Jon Davis finishes ahead of Seneca's Ross McCormick in the 1600 Meter 1A Prelims at the IHSA State Prelims (Photo: Michael Newman)

 

Tolono Unity qualifies 10 to Saturday’s finals; Davis has his eyes set on two 1A records on Saturday

 

By Michael Newman

[email protected]

 

 

Charleston, Ill --- Tolono Unity had a good day qualifying all four relays and six individuals to the finals on Saturday. Shelbyville was next with nine qualifiers. Sterling Newman was next with seven qualifiers. Carthage Illini West only qualified six but could challenge for the team championship. Blaze Murfin is the current leader in both weight events. Jacob Sholl ran the fastest 1A time in the state to lead all qualifiers in the 400. He also qualified in the 100 and 200 along with helping his team qualify in the 400 Relay.

 

One of the big stories for Saturday will be Jon Davis (Oakwood HS, Fithian) and his attempt at the 1A distance records. Davis played with the field in his heat of the 1600 Meter Run Thursday going through the 1200 in 3:21.1  with Ross McCormick (Seneca HS) by his side. The two time 1A cross country champion pulled away in the final straight crossing the line comfortably running 4:20.04 for the win. McCormick also qualified two seconds back in second.

 

“I felt comfortable today. I did what I needed to do to qualify,” Davis said afterwards. “We have been working a lot on my finish. I really want to go after both records (3200 / 1600 ) on Saturday.”

 

Tuscola did what they needed to do in qualifying all four relays having the best prelim time in the 400 and 800 Relays. They will be chased by Arcola who qualified three relays including having the fastest time in the 1600 Relay and the second fastest time behind Unity in the 400 and 800.

 

Highlights from Thursday:

 

1A Prelim Results

 

 

 

4 x 800 Meter Relay

 

Robinson ran the fastest prelim time Thursday morning winning Heat 3 in 8:02.39 holding off Shelbyville for the win. Dwight controlled the tail end of Heat 2 led by a 1:59 anchor by Michael Bennett to win (8:05.45) three seconds ahead of Carlinville. Tolono Unity’s Andrew Warnes took the baton for the anchor leg in fourth place. He moved up to the lead pack in the first 300 meters, waited and then kicked home to give his team the win and the automatic qualifier (8:07.71). Eureka, Chicago Christian, and Sparta followed close behind.

 

 

4 x 100 Meter Relay

 

Tolono Unity and Arcola lead the field to Saturday’s finals as both teams ran under 43 seconds. Tolono Unity ran the fastest 1A time of the year (42.70) to win the final heat of the event. Arcola looked strong pulling away from Shelbyville to win heat 2 (42.90 – 43.29). Polo Community looked strong winning the first heat (43.39) ahead of IC Catholic Prep. Hales Franciscan had some safe exchanges which was good enough to win Heat 3 (43.51) just edging Fulton (43.67) and Sterling Newman (43.68) who captured the final qualifying spot to the finals.

 

 

110 Meter High Hurdles

 

It will be a close final as only three hundredths of a second separated the top three athletes that qualified for the finals on Saturday. Sectional list leader Aaron Luesse (Tolono Unity) also ran the fastest prelim time (15.02) to win the final heat ahead of Andy Margason (Timothy Christian HS, Elmhurst). Josh Kirby (Peoria Christian HS) ran 15.03 to win Heat 2 ahead of Jake Wayda (Pleasant Plains HS). Nick Matthews (Cisne HS) won the opening heat (15.05) by almost half a second ahead of Vandalis’s Curtis Gordon). Regan Todhunter (Sterling Newman Catholic) won Heat 3 (15.16) ahead of Danny Falconer (Byron HS).

 

 

100 Meter Dash

 

Times were slow as the athletes ran into a crosswind that shifted to a headwind by the time the first prelim started. The finals will be close as the top four athletes in the field are only separated by seven hundredths of a second. Brett Charlton (Eureka HS) had an early showdown with Jacob Sholl (Cathage Illini West HS) winning heat three by less than a tenth of a second (11.04-11.11). Andre McGill (Madison HS) got off to a great start and easily won the first heat (11.05) a quarter of a second ahead of Brady Rude (Newman Catholic HS, Sterling). Marcus Sitko (Staunton HS) easily won Heat 4 (11.10) by two tenths of a second. In perhaps the most competitive of the heats, Austin Sikora (Rockford Lutheran HS) got off to a great start but was overtaken by Jordan Rowell in the last 10 meters. Rowell won Heat 2 ahead of Justin Goff (Wesclin HS, Trenton) and Aaron Harris (Lisle HS). Sikora had the ninth fastest time in all of the heats (11.29) qualifying for Saturday finals. Rude missed qualifying for the finals by one hundredth of a second.

 

 

800 Meter Run

 

None of the athletes really showed their hands in the preliminary heats saving themselves for Saturday. Michael Cook (Kewanee Wethersfield HS) had the prelim time when he won Heat 2 (1:57.07) a second ahead of Gabe Lyons (St. Joseph-Ogden HS). Andrew Gardeine (St. Anthony HS, Effingham) won heat 3 (1:57.76) holding off Andrew Warnes by five hundredths of a second. Austin McCarey (Byron HS) pulled away from the field early to win heat 1 (1:58.06) by two seconds ahead of Shelbyville’s Ryan Skowronski.

