MEET RESULTS BLOOMINGTON — By doing the little extras, the Normal Community West High School girls track team came away with all the marbles in Monday’s 16th annual Big 12 Conference Indoor Meet.
Helping make the little extras matter were double winners Emily Brelsfoard and Katie Shifflet, who powered the Wildcats to 98 points, 13 more than runner-up Danville.
Bailey Kerschieter of Bloomington, who will be a junior at Normal Community West High School, won the women’s title in the Quad-City Times Quick Bix race in Davenport, Iowa.
Kerschieter, who finished in the top five two years ago, was timed in 12 minutes, 7 seconds. She set a personal best for two miles by at least 10 seconds.
DANVILLE — Longer bus trips are on the horizon for the Danville athletic programs.
On Monday, the Illinois High School Association tentatively released the classification cut-offs for the 2010-11 school year and 35 schools will be changing for next year.
Among those making the move are the Vikings, who will move up to Class 4A.
“We already compete with schools like Normal Community and Normal West, so I don’t think it will be a big change,’’ said Danville athletics director B.J. Luke, who was a little surprised by the move.
The biggest change for the Vikings will be the sites of next year’s regionals and sectionals.
This past season, the longest trip for Danville was to Mahomet for the boys regional golf tournament and the girls sectional track meet.
The closest schools in Class 4A to Danville are Normal Community, Normal West and Bradley-Bourbonnais.
Those three schools along with Minooka were in the same regional for volleyball, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball.
“It will be a change, but I don’t think it will be a huge issue because our kids are used to traveling in the Big 12 Conference,’’ Luke said. “They could also send us up into the southern suburbs of Chicago.’’
In addition to moving up to Class 4A in sports like baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball, Danville will move up to Class 3A in the three-class sports like cross country, golf, track and wrestling.
That could be significant as the Vikings took third in the Class 2A girls state track meet and the boys tied for seventh.
“Moving up in class in the three-class sports isn’t that surprising,’’ Luke said. “When you are close to that cut-off line, you have to be prepared for either scenario.
“Our track teams are going to be competing against teams like East St. Louis and some of the best in Chicago,’’ Luke said. “We already schedule ourselves against those teams during the season. It’s going to be a little different, but I think our kids can handle it.’’
Another school that seems to live on the cut-off line is the Westville Tigers, who are back in Class 2A next year after just one year in Class 1A.
Westville’s Coal Bucket rival, the Georgetown-Ridge Farm Buffaloes, are set to drop from Class 2A to Class 1A in the sports where they do not co-op with Chrisman.
Other class changes of note include the Rantoul Eagles moving down to Class 2A and the Peoria Manual Rams will move up to Class 3A.
BY CHAD DARE Commercial-NewsCHARLESTON — Danville’s Cameron Ford feels at home in the discus ring outside of O’Brien Stadium.
A year ago, the senior took sixth in Class 2A event with a toss of 156 feet, 4 inches. At that time, it was his personal best.
Ford got that familiar feeling back on Friday as his toss of 156 feet, 11 inches in the preliminaries has the Vikings senior in second place.
“This is my best event right here,’’ said Ford, who also just barely qualified for the finals in the shot put. “I know I can take this if I come out here and perform.
“That throw that I had today could have been better, it was a little too high.’’
And Ford has a pretty good idea of what he can do in Charleston. During a practice session on Thursday, Ford’s best toss was more than 170 feet.
“Last year, I got better every time down here,’’ he said. “I have that confidence coming in here. With my practice session yesterday, I think I have it.’’
So, why does Ford do his best in Charleston?
“I like the competition,’’ he said. “And I just feel confident in this ring.’’
Ford acknowledged that his good throw in the discus made up for his disappointing performance in the shot put.
“I’m basically standing here, staring onto the board, hoping there is a ‘Q’ next to my name,’’ he said after managing just 51-3½ in the shot put preliminaries. “It’s frustrating to not do it when it counts.
“Of course, I scratched the good throw that would have gotten me into the finals.’’
Ford’s second of three attempts was easily 53 feet, but his momentum carried him out of the ring. About 20 minutes later, Ford found out that he was the 12th and final qualifier in the shot put finals.
“This means I get a chance to put up points for the team,’’ he said. “I know I can throw 55 and the leader is at 54-10.
“I’m not going to disappoint two days in a row.’’
Joining Ford in the shot put finals is Danville senior Keith Mayfield, who sits in eighth place with a toss of 52-3¾.
“I thought I was going to get more of it,’’ Mayfield said. “I wanted to make finals, and now I want to win state.’’
The Vikings also got a number of impressive performances on the track during Friday’s preliminaries.
