3A-
The trophy teams:
-Neuqua Valley fought a great battle on two fronts. The all-purpose Wildcats clawed and scratched out points all day long in a successful battle against Milesplit Illinois powers #1 Homewood-Flossmoor and #3 Plainfield North. It started with points in the field, relays, distance, hurdles, and sprints that got the job done for Naperville's chosen team. The Vikings held off the Marcellus Moore led Tigers for the runner-up trophy. The sensational sophomore did his best to assist his teammates with four wins (4x1, 4x2, 100, 200).
The defending high jump champion Camron Donatlan (Sr., West Aurora) decided as soon as basketball season was over that he was adding the long jump to his discipline. Donatlan was true with a winning taste in his mouth as he soared US#6 24-1.25 (+1.8).
Donatlan could not defend his high jump title, so let's usher in Gurnee Warren senior Brandon Ellis. He won at a personal best 6-10 over Maki Mohr of McHenry who had the same height. Ellis is the younger brother of former IHSA great Brittny Ellis now at the University of Miami-Florida.
Bloomington senior Zach Bradford came into the meet of meet and achieving his goals of securing the pole vault victory and then setting another all-time state meet record 17-6. His previous mark was 17-4. Bradford also earned a medal anchoring his team's 5th place finish.
Junior Jordan Johnson of Quincy proved that he is the state's top discus thrower when won with a US #3 196-9, over 11-feet better than the second place competitor.
John Meyer's quest for 70-feet in the shot put did not materialize. However, the U of Michigan bound senior from Lockport did break the IHSA record with a 68-8 effort that rolled over from Friday's prelim. The state of Illinois has had some great throwers in recent memory, but no one of Meyer's passion and greatness. Check out his model of consistency over the years:
It was a great day for Sandburg's Dylan Jacobs. The senior distance ace won two events for himself and his school. The first was the 4x800 in which the Eagles regained their title last won in 2016. The winning time was 7:45.12- US #12 and Jacobs split 1:51.6 in almost celebratory fashion on the homestretch. That same celebratory action aided Jacobs to a win in the 1600m. Junior Andrew O'Keefe of Granite City decided to attempt a jailbreak from a small pack on the bell lap. The gap opened so wide that the crowd seemed stunned, but Jacobs chased after O'Keefe and never gave up. A few meters before the finish line O'Keefe the apparent winner threw his hands up and was edged by Jacobs 4:11.60-4:11.68.
Did Sam Conger of Batavia stun the 110H field? No. He was the prelim leader and won the final with a huge personal best 14.02 (+1.7).
Senior Danny Kilrea of Lyons Twp got his long-awaited state title on the track. The blistering 4:26 opening half of the 3200m pretty much roasted a star-studded field. Junior Zach Kinne of Neuqua Valley tried to take advantage of an opening with several laps to go. It appeared with less than one lap to go, his lead surely became a mirage. Kilrea began to reel him in and finally overtook Kinne just a few seconds from the finish line to clock 9:02.77.
Josh English of Blue Island Eisenhower came in and left just as fast as he put away the competition in the 800. The soon to be North Central College student-athlete led most of the way including the first lap around 55-seconds. Sensing state leader Charlie Kern of York's late-race threats, English put down the hammer in which Kern or anyone could not overtake. The final verdict was a new state-leading 1:51.94.
One of the top returners in the 300H Jaden Jackson of Palatine Fremd held off Matthew Lewis-Banks of Homewood-Flossmoor in a thrilling and clean race. Jackson rolled a personal best 37.73.
Fox Lake Grant produced another 400m champion. This time junior Jason Thormo in 48.18. He wanted to equal his 47.83 state best.
Marcellus Moore was perhaps the story of the day among many. With pressure on him to perform at the highest level, he got the job done like a professional. The 14-year-old youngster started his journey with his teammates in the 4x100 roasting the field on anchor like a Hollywood script. It was a crowd approval 41.29 3A state meet record! Next was the 100m and all eyes were on lane 5. How would Moore respond? No problem as he blazed the star-studded field in an all-time best 10.31 (+0.2). It was like a movie concert the cheers rang out. The last two events: 4x200 (1:26.17-IL#1) and 21.30 (-1.3) was pretty academic as Moore came through on the clutch.
Katrell Askins of Proviso West could be the next great quarter-miler in Illinois. The smooth and confident anchor split 48.6 and led his 4x400 team to its first relay title since 2000. The Panthers closed out the championship in 3:19.76.