Rogers, Welin winners in 1600-Meter Run Night of Races at Misfits Invitational

Drew Rogers runs US #3 time in Boys High School win; Josephine Welin comes from behind to claim Girls HS title in US #7 time

By Michael Newman

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Chicago – The Gately Park Indoor Track and Field Complex on the southeast side of Chicago gave a slight indication in a meet two weeks ago that this 200-meter Mondo Banked track would produce some fast times.

The 24 sections of the 1600 Meter Run on Friday night showed that after the “wow factor” that hit the athletes when they entered the facility, that this track would produce some fast times especially in the distance races.

BOYS 1600M RESULTS | GIRLS 1600M RESULTS | VIDEO INTERVIEWS

The first of the two days of the CYUP Misfits Invitational gave the athletes the fast times that they were hoping for and even more.

Drew Rogers of Herscher HS IL waited for his moment to strike in the 12 and final section of the Boys 1600 Meter Run. His patience paid off with a move in the final lap to capture the race win in 4:11.77. It was the third fastest time in the country this season indoors. It was also a best time for the junior improving his personal best by seven seconds

Each race got extremely faster as the sections progressed. By the time that Rogers and the runners in the final section stepped to the line, the time of 4:21.88 from Ryan Maseman of Plainfield North HS would be the time to beat.

The top two seeds in the final section, Izaiah Steury of Angola HS IN and Lucas Guerra of Highland IN made sure the pace would be fast leading the pack through a 30.6 opening 200-meters and passing 400-meters in 61.2

The pace slowed down in the second 400-meters of the race but split the race open leaving Rogers and Kennie Arriola of J Serra Catholic CA alone in the front pack as they dropped the remaining eight runners in the section. The four runners passed through 800-meters in 2:06.2

The pace started to slow down with another 66-second third 400 as the four runners passed 200-meters in 3:12.6. That was enough for Arriola as he surged to the lead. Rogers, who passed the 1200-meter mark in 3:14.0 reacted to the move following Arriola while passing Steury and Guerra.

The penultimate lap of the race was a quick 31.1 as Arriola was forcing the pace as Steury started to drop off. Rogers moved closer to Arriola as the bell sounded at 3:43.7. Arriola would not let Rogers or Guerra pass. It was Rogers that made the final move as he made the pass coming off the banked curve with 150-meters left. The Herscher junior closed his win with a 28 second final lap.

“I wasn’t going to take the lead until the final lap no matter what,” Rogers said after his win. “I knew if I would have gapped them earlier, all of them have incredible kicks.”

Rogers had done this race on strength work. A slight injury slowed him down for one week. Despite the snow that hit Illinois, Rogers found his way to get his work in.

“I have been doing most of my workouts on a treadmill,” added Rogers. “Then I had a little foot irritation. I did have four solid weeks of training coming into this race. The last two weeks I had speed / hill work on the treadmill. I put some incline on max speed and I think it worked out pretty well.”

There was a bit of a letdown heading into the Girls final section of the 1600 Meter Run. US list leader Audrey DaDamio of Birmingham Seaholm MI dropped out of this race focusing all her efforts on Saturday’s 3200 Meter Run. It left the race wide-open on who would come away with the win.

The first 200-meters of the seventh and final section went through in 32.8 second with no definitive leader. Coming of the first curve of the second lap, Emma Squires of Petoskey MI took matters into her own hands grabbing the lead passing 400-meters 68.5 seconds.

The pack started to stretch out with Squires leading Josephine Welin of Oak Park-River Forest and Annie Christie of Carmel IN close in hand. Squires had a three second lead as she passed 800-meters in 2:22.9. Squires’ fifth 200 of the race slowed down to 38 seconds allowing Welin a chance to move even with the Michigan runner.

Another 38 second lap brought Squires and Welin past 1200-meters in 3:38.6. Welin made little “test” moves on Squires but could not take the lead. The two passed the bell lap in 4:16.3 again with Welin trying to make a move and Squires not allowing it.

The two runners came off the curve onto the back stretch with Welin charging into the lead. It was a move that Squires could not respond to Welin crossed the line in a winning 4:52.20. Squires ran 4:53.57 to finish second ahead of Batavia’s Katrina Schlenker with her 4:54.80 season opener. Christie finished fourth with a 4:55.31 indoor best.

“I knew there was going to be some competition today. This was my first race of the year. I wanted to see where I was at,” Welin said. “I knew I had that final kick speed. I was just going to sit on her and wait and go when I knew I could make a move and for her to not come back.

