Distance Night in Palatine fails to disappoint including IL #1 1600 by Sean Torpy

By Michael Newman

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Palatine, Ill --- Palatine Coach Chris Quick was walking around after the last event of Saturday evening’s Distance Night in Palatine with a huge smile on his face. The meet that he had created was a huge success with top state performances. More importantly, there were so many personal bests achieved by the athletes competing in this meet. Quick created the meet to give Illinois athletes an alternative to California’s Arcadia Invitational to run fast. Looking through the results, it looks like Quick achieved that putting together some great fields.

“If you get the right people in the right place, the right things will happen,” Quick said. “We want to build this into a Midwestern national meet. We can’t guarantee great weather like Arcadia every year, but I think even in bad weather if you get Illinois runners together you will see some great performances.”

One of the highlights of the meet was just before the start of the main card of elite races in which there was a Special Olympics 800 Meter Run. Kids that normally would not get the chance to compete in a spotlight meet like this traveled the two laps around the track to the standing ovation of fans shouting encouragement. All admission costs to the meet for fans were voluntary and went to Special Olympics. If the athletes weren’t encouraged by the preliminary races in this meet, seeing these special needs kids running with smiles on their faces was enough to pump up the next six races.

1600 Meter Run

The two feature races of the night came at the end and did not disappoint. In a race that had so much star power as the Boys race did, there would be hopes that there would be a race of tactical sit and kick kind of affair. When the gun went off, Jon Davis (Oakwood HS) guaranteed that would not happen. He shot to the lead pushing the pack through a fast 29.7 first 200. When he crossed the first 400 in 60.1 seconds, it was clear that the tactics that were being used was come run fast with me. Connor McCue (West Aurora HS) saw what was happening with the pace and moved up along the side of Jack Aho (Grayslake Central HS). Sean Torpy (Sandburg HS, Orland Park) saw that Davis was not coming back and moved up towards the front.

Torpy saw the seriousness of the situation and started to move on Davis during the next lap. McCue came along with the Sandburg runner. Torpy overtook Davis at 700 meters into the race. Davis jumped in right behind Torpy as the two went through the 800 in 2:03.3. Aho led the next pack going through in 2:06.

The Sandburg was relentless about pushing the pace the next lap as he started to develop a gap between him and Davis. McCue was falling off the pace and in no man’s land with the two in front of him and the pack 10 meters behind.

The final 400 was more of the same by Torpy as he passed through 1200 meters in 3:06.3. Davis was more than a second behind with McCue another second back. Cory Landon (Carlinville HS) caught up to Jack Aho pressuring him for fourth as the two passed in 3:12. Torpy found another gear on the back stretch that the rest of the field did not have. A final 62 second lap gave him the win (4:08.64), the fastest time in the state this year, and the second fastest time nationally. Davis was next in 4:11.66. He wanted to go through the first 800 in 2:00 and see what happened from there. This race along with the race at Arcadia shows that Davis could be doing some special things at the end of May.

Aho ran a final 60 second 400 to finish third (4:12.27) passing McCue (4:12.79) in the final 10 meters. Landon ran a four second personal best (4:16.37) to finish fifth. Charlie Kern (York HS, Elmhurst) came from eleventh in the final 400 to run a sub-60 final lap to finish sixth (4:17.83) just ahead of Hinsdale Central’s Blake Evertsen (4:18.75).

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The Girls 1600 was missing the star power of Pendergast, Zaher, and Gilbert, but the outcome produced some great times. Maddy Kammerer (Oswego HS) and Kelly O’Brien (Palatine HS) looked comfortable with the lead going through the first 400 in 69.3. A pack led by Emma Milburn (Lake Forest HS) and Abby Fioresi (Aurora Central Catholic HS) was more than a second back. The pace slowed the next lap as the pack tightened up behind O’Brien and Kammerer as they passed by in 2:28.5. Meagan Biddle (Hoffman Estates HS) was working her way up towards the front moving into the top eight.

The dynamics of up front changed dramatically in the next lap. O’Brien began to punch out a faster pace stringing the pack out on the back straight. Isabelle Sparreo (Stevenson HS, Lincolnshire) moved out of the pack and started to chase after O’Brien. Biddle passed Sparreo on the far curve and caught O’Brien with 500 meters to go. Biddle had bounce to her step as she started taking the lead as they crossed the line in 3:35 for the final lap.

Biddle had more zip in her legs the final lap. O’Brien stayed close until the final 150 meters when Biddle pulled away from her MSL rival. She crossed the line with a personal best 4:54.29 (IL #3) with O’Brien following three seconds behind (4:57.84, IL #4). The next five runners came within two seconds of each other led by Sparreo in third (5:01.49, IL #9). Madison Romig (Grant HS, Fox Lake) made final charge moving her up to fourth (5:02.49, IL #10). Fioresi was next (5:03.49) followed by the Oswego duo of Kammerer (5:03.90) and freshman Isabelle Christiansen (5:03.99).

