the lead for long as Evan Alcorn (Jr.) stormed to the front on the middle of the backstretch and opened up daylight on the field for the first lap and a half. Palatine’s Zach Stella (Sr.) gave chase but stalled at the end of the final turn. Bartlett’s Mitch Sullivan (Sr.) closed hard on Alcorn who clocked 1:56.2.
Belleville West took the lead going into the third leg with Josh Freivogel (Jr.) toting. Freivogel held the lead for 350m before Barlett gained the lead for the first time. Matt Hess (Jr.) moved out front with David Cerny (Sr., Barrington) following. Cerny took over the choirs with about 200m left on his leg. He opened up the decisive lead that the inexperienced anchor Konrad Eiring (So.) needed.
Eiring took the final exchange rather tentatively but quickly opened a sizable lead on the field. He blazed the track in 54-seconds for the first lap. Eiring kept his composure with the pressure mounting and a hard charging veteran Scott McMahon (Sr., Orland Park Sandburg) in the rearview mirror. McMahon surprisingly raced past Eiring with a flurry instead of just biding his time. Eiring kept his composure like a veteran as the final portion of the race entered the homestretch. McMahon began to tie and then faded into oblivion. Bartlett’s Brandon Smith (Sr.) made a late charge but it was too late and Eiring coolly glided his team to victory in 7:45.94. The new mark and school record is US#9.
Jack Keelan leads distance charge, earns triple crown-
Every distance runner in the state and maybe fan understands that Jack Keelan (Sr., Chicago St. Ignatius) is the man when it comes to the long stuff. He won the cross country title in the fall and laced them up in early April at the prestigious Arcadia Invite 3200m and blazed 8:50.74- still good for the sixth fastest time in the country.
Dan Lathrop (Jr., Plainfield South) will be a name to watch for in 2014 as he went out and won the morning section one race in a very respectable 9:17.15. Lathrop’s mark sent a notice to those in the championship heat that they better run if they plan on medaling. In fact, three runners in the first section broke 9:20.
The runners in the championship must have not gotten the memo from Lathrop and company as the pace started out a bit slow in 67.5, 2:17.1, and 3:28.4 with Steven Salvano (Jr., Buffalo Grove) leading the herd. Standout runner Alex Riba (Sr., O’Fallon) had enough of the lethargic pace and moved swiftly to the front and hit the 1600 in 4:38.2. It appeared as though he was going to open the flood gates and separate the men from the boys. But strangely he settled back into the hard tempo pace. Meanwhile, Keelan stocked and bid his time among the pack.
The all-important fifth circuit finally saw Keelan emerge in 5:43.7 and Riba followed closely. He was four seconds ahead of Lathrop’s section one pace and building momentum. There were also 10 total runners still hanging on.
Keelan continued to push the pace hard with Riba, Patrick Perrier (Jr., O’Fallon), and Tyler Yunk (Sr., Belvidere North) in tow with two laps remaining. It was still a tight race at this point. Riba and others appeared to have made a fatal mistake by not stretching the pace two laps before. now forced to run Keelan’s race. Keelan seemed comfortable on the bell lap in 7:57.9.
Keelan refused to let the O’Fallon duo bully him; they tried to box him in and poke at him. Perrier surged with 300 to go and actually moved in front. But Keelan fought him off and took off like a mad man before Riba could react. The race in effect was over and Keelan steamed home in a laugher 8:57.61. O’Fallon go 2-3 with Riba and Perrier 8:59.37 and 9:03.21. Keelan quickly gathered his warm-up clothes and exited off stage to prepare for the 1600 that would be ran ahead of schedule due to impending inclement weather.
The entire field including section one broke 10:00, in fact they all ran under 9:50- Salvano finished in 9:46.40. This may be a first in IHSA history.
The 1600m would roughly start 90 minutes later with many of the same faces from 3200m. Jamison Dale (Sr., Chicago Jones) had one more opportunity to end his storied career on a winning note. He did not waste a moment in getting to the front of the pack and co-lead with several foes in 63.9 for the first 400.
Dale bolted to the lead at the 800 in 2:07.8 and took a four meter lead through the first 1k. Billy Bund (Sr., Lake Forest) joined him while Keelan held back off the pace. Garrett Lee (Sr., Belvidere North) began to move with 250 to go and finally Keelan. Bund and Dale began to fade. Keelan seized the moment and started his deceiving kick turning on the fifth that put away Lee in 4:12.11. Lee grabbed the runner-up spot in 4:13.51. “I’m getting more and more reliable with dropping a low [200] time in the end,” Keelan said referring to his end of race exploits.
