The record-breaking 4x100 quartet of Ricky Johnson, Kavon Jones, Jamal Safo, and Victor Cameron
Skokie, IL-
Track and field fans in the state, typically in the northern part of Chicagoland, do not get a pre-hyped mid-week invite that meets the challenge. Two great teams in the field were 3A #2 Crete-Monee and #6 Deerfield.
The 6th Annual Dan Horyn met the challenge. Among the greatness from the obvious performers were eight national elite performances in the evening.
The fireworks kicked off with the throws where all eyes descended upon the Shot Put state leader and Sam Liokumovich (Sr., Deerfield). After some pre-meet warm-up antics in which he kicked and shadow dribbled a soccer ball on the football field, he was ready to go. Liokumovich launched a 59'6" effort and to the delight of the faithful who stood around the area- some in ankle deep mud- continues to grow his rep as a showman performer. His teammate and future Notre Dame student-athlete Henry Boudreau filled in the gaps with a 55-10 bomb which now rates #7 in the state. By the time things concluded, Big Sam L walked away with a 60-7 meet record best on the day... later during the meet Liokumovich and Boudreau went 1-2 of course in the discus. Both broke the meet record but it was Liokumovich's first toss 188-11 that did in the competitors.
On the track was the gasoline that Crete-Monee poured and their speedsters lit. The Warriors made a decision right away to stack their outstanding 4x100 relay. To no one's surprise, it was over after the first exchange. The end result was that Lane Tech's previous meet record of 42.98 was set ablaze with a new state leading 41.73. The quartet of senior Victor Cameron, junior Kavon Jones, senior Jamal Safo, and senior Ricky Johnson was all busy during their trip up North. Cameron would win the 110HH in 15.32, Jones was victorious in the 100 (11.32), Johnson took the 200 in 22.26, and Safo grabbed the 400 gold medal with a time of 49.85. Depth also reared its head as quality Warrior tracksters filled in the 4x200 (1:29.83- meet record) and 4x400 (3:31.94).
There were some other noteworthy performances around the meet. Jack Burns (Jr., Chicago Lane Tech) took the lead from the gun and never looked back, winning the 800 in a meet record 1:57.12.
Bradley Brodsky (Sr., Deerfield) won the special "Dan Horyn mile" in 4:27.67. Brodsky and Loyola Academy freshman Spencer Werner pulled away during the final lap that resulted in both of them running solid times. Werner is someone to watch out for in the future, clocked the fastest time for his yearling class (4:29.85).