It’s hard not to feel a little bit sorry for Matt Scherer of Bridgeport Red Hill and the Harrisburg track team.
They were unfortunate enough to compete in the Class A boys state track and field meet the same year as Ryan Shields and his Leo teammates.
Shields swept the Class A sprints for an unprecedented third straight time and led Leo to the state title with a whopping 85 points, the most ever scored in the 108 years of boys state meets.
He swept with style: Shields broke the 25-year-old Class A 400-meter record with a run of 46.76 seconds. He won the 200 in 21.41, just a tick slower than the listed Class A mark of 21.4 that was timed manually. He started the day winning the 100 in 10.77.
“All I did was run my races as usual,” said Shields, who is deciding among Iowa, Texas-El Paso and Eastern Illinois for his next level of competition. “I had a little challenge today.”
Scherer went home with two silver medals, a bronze, a fifth-place medal and the third-place team trophy. Harrisburg scored 46 points, six fewer than it did in winning the Class A title a year ago, but finished 39 points behind Leo.
“For us to lose to Leo is almost a privilege,” said Harrisburg coach Tony Holler, whose team was led by double hurdles winner John Perkins. “A guy like Ryan Shields has some respect for the Harrisburg Bulldogs. It’s nice to go up and shake his hand. We had a state championship team. I had a team as good as my team last year.”
Leo’s 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams also took first. Lonnie Newman placed third in the discus and seventh in the shot put.
Marcel Morgan, who anchored the relay winners, was second in the long jump and third in the 200, while triple jumpers Christopher Easley and Stephen Benjamin were seven and ninth. Mario Bullock was fifth in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
The Lions performed so well, they still would have won the meet without Shields’ points.
“With this group coaching has been fun and very enjoyable,” Leo coach Ed Adams said. “We went undefeated in the outdoor season running a Class AA schedule. If you would have told me that at the being of the season, I would have said no. To go undefeated is a tribute to these guys.”
Shields, whose 200 and 400 times were faster than the Class AA winners, was on the track only three times on a warm, windy Saturday. The Lions’ 4×400 relay team that he anchored was disqualified Friday. Shields concentrated on winning his races and didn’t worry about records. The team competition was foremost.
“[After] two years of not winning, coming in here you have the drive and intensity to win,” Shields said. “This is the last year for me and the last year for me to win the team title.”
Shields and Scherer ran next to each other in each race. In the 100 Shields pulled away over the last 40 meters and won easily. Scherer was third with Byron’s Dan Stanley second, both in 11:12.
In the 400, Scherer led early but Shields caught him off the final turn and won by 5 meters. Scherer’s time of 47.76 was faster than Class AA winner Dion Ballentine of Thornwood.
The 200 was no contest as Shields made up the stagger on Scherer before the turn.
“I really wanted to win the 400,” said Oregon-bound Scherer, who finished with 10 state medals in track. ” I knew he was the best Class A runner ever.
“I didn’t come in to get second, but he’s the best.”
