-The nation's top male jump specialist Ja'mari Ward reigned as "the people's champ"
-Super speedster Brittny Ellis was the female choice winner (Alan Vershaw photo)
-it would have been a quick and easy process by the editors to pick the overall top male and female track and field high school athlete for the state of Illinois. But why? Sometimes it is best to leave matters in the hands of those who support a sport that is heavily fan driven. A plan for a poll was devised and the voters came out in full force.
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Ja'mari Ward (Jr., Cahokia) won a hard fought battle on the boys side against tough foe Josh Eiker (Jr., Galesburg). During the first two hours of the voting it was Jesse Reiser of McHenry taking the early lead. Reiser is one of the best distance runners in the country and very popular among his distance running peers. But as soon as the Cahokia running community got word of the poll they came out in full force. Ward took a sizable lead until the Galesburg faithful made their vote count. The sea-saw affair would continue for several days. Ward inched ahead on the strength of 46% of the 2,091 totals votes or 962 tallies. Eiker was able to keep the heat on Ward until the very end and actually had the lead with one day to go before settling for 45% (941 votes). Congrats goes out to all of the candidates who were selected as AOY choices!
Brittny Ellis (Sr., Warren) has always been a gracious competitor even when dominating her opponents. Maybe that's why the University of Miami bound superstar had a easy time in winning. Ellis took home 58.5% (574 tallies) of the 981 total votes. Jenny Kimbro(Jr., Jamaica-Salt Fork) amassed 34.6% or 340 votes to finish second. Congrats to all of the lady candidates!