Leading the way was senior Anthony Bacoat in the 100-meter dash as his time of 10.83 seconds was second only to Centralia’s DeVantre Whitelow, who set a Class 2A state record with a 10.68 time.
“I had a lot of pressure,’’ Bacoat said. “I wasn’t at state last year and coming as the No. 2 seed is kind of hard.
“I need to improve on my blocks. That is something I can think about tonight.’’
Bacoat and Whitelow were in the same heat on Friday and the Danville sprinter knew he spotted him a lead coming out of the blocks.
“I know as soon as the gun was shot, I saw the red guy (Whitelow),’’ Bacoat said. “I tried to catch him, but it was a little too late.
“I need to loosen up a little bit, I was nervous.’’
Danville coach Steve Luke said that while Bacoat didn’t get his normal start, his finish in the race was a welcomed sight.
“One of the things we have tried to get him to do over the last four years is to finish,’’ Luke said. “He had to make up some room and he did.
“I think if he has that start and finish, I think we will look at a different situation.’’
Bacoat said that not making the state meet a year ago was a driving factor in his off-season workouts.
“(Champaign Central‘s Denzel) Stewart and other people got me last year in sectionals,’’ he said. “I got tired of him beating me last year. I wasn’t going to tolerate it any more.’’
And, he said having Solomon Crenshaw as a teammate has also helped.
“(Crenshaw) is pretty dang good and I love running with him, but if I’m going to beat him, I had to drive harder,’’ Bacoat said. “When I figured I had to drive harder, that’s when I got my personal best.’’
Bacoat is also a part of Danville’s 400 relay team, which has the fifth best time entering today’s finals.
But, the Vikings said they weren’t properly prepared for Friday’s race.
“We warmed up for 20 or 30 minutes, but then we got into the (check-in) tent and sat there for too long,’’ Danville’s MykeTez Forman said. “We need to do a better job of stretching.’’
The Vikings relay team is expected to make a lineup change today.
Crenshaw, who failed to qualify for state at last week sectionals because of a leg injury, ran with the team on Thursday.
“Hopefully, we will have a little surprise in the 4-by-1,’’ Luke said.
Another member of that relay team is senior TeJuan Jackson, who qualified for the finals in the 200 and 400.
“It was a long day, but it’s what I came here to do,’’ said Jackson, who has the fifth best time in the 400 (49.93) and the fifth best in the 200 (22.07).
“TeJuan is sitting a lot better in the 200 than we thought,’’ Luke said.
But both Jackson and Luke pointed out that the 400 race was not as good as either one of them had wanted.
“I don’t think I ran hard enough,’’ said Jackson, who lost his heat race to Champaign Central’s Ian Wells, a guy he had beaten five times this spring. “The best way to beat him is to catch him on the curve. If I can catch him, I know I can beat him.’’
Luke said that Jackson will have Lane No. 3 in today’s finals with the top four runners lined up outside of him.
“He got out hard, but he got soft on the curve,’’ Luke said. “He will have to be sharper today.’’
Jackson missed qualifying for a fourth event as Danville’s 1,600 relay team ran a time of 3 minutes, 27.44 seconds, which was more than a second slower than the final qualifying team.
That 1,600 relay was the final race in the high school career of Danville’s David Groves.
The senior qualified for state in the 110 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the 1,600 relay.
“In the 110s, I got knocked up with a hurdle from someone else,’’ he said. “In the 300s, I got tight over the curve. And in the 4-by-4, I still think we did a good job, but it wasn’t enough to make the finals.
“The one disappointed me the most was the 110s, because I thought I could make finals and placed high.’’
The time for Groves in the 110s was 15.35 seconds in spite of having a hurdle in the lane next to him tumble over and hit his hand, injuring his thumb.
“David Groves ran two gutty races,’’ Luke said. “He got his thumb banged up pretty bad, and came back to run one of his better times in the 300s.’’
Danville has six individuals and one relay team in today’s finals and the Vikings are still hopeful of getting a team trophy.
“We got everything through that we had a good feeling about getting through,’’ Luke said. “We held our breath on the shot, and I think our kids can throw a lot better.
“There are a lot of things that we can get better at.’’
Today’s finals in all three classes begin at 10 a.m. as the Danville contingent will be joined by Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman’s Devon Darnell in the 110 hurdles event, Hoopeston Area’s Kraig VanWieringen in the 800 and Schlarman’s Jesse Hahne in the 1,600.
By Randy Sharer | rsharer@pantagraph.com
CHARLESTON — Commitment is a necessity to excel in track and field, but it’s a hard thing to assess unless you are Kristin Thompson.
Her commitment is there for all to see on her right ankle in the form of a tattoo she got in March. It shows a winged foot above the words “field and track”.
