Elgin's Smith determined to have productive state meet

Elgin High senior Jordan Smith will be a busy young man this weekend in Charleston.

Smith will compete in three individual events at the Class 3A boys state track and field meet at Eastern Illinois University. Busy schedule and all, Smith is looking forward to the challenge.

"It's amazing," he said. "I can't even begin to describe the feeling. I was just trying to make it Downstate and coach said if you are going to do it, go all the way with it. My determination to fulfill that made it happen. I have great coaches."

Smith said his best event probably is the long jump where he is seeded 11th heading into preliminaries. "It's my technique and the way I come off the board and how I jump," he explained. "I get good steps and make sure I pop up instead of out. The coaches have been working with me to get better technique in the hurdles and with my jumps. I probably wouldn't be going to state without them."

Smith also qualified in both hurdles races. "Last year I was jumping over the hurdles really high and not low and that was taking a lot of time. Now I'm staying low and going straight through them. I've been working a lot on technique and flexibility."

Smith is far from the lone Elgin Area School District U-46 athlete that will compete in Charleston.

Streamwood's Jelyn Hill will compete in the high jump and is seeded third in that event. South Elgin's Shawn Griffin is the No. 13 seed in the 100. The Storm also qualified its 800 relay team of Griffin, Jaurice Thomas, Dominique Woods and Marshawn Lewis.

Bartlett qualified individuals Bryce Petty (200) and Dan Danek (discus), as well as its 400 and 800 relay teams. The 400 team features Nolan Bernat, AJSantori, Harris Ross and Petty, while the 800 has Bernat, Santori, Justin Sowinski and Petty.

Deaek is making his second state appearance in a row in the discus. "I went down last year and didn't perform as well as I would have liked," he said. "I've been building off what I was able to do last year. I've ben working on technique and I have gotten a lot faster coming through the ring."

Danek added he has his eye on beating his personal record of 165-1 as well as the Bartlett record of 169-9. "If I could throw 170 and beat that record, it would be ideal," he said.

Also well-represented will be the local teams from the Fox Valley Conference. Cary-Grove and Huntley, in particular, could score serious team points based on seeds going into the prelims.

Cary-Grove throwing stalwart Ricky Hurley is the No. 2 seed in both the shot put (58-10) and discus (178-7), while hurdler Michael Saxon is the No. 2 seed in the 300s and the No. 10 seed in the 110s. Cary-Grove's 1,600 relay team of Robbie Gleeson, Jeff Yokup, Saxon and Ryan Magel is seeded 11th.

Sectional champion Huntley has seven individuals in nine events, plus it qualified its 400 relay team of Donnie Young, Tim McCloyn, Aasem Awwad and Connor Boos (seeded fifth).

Distance standout Keegan Smith is the No. 2 seed in the 1,600 behind McHenry great Jessie Reiser (also the top seed in the 3,200). Thrower Isaac Jimenez is the No. 11 seed in the shot and also qualified in the discus.

Senior Brennan Bell is one of three double-event individual qualifiers for the Red Raiders along with Jimenez and Boos (100 and 200). Bell will compete in both hurdles events.

Bell said he was excelling in the 300 intermediates early in the season but a fall during practice resulted in a concussion that kept him out of action for two weeks and changed the trajectory of his progress.

"I hit a hurdle and bit it pretty hard," he said. "I was out for a few weeks and I lost my endurance in the 300s."

Bell, who competed in the 300s and 400 relay last year at state, said he's reduced his steps in the 110 hurdles to positive results. "I've been working on my start," he said. "I used to take an 8-step approach but I was getting too close to the hurdle. I changed it to a 7 and now I'm getting more powerful and can get to the next hurdle."

Other Huntley individual qualifiers include Mitch Deem and Lucas Auchstetter in the pole vault and Seth Conroy in the 3,200.

Jacobs will have its 3,200, 800 and 1,600 relay teams in play at state. Golden Eagle individual qualifiers include Patrick Shannon (long jump), Matt Goldby (800) and Josh Walker (200). Goldby is the No. 10 seed in the 800, while the 800 relay team is seeded 10th and the 1,600 squad is seeded 12th.

Crystal Lake South thrower Kyle Hedge will join Jimenez and Hurley as a double area qualifier in the disc and shot. Hedge is seeded third in the discus right behind Hurley and is the No. 13 seed in the shot. Freshman Jack Becker will run the 3,200 for the Gators. Dundee-Crown's Kiwi Seals made it in the triple jump and is seeded sixth in that event.