Milesplit Illinois is pleased to announce the athletes of the athletes for week seven. Credit goes to go to the coaches who put in the time each day in getting their athletes ready to compete on meet day.
Congratulations to Jesse Reiser (Jr., McHenry) for the boys award and to Parker English (Sr., Evanston) in receiving the top accolades for the girls.
Jesse Reiser shown here (far right) competing in the 2013 NXN Championship in Portland, Oregon
-Last year at this time Jesse Reiser was a rising distance star on the Illinois scene... but after a world beating 2013 cross country season that netted him an 3A state runner-up finish plus two national title appearances (Nike Cross Nationals & Footlocker). Reiser is indeed a superstar in Illinois and perhaps the Midwest. Now after a relatively light indoor campaign that produced 9:14.55 for 3200m, it was time to head out to Califoria and compete in the prestigious Arcadia Invitational.
Reiser entered his name into the invitational 3200m along with 36 other top notched competitors including friendly mates Zach Dale (Jr., Hoffman Estates Conant) and Patrick Perrier (Sr., O’Fallon). Jesse went out and ran the race of his life burning a time of 8:54.31. It is the fastest time in Illinois this year. As well Reiser will be the hunted one for the remainder of the season.
Reiser's quotes on Arcadia: "It was a very humbling experience being able to race with the top runners in the nation, and I was honored to be a part of history in having 20 runners go sub-9:00. I'm looking forward to the rest of my season."
Jesse’s splits:
1:05.864 (1:05.864), 2:14.216 (1:08.352), 3:23.612 (1:09.397)
4:31.022 (1:07.410), 5:39.684 (1:08.662), 6:46.496 (1:06.812)
7:50.860 (1:04.364), 8:22.657 (31.798), 8:54.310 (31.654)
Parker English (right side) is one of the state's most diverse track and field athletes
-Evanston is one of a handful of girls teams that have amassed multiple state team championships. The Wildkits have also turned out some all-time great individual talent over the years. This season should see senior Parker English running and jumping wild all over the tracks and sandpits. The Evanston coaching staff are masters in deception as well. They have been known to use talent athletes as decoys during the regular season. But in English's case she could actually compete in nearly every sprint or hurdle event on the track at an elite level.
At last weekend's Springfleld Southeast Invitational, English went 4 for 4 in winning the 100m (12.08), 200m (24.59), 400m (57.44), 4x100m relay (49.54).