The Normal Community West High School senior field eventer will take her tattoo into the 38th annual state meet discus final at 2:40 p.m. today hoping for a Class 3A title.
“I’m happy I’m in the finals and hopefully I’ll do better tomorrow,” said the top-seeded Thompson, who threw 142 feet, 3 inches in Friday’s prelims at O’Brien Stadium.
Even though Thompson exceeded her sectional mark of 142-1, she ranks second behind the 143-2 by Jazjuan Wallace-Sipp of Harvey Thornton. Thompson, the 2009 state runner-up, has a chance to rally judging by her school record of 143-4.
“I think I have it in me,” said Thompson, one of three Pantagraph area 3A qualifiers along with teammate Taylor Kirby and Normal Community’s Marie O’Leary.
Thompson planned to spend Friday night visualizing changes she needs to make and reviewing video of her tosses with first-year throws coach Chris Martoglio.
“He came in, wasn’t really familiar with the sport,” Thompson said. “He’s done all kinds of research outside. We are both learning together. He’s able now to watch me very efficiently and tell me specifically what I need to fix. I owe a lot to him.”
O’Leary’s training paid off in the 1,600-meter run with a school-record time of 5 minutes, 4.07 seconds, which ranks 10th in Pantagraph area history and made her the 10th fastest qualifier. Her old record of 5:06.05 came last year.
The Missouri recruit, who will also contest Saturday’s 3,200, finished second in her heat as Melissa Schmidt of Hoffman Estates outkicked her in the final 100 to clock 5:03.57.
“I give myself a B-plus because I should have worked harder the last 100,” O’Leary said. “I think I could have went stronger.”
Normal West’s Kirby, fifth in last year’s pole vault, advanced again by clearing 11-0 along with 13 others. She missed twice at 9-6, once at 10-0 and twice at 10-9 before making 11-0 on her first attempt. She didn’t get off the ground on several of those misses as she ran through the pit.
“It’s a mental problem,” said Kirby, who hopes for cleaner vaulting today and a clearance above her school record of 11-6. “Pole vaulting is so ‘in your head.’ ”
West freshman Emily Brelsfoard nearly ran into the 1,600 final, but her school record of 5:05.46 ranked 14th and narrowly missed the 5:04.79 cutoff. She’ll contest the 3,200 today.
“The 3,200 is my main event so I’m going to try as hard as I can in that one,” she said.
No. 7-seeded NCHS triple jumper Courtney Egts, who set three school records this season, the last at 36-6¾, bounded 35-4¾ and did not advance. It took 36-4 to move on.
BY BRIAN NIELSEN
CHARLESTON – “All right!”
That was the immediate response from Mattoon Athletic Director David Vieth on Wednesday afternoon when told that the Green Wave’s wait for an invitation from the Apollo Conference is over.
“Now we have to take care of it on our end,” Vieth said.
But now the ball appears to be clearly in Mattoon’s court.
Four years after rejecting Mattoon’s application for membership, Apollo Conference principals voted unanimously Wednesday to invite Mattoon and Teutopolis to the league.
“Were in a tough spot,” said Charleston Assistant Principal and boys’ basketball coach Trevor Doughty, who attended the meeting substituting for Principal Diane Hutchins.
“Some of the schools wanted Mattoon in the Apollo a few years ago but some of the schools leaving didn’t.”
Indications are that Mattoon would need to join in order to give the Apollo the minimum of six teams to have a football conference after the likely departure of three schools to the Little Illini Conference.
“Robinson, Newton and Olney have been asked to join the (Little Illini Conference),” Doughty said. “They are, I’d say, 99 percent that they are going to go. They just have some things to work out. Paris was not asked to join.”
This would leave the Apollo with five schools – Charleston, Effingham, Mount Zion, Paris and Salem – needing Mattoon to join in order to have the minimum of six schools required by the IHSA to offer an automatic football playoff berth.
Teutopolis does not play football but could join in other sports. The National Trail Conference power has also had preliminary discussions about adding football.
Robinson, Newton and Olney need to give two years notice before leaving the Apollo in accordance with conference bylaws so their departure and the addition of Mattoon and possibly others would not take effect until 2012-13.
Snags could still arise in these conference changes and others might also eventually be invited to add stability to the Apollo which for years has faced possibilities of such an exodus.
“There are all kinds of names floating around,” Doughty said. “Breese Mater Dei wants in. The problem is the distance. There are rumors that Centralia wants in. We’ve also heard the Big 12 wants to expand and add some Apollo schools. But those are all rumors.”
Vieth’s initial reaction was not opposed to joining a conference also adding Breese Mater Dei.
“Breese would be just a little bit farther than Normal,” the Mattoon AD said. “That’s one (long) trip compared to four, if you include Danville (with Normal, Normal West and Bloomington).”
