Under the roof at Illinois Wesleyan University
Many of the top athletes traveled to Bloomington, Illinois this weekend to take part in the 18th Annual Illinois Prep Top Times. With a few great head-to-head match-ups and a handful of the top athletes in the country, this weekend should produce some outstanding results.
Top IPTT Highlights - Mykhail Chambers (Urbana) jumps 6-10 to win boys high jump - Ashley Verplank (Bloomington) wins girls 1600m in 4:55.45 - Nick Holmes (Limestone) wins boys 1600m in MR of 4:13.72 - Mat Smoody (Palatine) wins close 800m dash in 1:53.94 - Malaikah Love (Carbondale) leaps 19-01 in girls long jump - Mitchell Erickson (Marian) wins boys pole vault in 16-08 - Ty Kirk (Rolling Meadows) wins boys triple jump in 47-06 - Toni Graham (Conant) wins girls 55m dash in 7.00, U.S. top 10 - Nate Troester (LWE) wins boys 3200m in 9:11.02 - Lindsay Flanagan (LP) runs 10:34.83 to win girls AA 3200m - Stephanie Brown wins 800 (2:13) & 1600 (5:04) in Class AIllinois Prep Top Times (IL)
Illinois Prep Top Times Meet Page
The Illinois Prep Top Times started with a bang Saturday, with Lindsay Flanagan (Jr., Lake Park) and Nate Troester (Sr., Lincoln-Way East) rocked the AA 3200m runs. Flanagan set a blistering pace in the girls race, taking it out in 35 seconds for the first 200m and coming through the 1600m mark in 5:08. Pulling away from the Caitlin Comfort (Sr., Peoria Notre Dame) and Nicole Benson (Sr., Limestone) in the last mile, more and more time went between Flanagan and the rest of the pack, as she started to lap runners. Flanagan crossed the line with a new PR of 10:34.83. Comfort nipped Benson in the final strides to take second, 10:48.71-10:48.81.
In the boys 3200m run, Troester and McHenry's Curtis Weisenberger took out the race at an honest pace, but not wildly. The race was extremely bunched up through the mile, which passed in 4:40. However, once Troester hit the mile he started to surge and made a big second-half move, slowly pulling away from Weisenberger. Once Weisenberger dropped with 800m to go, it was Troester versus the clock. Each lap he increased his pace, then throwing down a strong last lap to cross the line in victorious fashion in 9:11.02. The quick early pace got to Weisenberger, getting passed in the last lap by Troester's teammate Myles Scott-Stirn. Scott-Stern placed second in 9:22.83. Troester's and Scott-Stern's teammate Ron Revord won the slower heat, running 9:29.33, giving LWE three sub-9:30 runners on the day.
Geneva won an exciting boys 4x800m relay in 7:58.91, outdueling Lyons Township in the anchor leg. Lyons was runner-up in the event with their time of 8:01.06, while Evanston Twp. ran 8:05.22 placed third. In the girls long jump, Malaikah Love (Carbondale) lept 19-01 to win the event by nearly eight inches. Love's mark ranks her in the top ten in the nation currently.
The boys 800m dash was incredibly exciting as well. Pre-meet favorite Mat Smoody (Palatine) took the lead from the gun and looked smooth through the first lap in 27.5. The field was packed up behind him leading into the quarter, as the clock ticked off around 56.5. Into the third lap Smoody and Waubonsie Valley's Sean Wiggan took the pace and seperated themselves from the field. Into the final lap Wiggan took the lead and looked strong, however, Smoody responded and drew up on Wiggan's shoulder. Into the last turn Smoody drew up beside Wiggan, as the two came toward the finish. In the last 15m Smoody edged ahead of Wiggan to win 1:53.94-1:54.15.
The mile created some amazing drama individually. Ashley Verplank (Bloomington) ran away with the girls race after the first 400m. Verplank stated prior to the meet that she wanted to run close to 4:50 and break the meet record, however, a 74.3 opening quarter made it incredibly difficult to try and achieve that mark. Regardless, the North Carolina bound senior ended up running 4:55.45, one of the top indoor times this year.
In the boys 1600m run, Nick Holmes (Limestone) opened up the race leading the field through the first 400m in 64.4. However, Holmes blew open the field in his second quarter by running 61.3. From there Holmes quickly kept putting distance between himself and the rest of the field by running 64.3 and closing in 63.?. Holmes' finishing time was 4:13.72, made even more impressive that he had little competition nearly the whole way.
In a few key boys field events, Mitchell Erickson (Marian Catholic) won an intense dual with Mick Viken (Rolling Meadows) in the pole vault, clearing 16-08 to win the event. Viken finished second in 16-04. In the boys triple jump, Ty Kirk (Rolling Meadows) won the triple jump with a great leap of 47-06, one of the better marks in the nation. Meanwhile, Mykhail Chambers (Urbana) easily won the high jump by clearing 6-10, with his nearest competition five inches off.
Other highlights on the day: Jenna Wexler (Lincoln-Way Central) won the pole vault with a vault of 12-00. Josh Kimberly (Hononegah) won the boys long jump in 22-10. Ty Kirk (Rolling Meadows), who was one of the favorites in the event, lept near the 25 foot mark, just barely scratching. Jacob Mitchell (Springfield Lanphier) won the boys 55m dash in 6.47 to win the finals of the event, while his teammate Warnether Banks ran 6.47, which was the fastest time in the prelims. Toni Ogundare (Waubonsie Valley) won the girls 800m dash in 2:14.04, running a very smart race.