3200 Meter Run

The Boys 3200 was perhaps the most exciting of the night as lead changes were happening at every blink of the eye the final 800 meters of the race. The pace was a comfortable 70 second per lap pace as Brett Davidson (Highland Park HS) and Alex Keeble (Mahomet-Seymour HS) led the pack. The action began the next lap. Heath Warren (Springfield HS) looked around at the pack as they navigated the first turn and then took the lead. He threw in a 67 second fifth lap to string the pack out. Davidson stayed close to the Springfield runner as David Gleisner (Sandburg HS, Orland Park) led the pack three seconds behind.

Warren passed 2400 meters in 6:57 running the third part of the race in 2:17. That pace seemed to be wearing on him as the rest of the pack slowly made their way towards him.  With 500 meters to go, Davidson, Hunter Cobbley (El Paso-Gridley HS), and Jeremy Adams (Jones College Prep, Chicago) came up on Warren. Another pack of three runners with Evan Mitchell (Lincoln-Way West HS, New Lenox), Gleisner, and Colin DeYoung (Illiana Christian HS, Lansing) were another second back. Anything that could happen was going to with seven runners vying for the win.

Cobbley made the first move as the field went past in 8:09. The man that made the big move was the defending 2A champion DeYoung. He shot from fifth into first around the curve. DeYoung pushed the pace as Warren passed Cobley chasing after DeYoung. It looked like DeYoung had the race won in the final straight. He did but not without a challenge by Mitchell who flew by four runners and almost had DeYoung at the line. DeYoung ran a personal best (9:13.65) but only by two tenths of a second ahead of Mitchell (9:13.85). Cobbley dropped his personal best down by at least twenty seconds to finish third (9:14.27). Warren missed his school record by two seconds (9:14.48), but his performance shows that he has the strength to be a factor in the shorter races come state series time. Keeble made a furious charge in the final 100 to get fifth (9:16.83) just ahead of Davidson (9:16.83). Gleisner made it seven runners under 9:20 by running 9:18.17 to finish seventh.

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Dakota Roman (Batavia HS) is having a breakout senior season in track dropping personal bests in every race that she is entered. On Thursday at an invitational on her home track, she dropped a 2:16 800 showing that she was ready to go in this race. She stayed back in the pack early on as Caitlin Shepard (Lake Zurich HS) pushed the pace like she normally does. Shepard passed the 1600 meters in 5:18 with Brett Chody (Lake Forest HS), Brooke Wilson (Prospect HS, Mt. Prospect), and Roman five seconds back.

Shepard held the lead until the final 550 meters when Roman took over. The Batavia senior started to pull away on the back stretch of the final lap but Wilson was not going to let up. It was until the final 150 meters before Roman broke free. She ran an over ten second personal best (10:42.38) for the win. Shepard came back to get second (10:49.16) just ahead of Naperville North’s Claire Hamilton (10:50.36) who moved from fifth on the final lap to third. Chody (10:52.30) and Mahomet’s Seymour’s Lauren Whitehouse (10:55.43) were next both achieving personal bests. Wilson struggled the final 100 meters to get in but finished sixth (10:55.85). Yorkville’s Summer Pierson (10:58.19) and Wheaton-Warrenville South’s Allison McGrath (10:58.80) were next also getting under eleven minutes.

800 Meter Run

It was anyone’s race in the Boys 800 Meter Run as all thirteen runners in the final section were within a second of each other at the end of the first lap. John Partee (Plainfield South HS) led them through in 56.1. It seemed in the next 150 meters that the pace seemed to slow down. Torrain Haughton (Maine East HS, Park Ridge) took advantage of the lag of action as he took the lead with 300 meters left. He did not look back as he ran a seasonal best 1:55.50 for the win. Nathan Hill (Hinsdale Central HS) made a late charge in the final 100 meters to place second (1:56.53) ahead of Partee (1:56.74) and Lincoln-Way North’s Demetri Panici (1:57.10).

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Karina Liz (Aurora Central Catholic HS) and Imani Davis (Lane Tech HS, Chicago) led the pack through a 66.2 first 400. It was all Liz after that as she extended her lead in the back stretch. The two time 2A champion ran a season’s best of 2:13.32 (IL #1) for the win. Rachel Hickey (LaSalle Peru HS) might have been a small surprise in this race. She passed Davis with 200 meters to go and ran a personal best 2:14.29 (IL #3). Avryl Johnson (Libertyville HS) looked strong in the final 100 to move up to place third (2:15.33, IL #5).