There were some great section races that preceded these two finals. Here are highlights from some of those races

BOYS 1600m Sections

Middle School – One of the bigger unnoticed stories of this meet came from future high school star Benjamin Gibson. The eighth-grade runner from Latin Middle School in Chicago made an impression on the early arrivers at Gately Park with the top time in the nation in the middle school age group. Gibson pulled away from the pack on his first lap and passed 800-meters in 2:20. He followed that up with consecutive 68 second 4000’s to cross the line in 4:36.29. Gibson came back on Saturday and stormed the field in the 100 Meter Run winning with a 2:42.62 time. Gibson won his race by 31 seconds.

Section 7 – The pace started to pick up in the final 400-meters of this section led by Charlie Rook of Neuqua Valley and Zack Fidrocki of York. Grayden Rill of Fenwick took the lead before the bell lap and never gave that lead up. Rill crossed the line in 4:35.43 for the win.

Section 8 – Niklas Anderson of Benet Academy and TJ Garland of Prospect shared the lead passing by 1 kilometer in 2:49. Ian O’Laughlin of Metamora joined the lead pack and taking the lead on the final lap. His final circuit of 31.1 seconds gave him the win in 4:28.29 with Anderson a close second in a 4:28.61 personal best.

Section 9 – Batavia sophomore Quinton Lowe took the pacing chores in this section leading the pack through the first 800 in 2:12.5 and the first kilometer in 2:47.2 with Alexander Das of Oswego East close by his side. Lowe held the lead until the final lap when Lucas Guidone of Taft HS took control of the race. The Chicago City XC champion from last fall zipped a 29.9 second final 200- for the win (4:25.14) just ahead of Lowe (4:25.83).

Section 10 – The pace of these sections continued to pick up, especially in this race. Ryder James, the junior from Paxton-Buckley-Loda took the lead from the gun passing the first three laps in 29.5, 61.2, and 1:34.1. He ran his first 800-meters in a quick 2:08.5. He was joined in the front by first Nick Henz of Oswego East and then Ryan Maseman of Plainfield North. Maseman, who ran 1:56 for 800-meters on this track two weeks ago, showed that speed closing in a 61.6 final 400-meters with a 30.2 final lap. Maseman won in 4:21.88 which at that point was the fastest time of the meet. He went on to finish sixth overall in the event. Henz (4:24.99) and James (4:26.20) followed.

Section 11 – The race leading to the final section was tactical with Alex Boyden of DeKalb and Eamonn Brady of Maine South leading through the first 800-meters in 2:13.3. The paced slowed down to 69-seconds for the third 400-meters. That is when Daniel Winkleman of Harvest Christian Academy took control of the lead. He still had company with four runners close by his side. Four runners came off the final turn side-by-side. Winkleman held on for the win (4:27.19) holding off Boyden (4:27.22), Ryan Hardiman of Latin School (4:27.28), and Ethan Summer of York (4:27.33)

Girls 1600 Meter Run Sections

Section 4 – Catie McCabe of Hinsdale Central stayed patient in this race letting Kaitlyn Winton of York and Jenna Buchanan of Bartlett set the early pace. McCabe joined the front and took the lead as they passed 1200-meters in 3:57.4. Winton stayed close to McCabe until the final lap. McCabe pulled away from her WSC-Silver rival crossing the line with the section win (5:12.88). Winton was next (5:15.20) followed by Buchanan (5:16.33).

Section 5 – The spotlight in this section was on Mary Grace Hegberg of St. Viator. This junior missed last fall’s cross-country season due to injury. Hegberg had the lead with Kaitlyn Hines of DeWitt MI as the two runners passed 800-meters in 2:32.7. Hegberg took the lead in the final 400-meters and crossed the line with a 5:04.76 personal best. Hines was next in second place (5:07.31).

Section 6 – Kaylie Politza of Valparaiso IN set tone in this section pushing the pace from the gun passing 400-meters in 66.3 and 800-meters in a quick 2:21.4. The fast first four laps hit her on her third 400-meters as she ran that in 81 seconds letting Morgan Mackie of Loyola Academy and Lauren Pansegrau of Middleton WI back into the race. Pansegrau took command of the race with 300-meters left. She crossed the line with the first sub-five-minute time of the day (4:58.06) winning the section and finishing seventh overall. Mackie nipped Politza at the line for second by one hundredth of a second (5:03.18-5:03.19).