Eight minutes 51.87 seconds. Tom Graves, Sandburg, 1977.
The Class AA meet record for the 3,200-meter run is one of the oldest in the books.Only three times since Graves’ run has the champion broken 9 minutes in the 3,200, which was the 2-mile before Illinois track went metric in 1980. A time as slow as 9:23.09 has won the gold medal at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium.
After 21 years, the record is in jeopardy. Naperville North senior Mark Pilja ran 9:00.3 in winning last year despite stumbling over the curb on his final lap. Wheeling junior Jorge Torres, the two-time Class AA cross-country champion, and York sophomore Donald Sage finished second and sixth, respectively, in 9:09.49 and 9:15.21. Those three runners could push the winning time into meet-record range.
“If I’m healthy, I want it to be a fast race,” says Pilja, who concedes the state’s all-time best of 8:38.7 set in 1973 by Olympian Craig Virgin of Lebanon is out of reach. “No matter who is in the race, I won’t let the pace be slow. I’d rather lose than run a bad time.”
The race is relatively new to Illinois track and field, which is in its 104th year. It was first run in 1967 and was won by Rich Elliott of Proviso West in 9:32.8. The next spring, Elliott, who later coached Deerfield to 11 state distance medals, became the first to break 9 minutes with 8:54.6.
There are 15 times under 9minutes on the state’s all-time list and none of them has been run in the 90s. Pilja’s winning time last spring ties for 17th on the all-time list. It was the fastest since Jim Westphal of Oak Park ran 8:56.1 in winning the Class AA title in 1987. Distance running in Illinois hasn’t come very far since Elliott won his second title. Time has become secondary to winning titles.
“There are a lot of reasons,” says York’s Joe Newton, who has coached distance runners for 44 years. “A lot has to do with the weather. The last 10 years haven’t been very good. In the old days, you didn’t have a qualifying heat for the mile on Friday. Now, if you run the 1,600 and 3,200, that’s three tough races in 24 hours. Then you add in bad weather all spring.
“Most of the guys don’t train as hard as the old guys. I’ve seen it change. Kids today don’t compare with kids 20 years ago. It’s a sign of the times. The old hard-work ethic is gone for most kids. It isn’t the same.”
That isn’t the case with Pilja, Torres and Sage. They live to run. They could push each other to great things. Unfortunately, they are likely to meet in just one race this season–the state final. Until then, they will be combing the results each Sunday morning to follow the others’ progress.
“It should be exciting,” Torres says. “We all want to beat each other. I wish we could match up during the season. It would make it better. It all depends on if we want to go for the record, not just a state title. We can get 8:49. I think (8:38.7) is a little too much this year. I hope to get it my senior year.”
Pilja established himself in last year’s state meet. He ran away from the field in the 3,200 and then came back to win the 1,600 in 4:14.92, almost 3 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Fenton’s Arturo Cabral, who was third and Torres, who was sixth, return in the 1,600.
While Torres has been unbeatable in cross country, Pilja has had more success in track. He battled injuries in cross country last fall and finished fourth behind Torres, Sage and Deerfield senior Adam Wallace. He missed two months of training with a strained hip muscle but is back strong for his favorite season.
“I enjoy track more,” says Pilja, who will attend Michigan next fall. “I’m more into speed. I like the shorter races. I actually like the 1,600 more than the 3,200 even though the 3,200 is a better race for me.”
While 9 minutes seems to be a barrier to most runners, Pilja doesn’t look at it as a magical time. He just wants to run as fast as he can.
His goal last spring was to break 9 minutes. In the state meet, however, his body was willing but his mind and the curb got in the way.
“It’s just a time and, hopefully, I’ve moved past that,” says Pilja, who has run 9:17.2 indoors this season. “I felt last year, at the state meet, I would have broken 9 minutes, but I tripped on the rail and lost a couple of seconds. I was very fatigued because I had never gone that fast. I was very tired and lost my concentration. I looked at the tape and it looked the same way it felt to me in the race. At least I made it a little exciting.”
The 3,200 could give the 104th state meet a great start. A Pilja-Torres-Sage battle, with perhaps Wallace and Morton’s Juan Ortega also contending, could start off. Lake Park’s Anthony Moorman, who set the meet record in the 200 meters with a 20.89 last year, will threaten more marks every time he steps on the track. Quiande Moore of Zion-Benton could set records in the horizontal and vertical jumps. Defending 800-meter champion Jason Van Swol of Lincoln-Way will see how close he can get to the mark of 1:48.9 set by Peoria High School’s Dave Ayoub.
The 8-lap race should at least keep fans in their seats. With such a strong field, it’s unlikely everyone will be running a tactical race.
“Pilja is not going to let that happen,” says Newton, who adds that Sage was the best freshman he’s ever coached. “If the weather is OK, it should be a great season. They’ll push each other. I’m sure they are going to be following each other’s times. They could break the record. It will be like old times.”
