Watch out for the Sprints-
The 100m will be a great race with the likes of Nyrel Sullivan (Sterling), Ronald Reed (Decatur MacArthur), Sean Tyler (Rich Central), and VanHarvey Vance (Rich Central) in the field. Sullivan might not have had his best sectional meet running an 11.04 in the 100m, but two weeks ago he ran a 10.57 at his conference meet.
In the 200m and 400m, you can look for VanHarvey to be the favorite in both as he has been great in both events this season. The field of Justin Houston (Chicago Brooks Prep), Finnigan Schirmer (Marengo), Joshua Smith (Marian Catholic), and Deion McShane will all be challenging VanHarvey for the 200m State Title. VanHarvey is the defending 2A 400m State Champion and is looking to defend his title at the state meet and honestly, there may be no challenger in the 400m field that will be able to take his title away.
Deion McShane is all hurdles all the time-
In the 300H it will be a cake walk for defending champion Deion Mcshane of Freeport. Although there are several solid competitors Niko Neal (Harrisburg), and Reed Vanderheyden of Geneseo, no one is going to stop McShane's attempt at another all-time record. McShane indicated several times that he wants to go under 36.00.
The 110H is not as easy to predict who will win. McShane is joined by Solomon Wilson-Smith of Tinley Park and Finnigan Schirmer as contenders to win the title. Wilson-Smith is still trying to prove that his 13.90 wasn't a bogus time, but Solomon's fastest mark since his 13.90 has been a 14.14 at the SSC Blue Divison Boys Conference Meet. What is interesting about that time is if you subtract .24 from it, you get a 13.90. Could that time from Oak Lawn be a hand time that they entered in as a FAT time? Wilson-Smith has been undefeated to this point of the season so far so he will be a big threat at the state meet.
Let's take a look at the distance arena-
The 800m field will be a good one as Nick Oakley (Charleston), Austin Knight (Carterville), and Jared Schuckman (Normal U High) will do battle. Oakley and Knight will be coming into this race fresh, but Schuckman may be coming back from the 4x800m, and he could potentially also have the 1600m not that long after. Watch for Schuckman to pick between the 800m and 1600m as he might not do both.
The 1600m field includes the three favorites from the 800m and also the likes of Matt Zacharias (Normal U High), and Michael Rutkowski (Marion). The favorite has to be Zacharias as he has been on fire all season long. Zacharias has gone sub 4:23 on four separate occasions this year and will be looking to finally break 4:20 at the state meet.
Jacob Gebhardt (Sterling) is the big name in the 3200m as he is surprisingly only running this event. The Indiana University commit has one last goal for his high school career and that is to get a state title. The state title has eluded Gebhardt his entire high school career, but it is looking like it won't elude him in this race.
Field Events could be of interest to the fans-
In the discus throw, Jordan Hawkins (Roxana) should win this. Hawkins beat arguably the best thrower in Illinois this season, Jordan Johnson of Quincy, at the Winston Brown Invitational. Hawkins has shown that he can hang with the big names in the discus.
In the shot put, Hunter Hendershot (Mahomet-Seymour) and Austin Klokkenga (Dunlap) will go head to head again. The rivals have faced each other four times and Klokkenga has won three of them, but the one win that Hendershot is from their only matchup so far this year at the Top Times meet. These two monsters will be fun to watch battle it out.
The high jump is the hardest to predict of the three classes as Zach Pluff (Freeburg), Ethan Posten (Metamora), and Seth Groom (Marmion Academy) could all take home the trophy. Posten and Pluff have been jumping great heights this year and they should be the favorites to win, but you cant sleep on Groom. Groom is also the favorite to win the long jump and triple jump.
In the triple jump, we can finally say that Andra Ward (Cahokia) is back after an injury that occurred at the Illinois Top Times. Ward had a great indoor season but was sidelined to fully recover in time for the latter half of the outdoor season. Even though Groom is the favorite to win the long jump watch for Ward to swoop in and potentially take the state title back to Cahokia.
In the pole vault) we have a few contenders such as Jack Pompe (Dunlap), Chandlar Ifft (Prairie Central), and Callan Whitehouse (Mahomet-Seymour) are some of the big names in this field. All of these vaulters have gone over 15 feet on multiple occasions this year, can one of them break 16?
Relays are on deck-
The 4x100m is looking like easy money for the defending champs, Rich Central, who have been dominating all season. Watch for St. Laurence in the 4x200m as they look to add 10 points to their state title hopes as a team.
The 4x400m is probably the hardest relay to try to predict as we see Eureka, Providence Catholic, and Burlington Central in the field. The favorite has to most likely be Providence Catholic. They have a tremendous 400m runner in Gavin Jaime that will be anchoring their team. VanHarvey will not be in the 4x400m so no one will be able to catch Jaime if he gets the lead.
The 4x800m favorite has to be Normal University. They were the first team in Illinois this outdoor season to break 8:00 in the 4x800 and are the defending state champions. They have been so dominant this year to not choose them as the favorites to win the title.