Friday, May 29, 2009 11:11 PM CDT
Dixon's Ferrigan runs top 1,600 time
By MIKE MONAHAN, Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6855
CHARLESTON -- With temperatures in the upper 60s, many Class 2A state participants set personal records in Friday’s Illinois High School Association boys’ state track preliminaries at Eastern Illinois Universities O’Brien Stadium.
One such person was Kasey Ferrigan, a Dixon senior. Ferrigan, who ran a four minute, 25.5 second 1,600-meter run in the sectional and was ranked fourth going into his first state meet, came out as the top competitor after running a blistering 4:20.19, 2.03 seconds ahead of second place Greg Whittle of Galesburg, who entered with the top sectional time of 4:21.55 and ran a 4:22.16.
“The competition is why I was able to run faster,” said Ferrigan. “There are so many good people out there. It would be harder to run slow than to run fat with these guys. It was real quick. It was a position race and my goal was to be in the top three and whatever happens after that happens. I tried to stay in the mix and see what I had left in the last lap. I really thought I went out slow in the first half. Then you could just tell when everybody starting kicking it in because they just got moving and it was really crazy. Everybody was booking it.”
Ferrigan, who was second in the Class 2A state cross country meet (three miles in 15:02) as he helped the Dukes win its first state title, is 12 finalists set to run at 3:35 p.m. today. Ferrigan was 16th in the state cross country meet as a junior and this was his first time participating in the state track meet.
“It (the time) is nice coming into Saturday,” said Ferrigan. “I think it will take about a 4:20 to win it and I just ran that so it is a real confidence booster. It is amazing (running at state). The best guys are out there and you can’t float. It brings out the best in you. It is really cool to see what you can run when you are up against the best. It is a good time and really exciting.”
As for the team competition Hillcrest of Country Club Hills enters today’s competition with 11 individuals, including two each in the 110 high hurdles 100 dash, 400 dash and 300 hurdles and three relays. The Hawks, whose highest finish as a team was sixth in the 2002 meet, are in 10 of the 18 events.
Cahokia-Fort Bowman Charter co-op, a school that has placed in the top four the past four years, including winning the state titles in 2006 and 2007, have eight individuals and four relays set to compete today as they are in 11 events.
Harlan’s 4x200 relay team also set a P.R. and enters today’s meet with the top time of 1:29.01, which was 1:46 seconds better than its sectional time. The team consisted of Darien Williams, Stephen Peterson, Melvin Johnson and Steven Clark.
“We felt we had a great chance if everybody came to run,” said Clark, one of three seniors on the relay team. “It is our first year here. We had a single person in last year’s event. I was a little nervous, but you know we sucked it up and ran. It looked like I took the baton in second place behind Bremen (who entered with the top time of 1:28.94). I didn’t want them to get too far way off the curve.”
Harlan, who won the state title in 1967, has had just three place finishers since 1981. No matter what happens today the Falcons are to be the first to medal since 2000 when Rodney Smith finished ninth in the long jump. The last 4x200 relay to place was the 1968 team that finished fifth.
“The fact that we were running in the same heat as Bremen motivated us to do better going against the top school,” said Clark.
In the final heat of the day in the Class 2A Galesburg’s 4x400 relay team of Kevin Mitchell, Daniel Doubet, Lucas Junk and Josh Thomas finished first in the heat with a time of 3:22.02, good for No. 2 going into today’s finals set for 4:20 p.m. It was nearly a second faster than its sectional time.
“I felt like we ran an excellent race,” said Thomas, a junior, who also qualified in the 400 (ninth and final spot with a time of 50.57 seconds) and ran the second leg of the 4x800 (enter with the sixth best time of 8:05.08) team that qualified as well. “We ran as hard as we could so we could get a good lane for tomorrow. So, we ran with all our mite. I am glad we had a lot make the finals. I am every exited about our 4x400 team. It is our second year here together (finished 27th last year with a time of in Class 3:27.40). We told them last year we would bring some this year. It really helped having been here last year. Now I am going back to take a nap and rest my legs for tomorrow. I am happy with how we did.”
Hillcrest’s team of Jamison Wilson, Greg Brewer, Maurice Lyke and Sam Russell finished with the top time in the 4x400 with a time of 3:21.09.
“Today is going pretty well,” said Russell, a junior. “Everyone is doing what we expected to be doing. 3:19 is our best 4x400 time, but 3:21 is still pretty good.”
The Big 12 Conference had many make it to the finals, including Bloomington’s Greg Patton in the 400. Patton, a senior, nipped the top ranked, according to sectional times, Pierre Williams of Hillcrest at the finish line with a time of 49.60, a season-best.
“I knew the Hillcrest guy had the No. 1 time in the state,” said Patton. “I knew if I stayed close I would be all right. I felt the 4x800 (ran the first leg of the qualifying 4x800 with the 10th best time of 8:02.24) got me loose. They (the coaches) left it up to me if I wanted to run the 400. Our goal this whole year has been to get a trophy. I have got the endurance. That is what I have been training for. If you want the trophy you have to work for it. That is why I ran the 400. I had more of a rest between the 4x800 and the 400 today and the 4x100 wasn’t bad. (Patton ran the third leg that finished with the second best time of 42.82 (behind Hillcrest’s 42.46 and a half of a second behind its sectional time).
Bloomington was 10th last year and sixth in 2007 in the team competition.
Champaign Centennial’s Davin Dollison, a senior, enters today’s competition in the 300 hurdles with the seventh best time of 39.26, three hundredths of a second faster than his sectional time.
“I knew I had to go out strong,” said Dollison. “It was my last race (part of 4x100 (failed to qualify) and the triple jump (qualified for finals with the 10th best jump of 44-0) so it was go hard or go home and I just went hard. Hopefully, I have more than enough left for the finals.”
Other notable performances
Cahokia sophomore Laderrick Ward went from ranked 21st in the long jump to the having the top jump of the day at 23-1.5. His sectional jump was 21-2.
Hillcrests’s Jamison Wilson has the top triple jump at 46-7.5 moving up from fifth (45-11) after the sectional, while East Peoria’s Chris Thornton has the top discus throw of 165-1 ahead of Curt Jensen of Genesseo, who had the 12th best sectional throw of 148-9. Jensen is second at 164-5 and Hillcrest’s Aaron Carr who had the top sectional throw of 157-2, also threw over 160, hitting 162-11.
Belvidere North’s 4x800 all senior team of Anthony Gedwill, Cody Laseman, John Mariani and Jordan Kremer finished with a time of 7:58.58, the best of the prelims by 2.42 seconds over Sycamore. Belvidere North entered with the 15th best sectional time.
Contact Mike Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854
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