The State Of Speed In Illinois

 

Coach Brian Evans is a disciple of the legendary Thornwood coach Gary Haupert.  Mr. Haupert won four state championships in a row during the early 2000s before handing over the reigns to Evans. Evans has ran a successful T-Bird program in his own right albeit more on the individual side than team championships. Still, he has the right to call things like he seems them in the Illinois track and field world.  Here is an interview that he conducted with Illinois Prepster in 2013: Coach Evans sets the record straight. Coach Evans once again sets the record straight.

Words spoken by Brian Evans:

Year in and year out Illinois produces some national caliber performances in the distance races as well as the field events.  So what keeps Illinois from being touted as one of the premier states for track and field in the United States? It is the lack-luster performance in the sprints?  While this article does not have a specific intended audience, I will be focuses most of the discussion on the 3A Boys Track and Field of Illinois.   

At the national level you can see many top performances across the board from states like Florida, Texas, California, and New York.  These states continue to show strength across the board with dominating performances in all four phases of the game: distance, sprints, relays, and the field.

It seems that Illinois is only able to muster up mere “flashes in the pan” of greatness, instead of year in and year out sprint supremacy.  Why is that?  What is holding Illinois back from taking its place on the national scene?  Moreover, what can be done to change this?  

Sure, states like California, Texas, and Florida don’t have to deal with the arctic blast we call winter. In fact for some, there is no such thing as an “Indoor” season.  But we cannot cling to this “excuse.”  New York gets hit just as much with cold and weather, and I continue to see them field solid performances.  At times the East coast can be just as daunting as the west coast or the south, so I don’t think we can chalk it up to the weather.  Other states in the Midwest remain very competitive as well. Indiana and Michigan continue to find the right formula to earn a position in the finals nationally.  

In recent years we have seen Illinois “splash” on the scene:  Aaliyah Brown and the Lincoln-Way East crew took their show on the road to Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, and the Penn Relays to name a few.  How exciting!  How awesome!  Other times we have seen boys teams like York and Neuqua Valley have success in several relays at the New Balance Outdoor National Championships, and Thornwood also put together a string of consecutive appearances for a few years bringing home four All-American relay performances including a Silver medal in the 4x4, over a three year span.  

These few bright spots, however, as well as kids like Morolake Akinosun (Waubonsie Valley), Cole Henderson (Pekin), and Cecily Jones (Plainfield North), among others do not make for a State of dominating sprinting.  We have seen the field event supremacy of the Lake Park camp, other dominating throwers recently, and pole vault greats in the Winder family (Plainfield), but where have all the sprinters gone?
 

Former Thornwood stars Kenneth Allen and London Hawk pose
 

After 15 years of coaching I have seen some fast kids come through Illinois, but as of late the state meet in many ways has been truly disappointing. Have we forgotten what fast time look like?  As I continue the trip down memory lane I remember the likes of Ron Mitchell (Thornwood), Ryan Shields (Leo), Adam and A.J. Harris (Wheaton North) among others who seem to have notched their names in the Illinois track history books.  Also relays like the 2001 Thornwood 4x1 team (41.45), the 2006 Cahokia 4x1 team (41.42), the 2007 Cahokia 4x2 team (1:25.98) and the 2007 East St. Louis 4x4 team (3:13.66) – All record breaking performances, as well as the countless others in the mix from great schools like East St. Louis, Thornton, Wheaton-Warrenville South, Springfield Lanphier, Rock Island, Neuqua Valley, York, Wheaton North and Belleville West.

But where is the consistency? What is it that we are lacking in Illinois to churn out fast times regularly?  What are these other states doing that we are not?  If only we had a crystal ball with the answers.  Is it training facilities?  Is it the lack of athletes?  Is it coaching? Workouts?  I wish I knew the answer.  Recently Angelo Brown (Illinois Elite and Lincoln-Way East) did an interview and commented about the entire state of Illinois getting behind and supporting its teams on the national scene, and I couldn’t agree more.  We need to rally around ANY chance for our state to be represented on the national stage. Sure, coaches get excited when THEIR TEAM is doing well, but personally, I get excited when I see fast times.  Has the bar for speed been lowered in Illinois?  Do we as a collective state even know what a fast time is or should be? Or what’s happening on the national level?
 

2011 Thornwood 4x4 New Balance Outdoor National runner-ups ran 3:14.07 led by 47.1 anchor leg by London Hawk
 

So maybe we are not able to field an arsenal of Elite “national-level” sprinters, can we still get the stick around the track?  How about focusing on the relays?  They seem to be the glamour event with the excitement and risk of passing a baton among 4 different people at high speeds.  Getting back to these “flash in the pan” moments, I feel like we get teased with greatness every now and then.  The state meet of 2009 is a year that really stands out in my mind, as I watched all three prelim heat winners of the 4x2 relay run in the 126’s including York with a 1:26.12. York with sprinters?  Deadly!  Wow I thought things are heating up – we might even see a 1:25!  Meanwhile in the FIRST meet of the year Texas ran 1:24 – just saying.  Recently again I was excited when I watched Chicago Dunbar run to a 1:26.01 finish in 2012 with Belleville West on their tail finishing in 1:26.61.  But then everything in my world was shattered at the 2013 state meet.  It was a horrible meet where only ONE team ran under 1:28 in the 4x2 finals that were littered with 1:29’s and 130’s.  A meet where NO ONE ran under 42 seconds in the 4x1 finals and only five teams ran under 43! A meet that saw only FIVE teams run under the state qualifying mark in the 4x4 of which only one got under 3:20… and don’t blame Ron McGraw and the weather. Times were slow in the prelims too.  

Please don’t misconstrue my words.  I mean NO disrespect to any team or athlete who gets the privilege of running in a state meet or wearing a medal around his neck.  As coaches I know we are all working tireless to try and get our team to become faster.  What coach wouldn’t want their team in the state finals earning a medal?  Not to mention last year my school wasn’t even represented.  So please note there is no finger pointing here.  But I am merely referring to the times and how they fair on the national level.  I don’t have the answers or rationale behind why our times are lagging.  Maybe the fast kids are living elsewhere in the country.  Maybe the weather impacts our ability to training at a higher level.  Maybe we do not have the resources or facilities.  Maybe we need to bring in more speakers for the clinics.  Maybe we are losing our kids to other sports in the age of the one sport athlete or AAU madness. Coach Tony Holler of Plainfield North wrote a blog about how to get through the lean years recently, and every coach knows the ebb and flow of this sport.  Your program is up, your program is down, and yes one kid CAN make the difference, but how do we cope through the lean years as a STATE?  Is there anything that can be done?

While there is no answer that comes to mind immediately for me, I can attest to my feelings of disappointment when MY team doesn’t put up what I call real numbers. But even though individual teams have ups and downs why can’t our state as a whole be fast constantly?  What is fast?  In my opinion we as a state need to be under 42.00 across the board in the 4x1, but why can’t we run under 41 seconds?  I think 4x2’s need to be in the 1:26’s, but why aren’t we under 1:26? Finally the grand finale of the day should have us under 3:17 in the 4x4 and a champion at least under 3:16 (even though the rest of the country can be seen somewhere between 3:10-3:14).  I have even seen high schools in the United States under 3:10!  Why aren’t we faster?  What can we do Illinois?

Brian Evans
 
Thornwood High School