DesRosiers dominant in winning three titles

By Michael Newman

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Bloomington, Ill – As Ja’Mari Ward (Cahokia HS) took off his spikes after winning his fourth race of the day the 200 Meter Dash, he said to one of his teammates, “If that race was any longer, I do not know I would have been able to finish.” There was a smile on his face when he said that but also exhaustion. It was a long day for the multi-state champion as he completed his goal of winning four events in the 2A Boys Meet at the Illinois Top Times Championships Saturday afternoon.

The Shirk Center horizontal jumps have been historically welcoming to Ward as he has achieving some monster jumps in this facility. You knew Ward was going to have a good day especially during the warmups when he was flying down the runway all over the board. When he has done that in previous meets, it was a precursor of something good happening.

Ward’s first round attempt in the Long Jump was off the board yet he still managed a 23-0 ¾ jump. All that was need was a slight adjustment and Ward would be fine. His second round jump affirmed that. Even though he slowed down when he approached the board, Ward still flew deep into the pit bouncing out knowing that he had hit a long one. His second round jump of 25-3 ½ jump was a new meet record and a seasonal best as well as putting him #3 nationally indoors. He took one more attempt soaring an impressive 24-7. He shut it down after that focusing his attention to the track. Darryl Sullivan (Marion HS 0 only took two attempts in the event but still managed a second place finish (22-7 ½) while shuttling back and forth from that event and the High Jump.

Ward did not get his best start in the preliminaries but still ran 6.97 to win his heat and qualify for the finals of the 60 Meter Dash. Adam Nelson (Triad HS, Troy) and Jayden Kaiser (Tolono Unity HS) were the other heat winners both running the exact same time as Ward had run. The key for Ward in the final was just getting off to a good start and seeing what would happen after that. Nelson and Kaiser got great start out of the blocks while Ward’s beginning of the race was not his best. It did not matter by 30 meters as Ward had made up that deficit and glided into the lead until the finish. His 6.81 winning time missed the Jonathan Boey’s meet record by two hundredths of a second but was the fastest time in the state. Nelson had a great race finishing second with a 6.87 personal best. Kaiser also ran a personal best 6.95 to finish third.

The prelims of the 60 Dash played a little detriment to Ward’s run up in the Triple Jump. His first three attempts were missing the board fouling on those attempts. The plan for this event was to just take one jump. Ward was going past that. “After the prelims, I was loosened up more than I thought and I was coming down the runway too fast,” Ward said afterwards.

He hit the board on his fourth round jump achieving a seasonal best 48-11 putting himself into the lead. His Coach Leroy Milsap wanted him to shut it down to rest before the 60 Meter Final. Ward wanted that one more attempt to get his meet record. On his fifth attempt, he had the same problem on his first three attempts missing the board. His day was over as his focus permanently was on the track. The 200 Final was an afterthought as he dominated his race running 22.37 won the event. All of those races gave Ward an idea of what he would expect later on in May at the IHSA State Track Finals.

“I just wanted to break my own record in the Long Jump. I went over 25 feet doing that. I can’t ask for anything better than that,” Ward said after the meet. “My coach said that my start isn’t that good (in the 60). He told me that as long as I get that right I should win the race and it actually worked.”

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Gabrielle DesRosiers (North Lawndale College Prep, Chicago) would also be using this meet as a testing point for what she wanted to do in May at the IHSA State Finals. Her sweeping the three sprint individual races in the Girls 2A Meet confirmed her thoughts of going after the three individual races at state. It looked a little shaky for DesRosiers in the prelims of the 60 Meter Dash as she finished second in her heat behind Brooks College Prep’s Imani Carothers (7.85 – 7.90). She knew she would have some ground to make up in the finals as she had the third fastest prelim time. Westinghouse’s Makayla Pierce had run 7.86 to win her heat. The story was different in the finals. DesRosiers got off to a better start giving her the advantage. She bettered her prelim time to run 7.81 for the win. Pierce was six hundredths of a second back in second. Carothers ran 7.93 to finish third.

DesRosiers took the lead at the break in the final heat of the 400 Meter Dash. She looked like she had the race under control until Nicole Sreenan (Kaneland HS, Maple Park) tried to pass her coming off the final curve. DesRosiers held her off recording her second win of the day (57.15). Sreenan finished second (57.74).

The North Lawndale Prep senior completed her trifecta in the 200 Meter Dash. She had control of the race again holding off another Kaneland runner (Allie Heinzer) for the win by almost four tenths of a second (25.05 – 25.46).

“My block start wasn’t actually the best in the prelims of the 60. My goal in the 60 finals to get a good push out,” DesRosiers said. “I wanted to break 25 in the 200 but coming back after the 400 was pretty tough.”

