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800: There were a lot of notable times to be made and it started with this section one and Mitchell Dalby (Sr., Hampshire) who had never broken 2:00. He stormed to the lead with 200 to go and won with a huge personal best of 1:58.38.
Patrick Hilby (So., Aurora Central Catholic) is more of a 400/800 type of runner. He proved it by going out the fastest of anyone including in the championship race. The 56.07 bell opener was quick and good enough for Hilby to ultimately run 1:56.51.
Section three opened the main event section of the meet but the opening pace was similar to section one in that the leaders were just 60 seconds. Julian Aske (Jr., Evanston Beacon Academy) turned on the jets and won going way in a personal best 1:57.95.
True to form in most of the races, section four despite being loaded with talent, played possum to superstar Daniel Watcke. The Hinsdale Central junior did not assume to pace at all. He allowed it to go out at a pedestrian 59.1 before taking over with 300 and proceeded to bury everyone. The final result in the melee was a state-leading 1:52.91 and Watcke successfully defends his crown.
3200: Kieran Subra (Sr., Chicago Francais Lycee) is a high-energy kid enough he is virtually a one-man army at his school. The conservative pace of section one was just fine in 4:57 considering it was still quite breezy in terms of the weather. Subra bolted from the group he worked with to win in 9:44.17.
Section two was slightly faster than section one in terms of pacing. Almost the entire field of 16 hit the first mile in 4:50. Things remained uncertain until two laps to go. Liam Newhart (Jr., Oak Park-River Forest) and Dylan Myers (Jr., Lake Zurich) went to the jets and passed the leader Tedros Mekonen (Sr., Chicago Senn). Both stallions closed the final circuit in 63.3 but it was Newhart who won 9:32.23-9:32.29.
As predicted, section three was very entertaining. The pace of the race was the fastest of them all to date by a ton. 68, 2:17, and 3:27 were the opening circuits. The first mile hit 4:38 which meant there would be sub 9:20 if they could match the second-half pace. Eight runners or so were still fighting at 2K in 5:50-51. Hunter Whitney (Jr., Chicago Lane Tech), Camyn Viger (Jr., Plainfield South), Yusuf Baig (Sr., Burlington Central), and Nathan Lehman (Sr., Geneva) are some of the notables in the hunt. On the bell, Whitney had enough of the impatience and made a jailbreak. Baig was able to muster up the juice to take the victory in 9:17.56. Whitney grabs the nice consolation prize in 9:18.10.
The final stanza was reached in section four. The talk of the moment was about Drew Rogers (Sr., Herscher). He has been of the state's elite distance runners over the past several years. Rogers came into the meet without the benefit of an indoor season as well as just a few meaningful races. Rogers did not show any rust as he led for the first four laps with whip appeal. The mile was reached in 4:29 and shortly thereafter Logan Seger (Sr., St. Thomas Aquinas, KS) led for a lap. George Cahill (Sr., New Trier) joined in the fun. However, Rogers sprung to life one final time and turned on his turbo booster, and earned the spoils yet again in 9:07.24.
1600: The freshman race started the string of "mile" races. Jacob Barraza (Dekalb) came away victorious over Ben Crane (New Trier) in a spirited last lap in which both promising runners clocked 64- seconds, it was Barraza that prevailed 4:31.65-4:31.76.
Luke Pravecek (Jr., Maine South) kicked off the first section of the 1600m with a thrilling 4:28.69. Pravecek came from behind with a 64.08 final lap.
There were no sub 4:25's in section two but it was an exciting affair to watch. With 12 runners within one second on the bell lap, Theodore Cunningham (Jr., Palatine Fremd) raced from fifth into the cockpit spot, and the victory 4:28.23.
As we inch closer to sub 4:20, section three provided some excitement. Nick Kiley (Sr., Chicago St. Ignatius) would be the protagonist early on after assuming the lead after the first lap and holding it until about 200 remaining. The Oswego East junior duo of Parker Nold and Alexander Das appear to be back in the mix after their share of adversity. They stormed home 1-2 like the good ol' days with 4:21.91-4:21.93.
The final event of the day brought the fans to their feet as well as a ton of students onto the infield to cheer on the championship-level runners. The pace was not as fast as the penultimate race and it created pushing and shoving. So much so that several runners who are normally reserved to panic. One was Jack Klein (Sr., Chicago Lane Tech) who bolted just before the 1K mark. Still, the first 800 was just 2:10 and that meant it was anyone's race. At the bell, Luke Noren (Jr., Naperville Central) steps on the gas and proceeds to take the race by horns. He gaps the field and appears to have the race in hand with less than 100m remaining. However, Gavin Genisio (So., Benton) was in the right position to kick and win. And he did, putting the race to an end with a showstopping victory in a season best 4:16.78.