Boys track notes: Kelsay leaving Addison Trail in good shape

Bruce Kelsay has been a school psychologist at Addison Trail for 31 years, the past 18 also leading the Blazers' boys track program.

It's like two sides of the same ink blot.

"I think all coaches really are psychologists. They have to deal with the mental and psychological aspects of sports performance every day," he said.

"Being a coach enhances my professional role as psychologist in the building. The kids who know me and the type of person I am, they have a comfort level when it comes to talking to me about the troubles in their life."

After May 26 the doctor will no longer be in. Kelsay is retiring as a District 88 psychologist - also at Willowbrook the last seven years - as well as Blazers track coach. Throws coach Jim Ziebka is slated to take the team, though Kelsay plans to assist in some capacity.

A three-sport athlete at Willowbrook, Kelsay credited retired hall of fame track coach Jim Tyree for convincing him to run track as a junior. The next two years Kelsay anchored state-qualifying 400 and 1,600-meter relays, part of why he was inducted into Willowbrook's athletic hall of fame in 2015.

Starting in 1999 with less than 20 athletes, it took time for Kelsay to build his own program. In 2008 sprinter Frank Cervantes became Kelsay's first state qualifier. Jordyn Carr-Jones' seventh-place finish in the Class 3A 110-meter hurdles last season was Addison Trail's first all-state performance in 37 years.

Seniors Carr-Jones and sprinter Darrion Conrad both look to return to Charleston this year.

Kelsay, who finds it hard to believe he turned 60 on April 17, called the opening of the school's field house in 2010-11 a "big moment" for the track squad, which now numbers more than 70 boys.

"I think a lot more kids saw track as a viable sport," he said. "That afforded us to do proper training, because before that we were running in the basement."

Kelsay's own children competed elsewhere. Living in Wheaton with his wife, Mary, daughters Kristen and McKenna were volleyball stars at St. Francis and then at Michigan State and Illinois, respectively. Their youngest daughter, Nikki, plays club lacrosse at Illinois.

Entering his final weeks, the psychologist is comfortable with the state of Blazers track.

"We're very happy that we've built this program up to 75 kids from where we were at 15, 20," Kelsay said.

Checking in:

While Kelsay's tenure winds down, other coaches are in the homestretch of their first seasons as head coaches.

Clint Porter succeeded his former coach at Fenton, John Kurtz, who after 48 years coaching Bison track wanted to reduce his load.

"I think John would tell you he liked aspects of track, but he's truly a cross country guy, through and through," said Porter, whose now 23-year-old daughter, Eileen, ran on two Naperville Central downstate relay teams.

Porter is not new to this scene. A former coach at Champaign Centennial, he's assisted the Fenton boys off and on since 2000, a full-timer the past nine years.

Fenton graduate Patrick Frisch has come in to handle the distance group, and juniors Cristian Sanchez and Michael Lieggi and sophomore Randy Almarales have responded. Veteran throws coach Lee Cassidy has sophomore Jimmy Deckert past 130 feet in discus and 41 feet in shot put.

Dan Greco is in his first year as coach at his alma mater, Glenbard East. Team leaders include seniors Ryan Schulze and Justin Corrigan.

"I feel like Coach Greco is doing a really good job," Corrigan said last week at Hinsdale South. "He was working with the program last year, he came in and tried to give it a little more of a whole-team feel."

A former sprinter from the Class of 2008, Greco sought more camaraderie in the weight room before athletes split into their different event groups. Corrigan also noted playing "a little bit of Ultimate Frisbee as a full program."

"It doesn't matter what event you're in, you're a Glenbard East track athlete," Greco said.

Greco hopes the leadership of seniors such as Corrigan, Schulze, throwers Keegan Hinton and Adam Armstrong and sprinter Tyler Roman rubs off on younger Rams like hurdler and pole vaulter Alec Wolff, jumper Kadari Wright-Jones, sprinters Gino Dalesandro and Jack Baka, distance runners David Crossland and Aidan Ihms.

Over the past three-week period Glenbard East amassed 70 personal records.

"We've made progress, which is what I want to do, and I just want to keep that going into next season," Greco said.

Best efforts:

Wheaton Academy junior Karyn Best qualified downstate in Class 2A last year for the 200-meter dash. She's really hit her stride this track season.

Best ran a personal-best time of 26.29 seconds on April 22 at Glenbard West, which ranks her No. 64 overall in the state according to Dyestat, and 17th in 2A.

It appears the 300 hurdles is a real niche for Best. Her time of 44.78 also at Glenbard West ranks third overall and No. 1 among Class 2A runners. The Class 2A qualifying standard is 47.72 seconds.

"That was something she picked up over the summer on a club team she's on," said Warriors girls track coach James Houck, referring to Track My Speed in Lisle. "She works really hard. We're hoping to see some big improvements in her 300 next week at sectional."

Houck, whose father, Paul, coached prep track more than 30 years in Indiana and whose grandfather, Alvin, officiated Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, said Best's summer training focused on knee drive which in turn lengthened her stride.

In addition to the 300 hurdles and 200 and 400 dashes, Best could threaten the standards in the 100 hurdles. She's also a 16-foot long jumper.

She's got championship-series experience with the IHSA meet, the Top Times indoor meet - in which she placed seventh in the Class 2A 400 - and with the USATF Junior Olympics.

"It's the only sport she participates in, so she's all track all the time," Houck said.