Cole Henderson emerges as a star among the sprint corps-
Even after creating a buzz at the Illinois Top Times indoor meet, Cole Henderson (Jr., Pekin) was still a relatively unknown product. But it wasn’t until after he blitzed the field in four prelim events that those in attendance began to notice.
Henderson coolly prepared for his first race the 100m amid serious raindrops. After settling in nicely he waited for the starter’s pistol to fire. He got out a great start on the field and rolled to an easy victory ahead of Julian Hylton (Jr., Frankfort Lincoln-Way North) in 10.63 (+1.6). Henderson was great by a throng of reporters shortly after.
In his next event, he finished last in the 400m running a lowly 51.10. For some reason, he appeared gassed. It may have been for moving from the track to the long jump pit where was victorious in jumping an all classification 23-11.25. He defeated a deep field that saw eight jumpers leap
Henderson would get the last laugh before ending his career day winning the 200m in 21.76 (-1.2). Afterwards, the three-event star finally sparked a smile and answered questions with “yes sir.” The young certainly seems to have his priorities in order as he moves forward into superstar territory down the road.
Other top performances-
Matsen Dziedzic (Sr., Libertyville) went from the outhouse to the penthouse after not making the discus throw finals to winning the shot put by over five feet in 61-11.25. Dziedzic actually won the event with his monster throw in Friday’s prelims. He was still able to splash several throws over 60-feet on Saturday to prove he wasn’t a fluke. He finished second in the event last year.
Brandon Lombardino (Sr., Fox Lake Grant) backed up his second place shot put medal with a win his favorite event the Discus Throw. Lombardino tossed the plate 191-0 to win his first state title. His effort was an all-classification best and the winning margin clear of 25-feet.
The move to 3A was what short hurdler Andrew Helmin (Sr., New Lenox Providence Catholic) wanted. He previously competed in 2A, but he knew the best competition was in the bigger league. Helmin battled tough foe and pre-meet favorite Dave Kendziera (Sr., Prospect) hurdle for hurdle before pulling away late to win in a personal best and all around state best regardless of conditions 13.99 (+0.8). It was kind of ironic that Helmin battled Kendziera for the state title. Helmin wanted to get in the popular Wanner Prospect Invite but the meet was full for at-large entries.
Kendziera got a measure of revenge over Helmin in the 300H winning 37.28-37.78. Kendziera got out well and broke stagger on his outside opponent by the third hurdler. His lead grew with each step despite a strong challenge from Helmin. Kendziera’s time moved him to US#20 and it is the 15th fastest time ever by an Illinois boy.
The 800m was supposed to be the weak event this season after the entire field graduated from last year’s final. Alex Pierce's (Sr., Minooka) solid morning started with a super anchor in the 4x800 (1:51.9 anchor). Then a strange occurence of events proceeded to follow. First, he almost false started when he slightly moved forward before the starting gun fired. This caused him to get a late break with the field. Meanwhile, the pack moved fast with Johnny Leverenz (Jr., Danville) running a solid pace through the first 400 in 55.8. Leverenz continued to lead but Pierce fell back to the middle of the pack as the leaders hit the 600 in 1:24.5.
As the pace began to quicken with 175 left, Pierce tried to move and was elbowed into the infield. His title chance was dashed. Leverenz moved fast and held on to the lead to finish first in 1:53.28. Bryce Richards (So., Mundelein) grabbed the runner-up spot in 1:53.69. The future appears bright for this event with eight finalists returning next year.
Matt Burns (Jr., Villa Park Willowbrook) was the surprise winner of the 400m and the only one to break 49.00 in 48.89. Pre-meet favorites Sam Bransby (Jr., Naperville Central) and Malik Harrison (Sr., Springfield) placed second and fourth. It was the first time in many years that no one broke 48.00 for the entire season.
The relays should earned minimum praise despite not producing the usual fast results from the top tier teams this season. Harvey Thorton took top honors in the 4x200 (42.24). The event looked more like a comedy show with Minooka dropping the baton and getting disqualified. Plainfield East had issues too on their final exchange between Kenny Lewis (Jr.) and Shederick Majors (Jr.) dropping the baton. Lewis and Majors looked at each other as to what to do. The lane official did not motion that they were Dq’ed. Lewis finally jogged backed and handed Majors the baton so he could finish the race in 1:17.81.
Edwardsville won a rain slick 4x200 relay in 1:27.98. Minooka finished a horrific day by winning the 4x400 in 3:19.15. The Indian quartet put together a great race led by anchor Chris Wilson. Wilson ran hard all the way through the right finish line to victory.
