It was a good day on the famous blue track inside of the stadium
Eastern Illinois University-
Right away there were some noticeable changes inside O'Brien Stadium. The giant scoreboard that was inoperational last weekend at the Girl's state meet arrived on time for the boy's first day of action. Shortly thereafter, the meet management team announced they would roll the schedule to get ahead of several threatening weather patterns. It appeared to stimulate the performances and infuse energy among the patrons. Although a weather delay eventually halted action after the first 1600m prelim, it was still a very good morning and afternoon of track and field.
Track-
The hot actually began with the 110HH hurdles as the classification's top dog Jadon Robertson (Sr., Cowden-Herrick) roared through his prelim with a qualifying leading 14.53. Robertson was barely out of breath as he was lathered up from the high jump and long jump affairs. He would top off his day with another class-leading effort in the 300H (38.90)
The 100m was met with some indirect tension between defending state champion Tony Phillips (So., Kankakee McNamara) and challenger Tyreke Fortney (Sr. St. Bede). Phillips is not afraid to express himself vocally but on this occasion, he blasted his prelim three heat in 10.72. Fortney followed with a 10.80 in prelim four. Both are on pace to collide in Saturday's final full tilt.
Elgin Harvest Academy and Rockford Christian have the fastest seeds at 8:13.71 and 8:13.97. But keep in mind that Williamsville is the class leader and is just a few ticks back in 8:15.90.
Winnebago produced two of the three fastest times in the sprint relays. The 'Bagos copped 4x200 (1:28.26), 4x400 (3:25.47); they are seeded second in the 4x100 (43.22) behind Salt Fork's 43.08.
Field-
Robertson was adept in the field as well as on the track. He advanced to the finals easily in the high jump (6'2") and long jump (22'4").
Brian Lindsay (Sr., Athens) leads the triple jump field by over a foot with a personal best 43'1.75". The class leader is Jake Sarver (Sr., Warrenburg-Latham) but he sits in fourth place.
The most competitive events in the field were the throws. Daniel Lucas (Sr., Cowden-Herrick) did not waste any time in the shot put throwing the steel ball 59'10.50" and leading six other performers over 50-feet.
Grant Milbrath (Sr., Pecatonica) is the discus throw leader with a personal best 164'2.75"- more than seven feet farther than his previous best.
