Normal Community West Wildcat Invitational Meet Summary

HOST: NORMAL COMMUNITY WEST

MEET NAME: WILDCAT INVITATIONAL

DATE: 2-26-10

TIMING: FULLY AUTOMATIC – TRXC TIMING

MEET REVIEW

This meet lived up to the pre-hype that you would expect when you establish a meeting ground of future and previous state champions and a hall of fame coaching nucleus. I would be remiss not to thank and compliment the Normal Community West program for putting on a quality track and field event.  I was detained by fatherly responsibilities and was able to log on and see the first parts of the meet online, I never had to walk to the wall for results as I just checked on my phone at my leisure.  The ‘New Age’ of track and field has been dawned with an ability to take the sport to uncharted heights.  This early in the season you can’t quite gauge a team’s outcome in May, but some things were clearly established at the Shirk Center on Friday.  

1. Cahokia is as about real as it gets……..Surprise, Surprise to everyone I know, but the thing you walked away with Cahokia is how hard they work for everything you see. Physically they just over power you. We already knew they would have dominance in hurdles, jumps, and relays, but now they have expanded their scoring ability. Registering an 8:20 this early in the 4 x 800, opening with a 49-0 in the shot (didn’t Terron graduate? :-) Oh another in line I see). Early you can see the Comanches positioning themselves to give every scoring opportunity a look in their pursuit of late May happiness.  4 x 400 splits (51.7, 52.2, 51.3, 51.7)

2. King Solomon made a right on Crenshaw…….What the heck is Roland talking about?…….I’m talking about the Kingdom being resurrected in the Eastern parts of our state. Danville was already on the upward trend, but when Solomon Crenshaw transferred from Schlarman an octane boost was added to the Viking crew. Upper level talent with depth will make Danville formidable opponent at any meet on the schedule. When I saw Carl Long (Danville Class of 1990) patrolling the runway during the triple jump I was convinced for sure. Carl was a consistent 23+ foot jumper in his Viking days and will have the credibility of the Danville Record Books backing his teaching. Look for a feature article on the Danville Vikings from IPTF later this season.

3. Belleville West has Relay Power…….The same recipe that allowed the Maroons to lift the 3rd place trophy last season seems to be in full effect. Dominant relays to compliment the hurdle firepower. When we say dominant you might only think of the jaw dropping 1:31.25 put together, but the 1:35.50 ran by the F/S team in the 4 x 200 would have placed 4th in the Varsity Race, the F/S team also ran a 3:43.1 in the 4 x 400 to compliment the Varsity 3:28.05.

4. Trophy and Program Showcase –I started counting the trophies that I knew were in the building or coaches who were already in the ITCCCA hall of fame and I just stopped counting. Let’s just say I was well into my twenties before I stopped. Ron Towner/Hillcrest, Leroy Millsap/Cahokia, Lester Hampton/U High, Brett Charlton/Eureka, DeWayne Griffin/Central Catholic, Tony Holler (Harrisburg)/Plainfield North, Mike Garcia/Springfield Lanphier, Chad Lakatos (Herrin)/Edwardsville, Patton Seagraves/Belleville West, Greg Walters/Champaign Centennial, John Szabo/Bloomington.

5. Triple Jump field amongst best in State….When you look at 2009 IHSA Class A finalist Justin Rinehimer being the 12th place jumper at 40-5.75 you know the field was deep.  Two jumpers over 45 feet -Vernon Carter (Cahokia) 46-5.25 and Branden Tanthavong (Granite City)45-3.5- with Thayer Harrison (Springfield Southeast) claiming third in 43-2.25. 

FIELD MVP – Zack Riley/Herrin

6-10 in High Jump Champion/3rd Long Jump 21-8

*Solomon Crenshaw meet record in Long Jump 22-2.75/2nd in High Jump 6-2

TRACK MVP – Quintarrius Hill/Cahokia

6.56 in 55m Champion/200m Champion 23.12/4 x400 Anchor- 1st/3:27.41

*Garrett Sweatt meet record in 3200m 9:41.62/3rd in 1600m 4:41.58

Mahomet - Mick Graham 55m 6.75p/3rd in 200m -23.97, Derek Bunch last throw 53-5.5, 4 x 200 ran 1:36.32(Andrew Jacob, Mick Graham, Cale Garrett, Matt Harper). 4 x 400  3:35.75 (Andrew Jacob, Cale Garrett, Matt Harper, John Prillaman) by themselves in their heat.

Normal Community Marcus Harris - 6-2 to finish 4th in High Jump, 6.59 for 2nd in 55m,

Herrin -  Zack Riley HJ 6-10/21-8 LJ, Brock McGee 13-0 pole vault

Springfield Justin Lee 1:58.33 800m Champion in Meet Record, Michael Simon 1600m Champion -4:32.83

Springfield Southeast Cameron Peters 52.17 400m

Edwardsville two 13 Footers in Pole Vault besides Pat Pranger setting a meet Record at 14-1 teammate, Sam Keck-Flory also cleared 13-0.

Daniel Mazar 2nd 1600m 4:32.83, Garrett 4:41.5/9:41.6 double.

MEET RECORDS