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Boys Meet Highlights

Before all of the running events started on the 2A program, all the attention was on the Long Jump and High Jump pits. The High got interesting when the bar was moved up to 6-7 with three athletes left. Anthony McRoberts (Cahokia HS) and Noah Agnew (Vernon Hills HS) were still left in the competition while Darryl Sullivan (Marion HS) was just entering. The same thing happened to Sullivan as what happened the week before at the Charleston EIU Invitational. He missed his first two attempts at his opening height 6-7 putting some pressure on himself. He dug deep clearing his third attempt. Agnew and Sullivan cleared 6-8 putting pressure on McRoberts. As he went up on his attempt at 6-8, McRoberts grabbed his hip flying into the pit in agony. The Cahokia senior had injured his Gluteus Medius. His day was over as he was carried over to the trainer’s bench. According to his coach Leroy Milsap, McRoberts should miss the next two weeks of action.

The event goy exciting as both athletes passed at 6-8 and moved up to 6-10. Both cleared that height moving the bar up to the meet record 7-0 ¼. For Agnew, this height was foreign ground. Sullivan had been at this height the last four meets. It showed for Sullivan as he cleared that height tying Major Clay’s record. Agnew made three good attempts at the height but was unsuccessful. Sullivan won the championship making it the fourth meet in a row that he has cleared 7-0 or better. 

“In some ways, I wanted to clear 7-2 and hopefully PR at 7-4 today.” Sullivan said. I am happy jumping over seven feet in four straight meets. It shows that I am consistent.”

Sam Sikon (Carbondale HS) was on a roll in the Shot Put. He started off his day with a whopping 61-0 foot effort slamming the door on the rest of the competition. He improved in the fourth round (61-3). In his final attempt of the meet, he had a good release propelling the shot to a personal best 61-9 distance. The mark was the best in the state as well as eighth nationally indoors. Verdis Brown (Mt. Carmel HS, Chicago) had a previous best of 55-4 ½ mark heading into this meet. He had a great day finishing second achieving a personal best 59-5 (IL #2).  It was all about Arthur Atwell (Geneseo HS) in the Pole Vault. Atwood easily won the competition clearing 14-9 finishing ahead of the 14-3 clearance by Jared Trupp (Burlington Central HS).

Rich Central has been under the radar most of the indoor season focusing their attention on this meet and then outdoors. Gamar Hayles made a statement in the prelims of the 60 Hurdles running the fastest time of all the prelims (8.25). He was saving his best for last. Hayles had a great start having the race won by the third hurdle. He crossed the line in a new 2A meet record (8.10) breaking East St. Louis-Senior’s Marcus Greer’s record by six hundredths of a second. Hayles time was the fourth best indoors this season in Illinois.

Jayden Kaiser (Tolono Unity HS) had put pressure on the rest of the competition in the 400 Meter Dash running a seasonal best 51.21 to win the second section of the event. That time held up until the final section. Aaron Porter (Marion HS) dominated the fourth section taking the lead at the break. He crossed the line in 50.04 (IL #12) for the win more than half a second ahead of a charging Tyran Lyons (Cahokia HS) who ran 50.69.

There was excitement in the 800 Meter Run as the pack of 12 runners went through the first 200 meters in 29 seconds. Pre-race favorite Josh Cable (Rochester HS) was boxed in the back of the middle of the pack. On the back stretch of the second lap, Cable’s heels were clipped dropping him to the track. Danny Rosen (Northside College Prep, Chicago) took advantage of that taking the lead and never relinquishing it. Cable got up and charged up towards the lead. But the rush of adrenaline cost the Rochester sophomore as he faded on the final lap. Rosen’s winning time of 2:00.21 was almost a second ahead of Vernon Hills’ Tim Krashevsky (2:01.06) and Benton’s Gavin Hartley (2:01.35). Cable ran 2:01.84 to finish fourth.

Evan Mitchell had control of the 3200 Meters from 1200 meters in to the finish. Matt Stelmasek (Johnsburg HS) challenged Mitchell the closing laps but a final burst by the Lincoln-Way West junior sealed the deal. Mitchell crossed the line (9:24.89) more than two seconds ahead of Stelmasek (9:27.71). This was a deep race with seven runners finishing under 9:40.

Mitchell came back from the 3200 taking the lead for most of the 1600 Meter Run. Just before 1000 meters into the race, Nick Wondall (Illiana Christian HS, Lansing) took the lead pulling away from the pack with Ben Flowers (Jersey HS, Jerseyville) chasing after him. Wondall covered the last 600 in 1:36 to win the race (4:23.31). Teammate Colin DeYoung passed Flowers with 300 meters to go chasing after Wondall. He could not catch his teammate placing second (4:24.54). Michael Ronzone (Marmion Academy, Aurora) passed Flowers in the final straightaway to place third (4:26.63).

