Illinois state meet gains in class next spring
CHARLESTON -- For 33 years, track and field in Illinois has been a two-classification sport for both boys and girls. The state expanded then, due to the continual population boom at the time, and will be doing so again when the state meet returns to Charleston and eastern Illinois University next spring.
Illinois will mirror its neighbors to the North in Wisconsin with a three-class state meet. The tentative schedule is that Class A will run its prelims on Thursday afternoon. Class AA and Class AAA will run on the usual prelim schedule on Friday. All three classes will then merge on Saturday for the state finals.
IHSA Assistant Executive Director Ron McGraw, who oversees track and field for boys and girls, believes the new system will not make for a tremendous difference in the time schedule on Saturday.
According to McGraw, the new start time on Saturday will tentatively be only an hour earlier than the current 11 a.m. start time. All other time schedules will remain the same. What can't make the IHSA happy are the weather situations that affected this year's meet.
The boy's meet was hit with six different weather delays in the morning session alone that forced more than three-plus hours of delays. It also forced the high jump and pole vault to be moved indoors.
How this will affect area teams will be interesting to watch. With Barrington and Prospect both returning very solid lineups, it could mean the end of the 16-year trophy drought for the Mid-Suburban League.
State champion East St. Louis, runner-up York and third-place finisher Springfield Lanphier will all be in the largest classification. Cahokia, winner of the last two state titles in Class A, will move to Class AA.
State meet doings: Friday's preliminaries at the state track meet last weekend is one almost everyone there would just as soon forget. The Class A session featured six weather delays that resulted in the delay of the Class AA session by three hours.
The Class AA high jump and pole vault both were moved indoors while the long jump, triple jump, shot put and discus all continued outside in less than ideal conditions.
Even the gorgeous weather on Saturday couldn't stop the bizarre and unusual from happening again.
In the long jump, Nigel Jolly of Morgan Park didn't show up for the finals. Jolly was the leader in the competition in the event and all of his efforts from Friday carried over to Saturday. Jolly and his coach got lost on the way to Charleston and missed the competition altogether. But because there was no rule stating Jolly had to be there to compete in the event, he was still awarded the first-place medal.
The pole vault also was hit by unusual circumstances. For some reason, the height of the bar was 3 inches less than what the competitors thought. While it ultimately didn't affect the outcome for Josh Winder of Plainfield Central, it did come as a shock to the competitors.
"I am not sure how they didn't know that the bar wasn't at the right height," said Conant's Kyle Reid. "I have never seen anything like that happen before and you would think that wouldn't happen at a state meet."
The Big Dog: When Hersey senior Kevin Havel crossed the finish line for his first state title in the 3,200, he not only achieved what he called his "dream" by winning the event, he also made history at the Arlington Heights school.
The Stanford-bound Havel became the first runner in school history to win a state championship. He also leaves as the most decorated track and field athlete in school history. Havel is the only runner ever from Hersey to win four medals in state meet competition. Combine that with four top-five finishes at the cross-country state meet and it shows just how special a runner Havel has been.
"I have had a great career in high school," he said after winning the 3,200 at the state meet last weekend. "I have accomplished a lot and I am really happy."
Fittingly enough, the packed grandstand at O'Brien Stadium saluted Havel with a standing ovation as he closed out his first state title. Equally fitting was the smile on Havel's face as he ran the final 50 meters.
The future: Graduation losses will always hit the area hard and this year is no exception as the MSL loses several big stars.
Mat Smoody of Palatine and Kevin Havel of Hersey are the biggest names to depart, but with the likes of Ty Kirk of Rolling Meadows, Tim Williams of Palatine and Joey Baterdene of Hoffman Estates, the MSL looks to take a big hit. But don't fret for the future of the league.
Smoody and Havel have already signed for track at Wisconsin and Stanford respectively. Kirk will play football at New Mexico and will run track in the spring. Matt Kennedy of Prospect will play football at Miami of Ohio and hasn't decided if he will participate in track.
The league's top returnees include state meet medalists, Ryan Mangone of Barrington, Matt Newman of Buffalo Grove, Matt Babicz of Prospect, Mick Viken of Rolling Meadows and Jeff Thode and Kyle Reid of Conant.
Prospect and Palatine both return half of their 3,200 and 1,600 relays, respectively. Chris Hayek and Albert Ciolek of Prospect and Matt Wiggan and Chris Norman of Palatine will return.
The team race in the MSL should be a great battle again with Barrington, Prospect and Conant looking to be the early favorites.
Record setters: Lakes will send off its first graduating class this week, and with it comes the end of the track careers of Jon DeGrave and Andrew Stein.
As two of the leaders of the Eagles track program, Stein and DeGrave leave the school as a part of at least seven school marks. They also helped the Eagles earn back-to-back North Suburban Conference Prairie Division titles.
Joining DeGrave and Stein as the groundbreakers for the Eagles program were Kyle Gallagher, Ethan Hahn, Josh Beckman, Alex Hawkins and Eddie Xiao.
Even with this group leaving, the future is bright for Lakes. The Eagles' freshman and sophomore track team won their conference meets this spring.