Double gold for Burlington Central's Ege
CHARLESTON - As they sat in the dugout area under the bleachers at O'Brien Field Saturday, members of the Burlington Central 1,600-meter relay team gathered their thoughts.
The Rockets' quintet had just finished a remarkable comeback to finish second in the Class 2A 1,600-meter relay in the pouring rain during the finals of the state track and field championships at Eastern Illinois University. While they were trying to catch their collective breath, they were also trying to add up the team points and see if they had indeed won the second place team trophy they coveted.
Thanks to the heroics of Stanford-bound senior Lucas Ege, the Rockets totaled 37 points to finish in a three-way tie for second place in Class 2A. The Rockets tied with Champaign Centennial and Galesburg far behind the record-setting performance of Cahokia. The Commanches scored a record 119 points to earn their fifth straight championship.
"Third, we weren't even thinking about that," said BC junior Nick Harvey. "We wanted second and we weren't going to take anything less."
Ege was a big part of the Rockets' success as he became the first hurdler since 1989 to win the 110 and 300 hurdles in the same state meet.
"Wow, I didn't know that," Ege said with his trademark smile. "I wanted to go faster in my 300 race than I did, but I was happy I won it and happy I got the record."
The future Cardinal was the best of the field in the 300 hurdles, holding off a late charge from Freeport freshman Deion McShane to win in a 2A record effort of 37.10, breaking his own record from last year.
The big one for Ege was the 110 high hurdles. He and rival Korrion Session of Cahokia battled to the very end in the final with Ege edging out Session at the line in a school record time of 14.15. Though it may not have been the best from Session, it was every bit the best from Ege.
"Right when I got to the line I mentally got ready and I said to myself that I got this," Ege said. "It felt great to beat him - it's awesome to get the 110s."
Of course the Rockets' 1,600 relay team was pretty impressive as well. In their second place finish, Ege and Harvey were joined by Drew Kries and Kyle Neubauer and ran 3:20.19.
The Rockets also earned points out of sophomore Jared Trupp, who finished third in the pole vault (14-0) and Dionte Smith and his ninth-place finish in the triple jump (45-1.5).
"It was just a great day for our program," said Rockets' coach Mike Schmidt, whose team was third here last year and brought home the school's fourth team trophy, three of them under Schmidt, including a second-place finish in 2001.
"We knew going into the 4 x 4 we had to get second. We were fifth when Lucas got the baton and he just had an incredible effort taking it home."
Cary-Grove senior Ricky Hurley followed in the very large footsteps of Trojan alum and future SIU teammate Josh Freeman by taking the Class 3A state title in the shot put. His toss of 59-4.75 from Fridays prelim session held up to earn him his first state title.
"I don't think it has hit me as of yet, but this was definitely one of my goals to be a state champion," Hurley said.
Hurley finished his high school career with a fourth-place finish in the discus (180-0).
Cary-Grove also earned medals on the track from Boston College-bound senior Michael Saxon in the 300 hurdles. His time of 38.66 was good enough for a seventh-place finish. Saxon also ran on the Trojans 1,600-meter relay team of Robbie Gleeson, Jeffrey Yokup, and Ryan Magel finishing ninth in 3:23.27.
Jacobs senior Josh Walker was still smiling knowing that cheeseburger he was promised at Steak N' Shake still was waiting for him. But before he feasted on the burger, he feasted on the field in the 3A 200-meter final.
His fourth-place effort of 21.59 was a personal best and his first medal at state.
Huntley was plenty busy as well as Red Raiders' senior Connor Boos picked up three medals on Saturday. Boos finished seventh in the 100 (10.86), and sixth in the 200 (21.92).
He started his day on the 400 relay with teammates Tim McCloyn, Donnie Young, and Aasem, Awwad. The foursome earned their first relay medal with a third-place finish in 42.10.
Junior Keagan Smith also earned a medal for Huntley placing eighth in the 1,600 in 4:16.94.
Crystal Lake South senior Kyle Hedge earned two medals in his final state meet. Hedge moved up to fifth in the discus event with a best effort of 175-3. Earlier, he improved his stock in the shot put with a best put of 56-6 to finish seventh.
Bartlett earned an eighth-place medal in the 400 relay with the team of Bryce Petty, AJ Santori, Harris Ross, and Nolan Bernat running 43.13.
Streamwood senior Jelyn Hill finished sixth in the high jump clearing 6-4.