Prelims, prom all in a day for Timothy's Stein
CHARLESTON - He came, he saw, and now he can dance.
Timothy Christian senior Rob Stein, the 2009 Class 1A runner-up in shot put, is seeded third after Thursday's Class 1A 2010 boys track and field state preliminaries at Eastern Illinois University.
Capping his three-attempt preliminary series with an effort of 56 feet, 03/4-inch, Stein and Trojans coach John Vander Kamp then piled into a minibus headed back to Elmhurst for the school's prom.
Stein couldn't have a better date - steady gal Krysta Lodewyk, who competed in the pole vault and the 400-meter relay at last week's girls state meet.
Upon his return to Saturday's finals, Stein will find himself behind top-seeded Brandon Noe of St. Thomas More (56-8) and Jason Baker of Reed-Custer (56-21/2). Stein's attempt Thursday topped his best throw in the 2009 prelims, 55-13/4. At last week's Lisle sectional Stein threw 58-31/4.
"It could be a lot worse," said Stein, whose first two throws traveled 48 and 54 feet. "I'm still looking for a big throw, and I'm still thinking I'm going to get one."
In a more costly prior engagement for a Timothy Christian state qualifier, senior Tyler Jones had to skip the discus preliminaries due to four final exams scheduled Thursday.
Lisle junior Anthony Ventrella and Lions senior Greg Danner made the trip to compete at EIU's O'Brien Stadium, but neither reached the finals in their events.
In long jump Ventrella finished seventh in his flight at 19 feet, 91/4 inches, behind the cutoff of 20-93/4.
Danner, seeded nearly directly in the middle of the 800 field coming out of sectionals, ran 2 minutes, 3.56 seconds, leaving him out of the 13-man finals heat.
Mooseheart freshman Oumaru Abdulahi, however, will be high jumping in Saturday's finals, making the 6-3 cutoff.
Aurora Christian freshman Jake Gehman and sophomores Nate Jensen and Bill Howarth aimed to send senior Sean Culp out on a high note in the 1,600-meter relay. The four Eagles flew to a time of 3:31.32, insufficient to advance.
Nonetheless, after the last experience of Culp's high school career, he said, "It looked awesome.
"We were running hard," he said. "I could see that we were really trying to get it. I mean, for having two sophomores and a freshman on the team, I'm satisfied with what we ran."
Gehman enjoyed his first time on the blue track in Charleston.
"I just felt good. Like, knowing I was going to be running downstate my first year in track. It was an honor to run with these guys and be able to run for God at state."
Herrin will take eight events into Saturday's finals, followed by Winnebago with seven.