Boys track and field: Fremd's Stewart has a PR day at state finals

CHARLESTON - One of the casualties at the 2021 Illinois High School Association boys state track and field finals due to COVID mediation was the lack of preliminaries qualifying athletes to a final heat.

That didn't bother Fremd's Will Stewart.

Running in the first of three heats in the Class 3A 100-meter dash Saturday at Eastern Illinois University's O'Brien Stadium - in theory the "slowest" of the three - the Fremd junior blasted off a 10.75-second time. When the dust settled Stewart ranked an all-state seventh-place. He had blown away his previous personal record, set at sectional, of 11.05.

"That feels really good," he said of the time and the all-state notice. "It's a good, good day."

Stevenson junior Jimmy Davis, later seen helping his grandfather navigate the stadium grounds, also didn't care which heat the Patriots ran in.

"We all go out and try to win our heat and try to control what we can. That's what we did today," said Davis, who anchored Stevenson's 400- and 800 relays for Zach Goldman, David Smolensky and Marcus Casselberry.

"We wish we had prelims, but at the end of the day we get to run, so that's all we can ask for," he said.

Libertyville's Ethan Richter placed fourth in discus, and Palatine's Dominick Ball finished eighth in long jump.

Rolling Meadows junior Michael Campbell also made all-state in the 110 hurdles with a ninth-place finish, and Glenbrook South's Graham Paterson cruised to 8th in the 400. The 3,200-meter relay was a popular one in suburban Cook County. Barrington, Libertyville, Hersey and Prospect all finished between eighth and 12th in the relay.

Prospect was the rare squad that had qualified all four of its relays; the Knights finished ninth in the 400 version and sixth in the 800 relay. When Tommy Park, Sean Beihoffer, Matthew Raitano and Reece Greenwald left the field after the latter race they were ambushed by coaches and teammates outside the exit, yelling, "Let's go!"

Stealing from Fremd's Stewart, it was a good, good day for Glenbrook South.

The Titans finished fifth 3A with 28 points, just 8 off the pace of Class 3A champion Neuqua Valley.

South Alabama-bound senior thrower Ryan Faut led the way. He won discus at 54.54 meters, about 178 feet, 11 inches, breaking the prior Titans record of Max Leonard, 178-7 from a fifth-place Class 3A finish in 2012.

Faut also placed sixth in shot put at 16.56 meters.

"Ryan is the greatest thrower that ever went to Glenbrook South," said Titans throws coach Shawn Schleizer. "All-state in the shot put, all-state in the discus, school record-holder in the discus and second all-time in the shot."

Faut uncorked his winning mark on the third of four throws then had to watch while his competitors attacked.

"It's nervousness, but I've just got to sit back, be patient. I can't force anybody to throw worse than me," Faut said.

Also scoring for the Titans were Nathan Shapiro, fourth in the 300 hurdles and seventh in long jump, and Brian Hiltebrand, who surged from sixth to second in his heat of the 800 to place fifth overall with a new PR of 1 minute, 55.99 seconds.

"I was like, I'll give it a shot," Hiltebrand said.