Friday could have been a disaster for Lake Park’s Dan Block.
Sure, he dominated the preliminaries of the shot put at the Class AA track and field finals with a throw of 63 feet, 3 3/4 inches at Eastern Illinois’ O’Brien Stadium.
That distance was more than 6 feet better than the next qualifier.
But Block faced a much bigger challenge in the discus, an event he won as a sophomore in 2007. He scratched on his first two throws and had only one more chance to qualify for Saturday’s finals.
“I was so nervous. I’ve never been that nervous before,” said Block, who has thrown better than 200 feet this season and was expected to break the state record this weekend. “I was just holding my breath and let it all out. It felt good.”
Block’s toss wasn’t the best of the day, but his distance of 176 feet — second to Waubonsie Valley’s Brett Einbecker (182-1) — was good enough to help him advance.
“It was probably my favorite throw of the year so far,” said the lean 6-foot 4-inch, 220-pounder, who said he took something off his throw to make sure he wouldn’t foul. “I just kind of psyched myself out when it was raining. I got frustrated.”
He had no such problem in the shot put. In that event, like the discus, a preliminary mark carries over into Saturday and it’s unlikely anyone else is going to throw over 60 feet. Block had an outstanding series with tosses of 60-8, 63-1 and 63-3 3/4.
“That’s the best throwing day I’ve had in my life,” he said.
The junior’s adventures turned into one of the key stories of the first day of the state meet.
Another was the cool, raw, windy, sometimes stormy weather. The meet was delayed six times for a total of three hours because of lightning or thunder.
And, as reported in Friday’s Tribune, Neuqua Valley’s Chris Derrick did not run in the preliminaries of the 1,600 meters. Derrick, diagnosed with mononucleosis Wednesday, was in Charleston and spent much of the day resting, coach Mike Kennedy said.
There is a very slim chance that the state’s Class AA cross-country champ will run the 3,200 meters Saturday, but Kennedy said: “Right now, I don’t want him to run. He still likes the fact that in his mind he has a chance. But I don’t really want him to run.”
With Derrick out of the 1,600, leading qualifier Jeff Thode of Conant (4:13.82) and Mid-Suburban League rival Kevin Havel of Hersey (4:15.73) are among the race favorites.
East St. Louis led all teams with nine individual qualifiers and two relay teams headed into the finals. Springfield Southeast’s Demarcus Brooks had an outstanding day by leading qualifiers in the 100 meters (10.59) and 200 (21.55) — the same as Bolingbrook’s Kayode Adegoke).
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asutton@tribune.com
