The opening weekend of the 2015 Illinois track and field season was perfectly sandwiched between the conclusion of a long cross country campaign and the beginning of the holiday break. It was barely enough time for me to catch my breath between travel from the west coast and an opportunity to chill before the winter soltice sets in.
The 60th Annual Ted Hayden Classic held inside the historic Henry Crown Field House on the campus of the University of Chicago was the scene of the first indoor track meet of the season. Among the notables entered in the meet was senior Brittny Ellis of Warren High School in Gurnee. Ellis competes for the University of Chicago Track during the off-season and plays center for her high school basketball team.
On Saturday, Brittny laced her spikes up for the first time this season and competed in two events in preparation for is expected to be an amazing season. Ellis won the 60m and 200m dashes with ease but the most important thing for her was getting the track legs back.
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In a visit with Plainfield Central senior star sprinter Kahmari Montgomery last weekend, he had some very interesting goals for the 2015 season (watch for the Aurora Flyers Documentary coming January 6, 2015 on MileSplit Illinois). The defending 3A 200/400m state champion stated that he is ready to burn the track with faster times than the scorching 21.25/46.82 marks laid down in 2014. In addition to the 2/4 double is another item that Montgomery wants his competitors to know. That item happens to be the 100m. With his new found burst of speed, Montgomery thinks he can get into the 10.30-10.40 range. Early training returns produced a US#4 6.94 and US#2 22.21 on the spanking brand new 200m flat surface oval at Auburn High School in Rockford. The $13 million facility is sure to host some track meets in Northern Illinois in the coming years.
Other notable Illinois performances in Rockford were Aaron Harris (Jr., Lisle HS/Aurora Flyers TC)- 200m (22.80pb), Matthew Knipfer (Jr., St. Joe Ogden)- PV (14-9); Kathleen “KD” Young (So., Warrensburg-Latham)- SP (45-6.25) US#3, Brooke Catherine (Sr., Normal Community) - PV (12-6) US#2, Nikki Ogorek (So., Normal Community)- PV (11-0).