The record caught Leo coach Ed Adams by surprise.
His 4×100-meter relay team set a Class A state-meet record Friday in a preliminary heat at Eastern Illinois’ O’Brien Stadium, but here’s the stunning part: the Lions did it without Ryan Shields, the two-time defending champion in the 100, 200 and 400 meters. “When you think of a record, you think of a record with Ryan Shields,” Adams said.
Not this time. The team of Jason Hall, Whitney Holley, Jimmy Williams and Marcel Morgan finished in 42.33 seconds to break the previous mark of 42.50 set by Harrisburg a year ago and the time of 42.5 set by Luther South in 1991. The latter came under hand timing that is obsolete at state meets.
“We weren’t worried about a record, but it makes this a little better,” Morgan said.
Leo will depend heavily on all its 13 finalists Saturday. The Lions, third in Class A last season, will need to compensate for the disqualification of their 4×400 relay, which easily won its heat but was disqualified because a sprinter ran outside his lane.
“That really hurts,” said Adams, whose team will be challenged by defending Class A champion Harrisburg and its 11 event finalists.
Leo had a setback early in the meet when Jimmy Williams was disqualified from the 100 for a false start. The Lions are still favored to win the team championship behind Shields, who easily qualified for the finals in his three sprint races. He won his preliminary heat of the 100 in 10.86, the 200 in 21.57 and the 400 in 48.75. Bridgeport Red Hill’s Matthew Scherer should challenge Shields in every race. Scherer edged Shields for the top qualifying in the 400 at 48.33.
Morgan and Lonnie Newman also could score valuable points for Leo. In addition to the 4×100 and the 4×200 relays, Morgan advanced to the finals in the long jump and the 200. Newman is a finalist in the shot put and the discus.
Injured: Illiana Christian’s Paul Jellema, the 2001 Class A state champion in the 3,200, will be notably absent from that race Saturday. The two-time state cross-country champ stopped racing a month ago because of a stress fracture in his left thigh. Jellema plans to run cross country and track at Illinois.
Surprise! Wheaton North senior A.J. Harris was full of surprises in the Class AA preliminaries. Despite a bad start, Harris barely missed a state record in the 110 high hurdles. His time of 13.91 seconds fell one-hundredth of a second shy of the record set by Hoffman Estates’ Pierre Leinbach in 1997.
“I thought I ran a horrible race,” said Harris, who later sprinted the day’s top time in the 200 at 21.71. He also helped Wheaton North advance to the finals in the 4×100 and 4×200, and has Wheaton North in contention for a top-three finish.
Last winter Harris signed a letter of intent to play football at Northern Illinois, but he has mixed feelings about giving up track. Although NIU doesn’t have a track team, Harris remains eager to stick with the sport at the club level. The news may surprise NIU football coach Joe Novak.
“I don’t think he knows yet,” Harris said. “As long as I don’t miss practice, he won’t care.”
SICA pride: Junior Tyreese Andrews of Bloom will have a familiar face at his side in the 100 final. Andrews ran the top preliminary time of 10.86, followed by SICA East rival Dion Ballentine of Thornwood at 10.90. Andrews trains with Thornwood runners in the off-season.
“It’s more like a friendship,” he said. “It’s like going against a big brother.”
Other SICA representatives in the 100 final include Hillcrest’s Marquice Cole at 10.91, Joliet’s Dante Morrow at 11.00 and Hillcrest’s Frankie Oliver at 11.05.
Andrews’ 400 time of 48.33 in the preliminary heats was second behind Ballentine’s 47.89. Hillcrest’s Oliver ran 48.72. Ballentine and Oliver are the only Class AA sprinters to qualify for the finals in the 100, 200 and 400.
“Nobody really knew anything about me,” Oliver said. “Now it’s my chance to show what I can do.”
Clearing a hurdle: Zion Benton hurdler Jason George qualified in both the 110 high hurdles and the 300 intermediates. George, who qualified sixth in the highs and fourth in the intermediates, responded well to the competition.
“I don’t get to compete against these guys during the year,” George said. “All I can do is read about them and, hopefully, I can at least show up against them.”
If it walks like a duck: Mt. Carmel hurdler Eric Mitchum will be attending Oregon on a track scholarship. It may seem odd that a West Coast track power such as Oregon would come to Chicago for an athlete but Mitchum, a state high jump qualifier, has great potential.
Mitchum, who qualified first in the 300 hurdles with 37.44 and third in the 110 highs at 14.26, filled out a questionnaire from the Ducks and they successfully recruited him.
“[Eugene] felt like home to me,” said Mitchum, who will be joined at Oregon by Red Hill sprinter Matt Schrerer.