The biggest surprise of the 2A Boys Meet was the race by Geneseo in the 3200 Meter Relay. Defending champion Cahokia had the lead on the first exchange with Lindblom Academy and Lindblom two seconds behind. Geneseo’s Andrew Benhert ran a 2:02.2 second leg giving his team the lead for good. Geneseo anchor Cayson Frerich held off a late charge by Cahokia’s Tyran Lyons to capture the title (8:07.51) ahead of 8:07.51 ahead of Cahokia’s 8:11.40. Metamora finished third (8:12.27). “This is the second time that we have run this quartet,” an excited Freirich said after the race. “We just came in here today hoping to compete.”

Even with Ja’Mari Ward away from the relays, Cahokia was still a force capturing the 800 & 1600 Meter Relays. The Comanches held off a late charge from Morgan Park to run 1:31.73 for the win. Morgan Park was only nineteen hundredths of a second behind (1:31.92). It was not even close in the 1600 Meter Relay, an event that Cahokia owns. The Comanches were in control from the start running 3:24.61 winning by eight seconds ahead of Marion (3:32.11) and Waterloo (3:32.45).

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Girls Meet Highlights

Imani Carothers (Brooks College Prep, Chicago) completed a great indoor season with a greater performance at the Shirk Center on Saturday. Aanise Sajna (Dunlap HS) put the pressure on Carothers early in the Long Jump with an 18-4 seasonal best. Carothers responded in a huge way jumping a personal best 19-3 ¾ (IL #2, US #18) to clinch the win in the event. Carothers made more of a statement on the track. The sophomore ran 8.85 in the prelims of the 60 Meter Hurdles having more than two tenths of a second advantage on Grace Cronin (Fenwick HS, Oak Park). Carothers duplicated her prelim time (8.85, IL #3) to win her second title of the meet just eight hundredths of a second ahead of Cronin (8.93, IL #6). Carothers ended her day with her Brooks College teammates in the 800 Meter Relay. Carothers gave her team the lead on the third leg and anchor Whitney Ward pulled away from Westinghouse’s Makyla Pierce to capture the championship (1:45.93). Westinghouse was disqualified on an exchange violation giving Section 3 winner Kaneland second overall (1:48.03).

Kaneland had a successful day at this meet capped off by two wins in the relays. The Lady Knights surprised some (even themselves) running a seasonal best 9:42.55 finishing ahead of Rochester (9:43.20) and Washington (9:48.20). Kaneland showed their dominance in the final running event of the 2A meet. Kaneland won (4:01.37) finishing six seconds ahead of Dunlap (4:07.58) and Aurora Central Catholic (4:07.75).

Kassadee Ifft (Prairie Central HS, Fairbury) was on her game in the Pole Vault. She had been stuck in a rut winning meets with a 12-6 height. She overcame that in this meet achieving a personal best 13-0 to win the 2A meet ahead of Monticello’s Aliyah Welter who cleared 12-3.

Sierra Brown (Trinity HS, River Forest) competed in multiple events on Saturday. Her best finish of the day was in the Triple Jump when she jumped 38-4 for an over two foot win. Brown also finished third in the Long Jump (18-2 ¼) and fifth in the 60 Hurdles (9.54). Nikita Maines (Centralia HS) improved on her seasonal best by more than two feet to win the Shot Put (42-8 ½). Her margin of victory was narrow 1 ½ inches ahead of Abigail Richter (Triad HS, Troy) who had a 42-7 seasonal best. Defending IHSA 2A State Champion Jamari Drake (Southeast HS, Springfield) concluded her indoor season by clearing 5-6 to win the High Jump.

Karina Liz (Aurora Central Catholic HS) has been under the radar most of this indoor season running on smaller tracks. In her first race on a 200 Meter Track this season, Liz and teammate Abby Fioresi pulled away from the pack in the 800 Meter Run. Liz looked like she had the race won, but Fioresi made a big charge on the final straightaway. Liz sensed that holding her off at the finish by three hundredths of a second (2:14.32, IL #2 – 2:14.35, IL #3). Both athletes came back to help their team finish third in the 1600 Meter Relay. Liz came back to finish third in the 400 Meter Dash.

Kara Martin (Herrin HS) does not get the exposure of most of the distance runners in the state as she runs in the southern portion of the state. She did show on Saturday that she is one of the state’s best pushing the pace at the 400 going through the halfway point in 2:25 almost nine seconds ahead of the rest of the pack. Martin held on for a personal best 5:04.74. Katherine Petty (Rochester HS) made a late charge moving from fourth to second on the final lap (5:07.02) edging Abby Fioresi (5:07.50) and Boylan Catholic’s Delaney Appino (5:07.50).

Grace McLaughlin (Boylan Catholic HS, Rockford) forced the pace half way into the 3200 Meter Run. She held off a late charge by Lauren Whitehouse (Mahomet-Seymour HS) to win the title improving her seasonal best by 21 seconds (11:05.65). Whitehouse recorded a personal best (11:07.16) in finishing second.