Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:14 PM CDT
Class A contenders nip at Herrin's heels
By RICK DAWSON, Staff Writer
rdawson@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- If any Illinois Class A track team is to dislodge defending state champion Herrin, it won’t be because Eric Thompson is standing in the way.
The Tigers may not have anyone ready to claim four state titles like Thompson did in 2007, when he won the high jump, long jump, triple jump and anchored the 4x100 relay, but they do have two other things that can be invaluable this time of year: depth and experience.
Tommie Taylor, Kent Sherrill and a deep cast of sprint relay members could ensure they don’t stray too far from the top of the leaderboard this weekend.
“Eric was definitely our engine last year and I think everybody knew it,” Herrin coach Chad Lakatos said. “We kind of rode him. But we had some other things mixed in. Some of those things are the kids that are making noise this year.
“They have that experience, that maturity, being seniors.”
Herrin probably won’t go down without a fight, but there are plenty of schools willing to tussle with them. Perhaps the two that stand out the most are Carlinville and Tuscola — the former because it is capable of taking first and second in both hurdles events, the latter because of EIU recruit Tyler Carter, whose versatility may be the closest to resembling Thompson’s.
Here’s a look at several of the top Class A contenders at Eastern Illinois’ O’Brien Stadium, in no particular order:
Carter a jack of all trades
Carter is capable of racking up more individual points than anyone else in the field. The long jump, triple jump and 110-meter high hurdles are his specialties and he also qualified in the 300 hurdles, but don’t be surprised if he skips them for the 4x200.
When he joined teammates Travis Surma, Matt Bailey and Ben Edwards – all senior wide receivers and defensive backs on Tuscola’s Class 1A state football power — for that relay earlier this spring, they ran a time of 1:30.48.
“We looked at it on paper and we were sixth in the 4x200 and Tyler was seventh in the (300) hurdles,” coach Steve Spears said. “That adds up to eight points. We feel we can make up those points in the 4x2(00). He’d rather run that, really. Herrin’s got the No. 1 time coming in but we’re hopeful we can challenge them.”
Surma, capable of going under 15 seconds in the high hurdles, suffered a high ankle sprain during basketball season and never competed in the event. He returned to finish third in the sectional in the 300 hurdles. Bailey has been running with a torn meniscus in his right knee that is to be repaired in the offseason.
“It’s not going to get any worse so he just runs,” Spears said. “He still had a heck of a year.”
Hurdlers lead Carlinville
Carlinville’s lone state title came in 1996. Coach Larry Huffman has two key ingredients – senior hurdlers Chris Walker and Greg Davis – needed to make a run at another.
In the 110 highs both have been under 15 seconds and in the 300 intermediates both have broken the 40-second barrier.
“The last couple of years they’ve been finishing 1-2 at a lot of meets,” Huffman said. “But this year Chris Walker has been the guy winning the 110 hurdles and Greg has been the guy winning the 300 hurdles. Last year it was the opposite. Chris worked a lot with keeping his speed between hurdles and Greg in the past had only done the 300s a couple of times. As fast as his 400 time was I took him out of the 4x2(00) and he got to do it a lot more. He found out it’s his best event.”
Add their participation, with Josh Rives and Josh Ruyle, in the 4x400, the presence of Mark Woods in both throwing events and Ruyle in the 800 and the Cavaliers are capable of doing a lot of damage.
The 4x100 and 4x200 relays are stronger than they appear on paper and just before the sectionals, the 4x400 relay ran a time of 3:22.
Strong Southern Illinois
conference shines
Want to find the state’s strongest Class A conference? Look no further than the Southern Illinois River to River, a league with two divisions.
Herrin, the king of the Ohio Division along with Murphysboro, West Frankfort, Benton and traditional power Harrisburg, won its fifth straight sectional title. In the Mississippi Division, DuQuoin returns defending pole vault champion Cody Doerflein and long jumper Tony Bradley, while Sparta and Nashville have captured or shared state team titles within the past decade.
Three field events could help West Frankfort gather enough points to be in the hunt for a top-five finish: the high jump with Isiah Simelton and the shot put and discus with Matt Eader. Eader, who took third in the shot put each of the past two years, signed with the University of Illinois.
The Redbirds won their first sectional title in school history at Harrisburg last week.
“A lot of the schools that do well are pretty much in our conference,” head coach and athletics director Richard Glodich said. “We have one conference meet where both divisions run together. Nashville’s very good; Benton’s got a good 4x1(00) and 4x2(00) team. There are a lot of underlying currents there. You want to do well. You’re also pulling for your conference to do well.”
West Frankfort brings no relays to state so it doesn’t have the luxury of shuffling its six individuals, spread through eight events, to collect more points.
“They’re all pretty competitive kids,” Glodich said. “If we can eke out a couple of top-nine finishes, add to our point total, maybe we can bring home a trophy.”
Lakatos taking nothing for granted
Lakatos is in his last season coaching Herrin. He took a job in the Edwardsville school district that begins in the fall.
His 4x100 and 4x200 relays, consisting of seniors Jon Wharton, Taylor, Sherrill and Nick Thompson, are as good as any. Sherrill could be an elite performer in the long jump, Ethan Grounds a darkhorse in the pole vault and Zach Riley a threat in the high jump if he makes it to Saturday.
Taylor, a high finisher in the triple jump at state last year, didn’t compete in the event at sectional. He is one of the favorites in the 100-meter dash.
“I did that because I thought the (triple jump) field was pretty strong and that he could get more points out of the 200 possibly,” Lakatos said. “I know with our relays we’re sitting pretty good. But you’ve got to get those teams to Saturday before you start counting points.”
Lakatos warns the field not to forget about Murphysboro.
“They’re kind of hidden but they can score some points with their sprinters and relays,” he said. “Their 100 guy (Damarcus Moore) beat Taylor twice.”
Macomb assistant coach fills in
Macomb coach Emily Platt has a good reason not to be directing the eight qualifiers from her team this weekend: she’s on maternity leave. Assistant Randy Ames, a former head coach of the Bombers, has taken over in her absence.
“We talk on e-mail all the time,” Ames said.
They have a gem in Ben Pratt, an Illinois State signee. His brother Bryan took second in the high hurdles at state before continuing his career at Illinois and brother David is a defensive back for Northern Illinois’ football team.
Pratt finished second in the triple jump as a junior.
“If he has a good day in long jump you never know,” Ames said. “He’s been in the high 22s. He ran a 14.65 (hurdles time) this week at the honor roll meet in the highs. I think he can make the finals in all three events.”
David Glenn is also back in the 400 after placing seventh as a junior.
Several teams have potential to rack up points
Among other teams, on paper, that could rack up enough team points to do well are Winnebago, Monticello, Braidwood Reed-Custer, Rushville-Industry and Stanford Olympia.
Move to 3-class system will have a big impact
The impact of the IHSA’s move to three classes next year could be felt all the way down.
In a two-class system, the enrollment cutoff this year was 724. In three classes it was 604. For three classes in 2009, however, it is to revert to 754, potentially squeezing the tiniest schools.
“Our enrollment’s about 542,” Glodich said. “We would have been a small school either way. But it really didn’t do the small schools a favor.”
Contact Rick Dawson at rdawson@jg-tc.com or 238-6855.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