 

 

4 x 200 Meter Relay

 

Tolono Unity and Arcola will battle for the championship in this event as they were the only two schools to go under 1:30 in the prelims. Tolono Unity ran the fastest 1A time so far this year (1:29.78) in winning Heat 4 two seconds ahead of Sterling Newman (1:31.45) who qualified ninth in this event similar to the 400 Relay. In the heat before, Arcola ran a season’s best 1:29.94 to defeat Lowpoint- Washburn by almost two seconds. Fulton’s Trey Simmons came from third in the final leg to win the first heat (1:30.48) just edging Polo Community and Rockridge. Despite two shaky exchanges, Hales Franciscan won Heat 2 of the event (1:30.65) holding off Farmington by seven hundredths of a second.

 

 

400 Meter Dash

 

Jacob Sholl and Aaron Harris (Lisle HS) gave fans a tiny preview of what we could see in Saturday’s finals. Sholl held off Harris to win Heat 4 (48.58) just ahead of Harris (48.90). Those were the top two times in 1A this season. Brett Charlton proved he was up for the task running 49.80 to win Heat 3. Nathan Stukenberg (Polo Community) caught Zach Vancil (West Central HS, Biggsville) in the final 30 meters to win Heat 2. Jordan Rowell qualified in his second event of the day winning Heat 1 (49.60) just ahead of Mooseheart’s Josh Gordon (49.95). Five runners from Thursday’s prelims all went under 50 seconds.

 

 

300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles

 

Josh Kirby ran the fastest prelim time in this event (39.30) winning heat 4 just ahead of Clayton Strader (Arcola HS) who also ran under 40 seconds (39.83). Aaron Luesse pulled away in the final two hurdles to win Heat 3 (39.62). Riley Drees (Teutopolis HS) won the second heat (40.75). Regan Todhunter qualified for his second hurdle event winning Heat 1 (40.30) a half a second ahead of freshman Bret Dannis (St. Bede HS, Peru).

 

 

1600 Meter Run

 

We mentioned a little bit about Davis in the beginning. He did not force the pace running 66.2, 2:15.6, 3:21.1 before running a 59.3 final 400. In the heat before him, Tyler Johnson (Pleasant Plains HS) ran a season’s best 4:21.63 to edge Corban Kakac (Fairfield HS) by less than a second (4:22.23). Michael Cook, who had earlier qualified in the 800, ran 4:25.41 to win Heat 1just ahead of Brandon Wilkerson (Tri-Point HS, Cullom).

 

 

200 Meter Dash

 

Andre McGill led all qualifiers in running 21.90 to win Heat 2 ahead of Jordan Rowell (22.45). Little known before this meet Kahlil Wassel (New Berlin HS) ran the second fastest time of all qualifiers (22.25) in winning Heat 3 just thirteen hundredths of a second ahead of Brady Rude. Jacob Sholl qualified for his third individual event when he won Heat 4 (22.33) sixteen hundredths of a second ahead of Justin Goff (Trenton-Wesclin HS). Aaron Harris qualified for the 200 by winning the first heat (22.52) ahead of BJ Bailey (Reed-Custer HS). Nick Meunier (Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley HS) qualified ninth edging Camden Coleman (Urbana University HS) by one thousandth of a second.

 

 

4 x 400 Meter Relay

 

Arcola continued to show their relay presence qualifying for their third relay of the preliminaries. They ran the fastest time in 1A this year (3:22.43) in winning the final heat by four seconds ahead of Chicago Christian. Oneida ROWVA ran the second fastest time in the prelims (3:25.16) winning Heat 1, but they are three seconds behind the pace that Arcola set. Polo Community won Heat 2 (3:25.45) ahead of Rockridge. Pinckneyville edged St. Joseph-Ogden by a half a second to win Heat 3 (3:25.45 – 3:25.98). Eureka edged Tremont for the final qualifying spot by one hundredths of a second.

 

Field Event Highlights

 

Corey Kersey (Neoga HS) is on track for his third straight Triple Jump championship. He has the longest leap heading into Saturday’s finals (44-4) leading Marcus Sitko by more than a foot.

 

It is close in the Long Jump as only four inches separate the top four athletes. John Ward (Kankakee McNamara) is a surprise leader (22-1 ½) ahead of Marcus Sitko by ¾ of an inch.

 

Blaze Murfin (Illini West HS, Carthage) leads both weight events heading into the finals. Murfin has a two foot lead ahead of Tuscola’s Stephen Gibson (55-5 ¼ - 53-5). Murfin leads the Discus (164-0) by more than two feet ahead of Manning Plater (Rushville-Industry HS). Gibson is currently in third (160-0).

 

15 athletes advanced to Saturday’s final in the High Jump all clearing 6-3.  12 athletes advanced to Saturday’s final of the Pole Vault all clearing 13-6.