CHARLESTON ― The Rockford-area contingent managed just one state championship at Saturday’s IHSA boys state track and field finals, coming in the 4X800-meter relay race by the speedsters from Rockford Christian.
But there were plenty of battles that went all the way down to the finish line.
“You are not going to win against a field like this,” Jefferson’s star hurdler Janardie Turner said, “unless you run a clean race. I didn’t.”
The lone title for the Rockford area did not come from Turner, despite the fact that he was ranked nationally in both hurdling events at some point this season. The J-Hawks’ junior failed to qualify for state in his third best event, the long jump; missed out on the state finals in his second best, the 300 intermediate hurdles; but he soared to a third-place finish in the 110 high hurdles midway through the day with a time of 13.82.
“I was hoping to be a little busier today,” Turner said after his second straight third-place finish at state in the 110 highs. “It’s good to get another third, but, I guess, I was just wanting more.”
The Rockford Christian 4X800 relay team couldn’t have hoped for anything more than what they got Saturday. The foursome of Evan White, Joel White, Julian Honeyville and Blake Lindberg came into the finals seeded first after Thursday’s prelims, and they held serve with a time of 7:51.37 in Saturday’s finals. That time was a Class 1A state record.
Evan White also placed in the 800-meter run.
“That’s how to do it,” Evan White said shortly after crossing the line all alone. “I decided about halfway through not to hold back and save anything for my 800. I wanted this record.”
And they got it.
Winnebago took sixth in that event. And Winnebago’s Daniel Hodgdon took fifth in the 800 run behind White, while Oregon’s Daniel Gonzalez placed seventh. Winnebago was led by Myles Smith’s third-place effort in the 1A long jump.
Pole vault showdown
One of the most exciting events of the day didn’t even net the Rockford-area star a gold.
Rochelle senior Andrew Nuyen came away with his second state-runner-up finish in a row in the Class 2A pole vault event, but his clearance of 17-feet-6 1/2 moved him up to No. 4 in the entire nation. However, Bloomington Central’s Isaiah Whitaker cleared 17-8 1/2, a new state record and the second-best pole vault make in the country this year.
“I like the competition, so this was just fun,” Nuyen said after taking part in the first event in IHSA boys state track and field history when there were three nationally ranked athletes. “And I was really on today, and that’s all that matters.”
Throwers step up
A couple of NIC-10 throwers stepped up as well. Harlem’s Tyson Hill placed third in the 3A shot put and sixth in the 3A discus, and Freeport’s Jamarion McClain placed third in the 2A discus event.
Le-Win also got a fourth place from Gannon Dunker in the 1A shot put. The top nine in each event from Class 1A, 2A and 3A earned medals at the boys state track and field meet.
But the top four finishers at state earn a street sign commemorating their state-meet efforts in the town of Lena.
“That’s what I wanted,” Dunker said of his new street sign that will be coming soon. “That was my main goal, and I got it. I would’ve liked to win, but this feels pretty good.”
Other medalists
Byron’s Evan Northrup was the other Rockford-area athlete to medal in 2A, hauling in a fifth-place finish in the high jump with a make at 6-6.
Lena-Winslow got another pair of state medals from sprinter Alec Schlichting, who placed third in the 100 dash and fifth in the 200 dash. Schlichting earned medals in each event last year as well.
“I think I just tried to press too hard,” Schlichting said as he faded late in the 100. “The last couple of meters were tough, and I just didn’t finish.”
Belvidere’s Caden Bould was the lone 2A runner to make it to Saturday’s finals, and he wound up with a sixth-place finish in the 800 run. His teammate Jordan Mundy finished in 11th in the prelims, two spots off a state-finals bid.
Bould also helped the Bucs’ 4X400 relay to a fifth-place finish in the meet-closing event. And led by Forreston’s foursome of Mercer Mumford; Hayden Vinnedge; Eli Ferris; and Brody Schwartz, all juniors, the Cardinals nabbed second place in the 1A 1,600 relay, holding off the likes of Rockford Christian (fifth place) and Dakota (sixth place).
Forreston also placed third in the 4X200 relay while Dakota placed sixth.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford Christian relay champs spark locals at boys state track meet
Reporting by Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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