While Mattoon has generally seemed in favor of going from the school with the smallest enrollment in the Big 12 Conference to the largest in the Apollo, its move would still depend on school board approval.
So steps still remain.
“No. 1, it’s getting the invitation from the Apollo and then as an administration team it’s giving information to the school board,” Vieth said. “You present information and then the next meeting they may take action.
“It’s exciting. A lot of things are going to unfold with what other schools are involved.”
The Apollo Conference principals voted unanimously Wednesday to invite current Big 12 member Mattoon High School, along with Teutopolis, to join its league.
The invitation comes four years after the Apollo Conference rejected Mattoon’s initial application for membership.
If Mattoon joins the Apollo, it would leave nine teams in the Big 12. Mattoon, which has the smallest enrollment in the Big 12, would become the largest school in the Apollo. The final decision awaits approval by the school board.
Indications are that Mattoon would need to join in order to give the Apollo the minimum of six teams to have a football conference after the likely departure of three schools — Robinson, Newton and Olney — to the Little Illini Conference.
That would leave the Apollo with five schools — Charleston, Effingham, Mount Zion, Paris and Salem.
“It’s exciting,” Mattoon athletic director David Vieth said. “A lot of things are going to unfold with what other schools are involved.”
Robinson, Newton and Olney need to give two years’ notice before leaving the Apollo, and the addition of Mattoon and possibly others would not take effect until the 2012-13 school year.
By Randy Sharer | rsharer@pantagraph.com
CHAMPAIGN — Kelly Steffen has made winning multiple events look so easy for so long, it was a jolt when the degree of difficult finally caught up to her in the Big 12 Conference Track Meet on Friday.
The Indiana State recruit, who won two events and placed third in another, fouled her first three attempts in the long jump for the first time in her career.
That meant no berth in the finals and no 10 points for the top seed. That gave Danville just enough room to displace four-time defending champion Bloomington, 101-94.
Danville, which had seen its share of expected points slip through its fingers in recent years, got 40 from Destiny Carter, who won the 100-meter dash (12.54 seconds), 200 (25.56), 400 (57.74) and long jump (18 feet, 1.5 inches). Her 400 was a meet record.
“You’re not going to stop her from scoring,” said BHS coach Roland Brent, whose team edged third-place Normal Community West by a point while Normal Community took fourth with 72.5.
Steffen began her day by winning the high jump at 5-3, but the long jump was contested simultaneously and she narrowly missed posting a mark to get in the finals.
“I’ve got to learn from it and move on,” said Steffen, who bounced back to defend her triple jump title at 36-10 and take third in the 100-meter hurdles (16.53 seconds).
“Nobody wants to scratch all three jumps, but I guess I’d rather it happen here at Big 12 than happen at sectional or state.”
Normal West jumped into the title chase when No. 2-seeded Bailey Kerschieter upset NCHS star Marie O’Leary in the 800, 2:20.75 to 2:21.23. O’Leary led through a 70.2 first lap, but Kerschieter moved in front with 100 to go.
“I’ve seen success, but not like this before,” said Kerschieter, who rated the win the biggest of her career. “I just fought to the end. She’s a great person. I’ve trained with her in the past.”
Kerschieter warmed up by anchoring the winning 3,200 relay (10:00.34) with a 2:24.6. Putting her in the lead were Hannah Magnuson (2:28.4), Jaci Clark (2:31.3) and Brianna Jacobs (2:35.9).
O’Leary, the 2009 champion in the 800, regrouped to dominate the 1,600 from the gun and defend that title in 5:12.16.
“Bailey ran a really good race in the 800,” O’Leary said. “In the 1,600, I didn’t want to get stuck behind people.”
The Missouri recruit blasted to a 30-meter lead with a 72.7 first lap.
“I was just going to go out really hard and try to hang on and finish it,” she said.
West’s distance power kept going in the 3,200 where freshman Emily Brelsfoard won in a personal best of 11:10.33 ahead of NCHS ace Carly Pederson (11:30.87). The gusty conditions made the homestretch a challenge.
“The weather was perfect on that (backstretch) side,” Brelsfoard said. “Then you come over here and it’s like a hurricane on this side.”
Brelsfoard later notched a personal best of 5:17.19 for second in the 1,600.
West’s Kirstin Thompson defended her discus title with a toss of 127-0, well below her season best of 143-4. She blamed pre-meet rain for making the ring slick.
“Also, the discs started getting wet and that made them slippery, too,” she said. “It was hard to get a really good release.”
West’s Taylor Kirby, the 2009 pole vault runner-up, moved up to first with a clearance of 10-6. She didn’t attempt to go higher because of a pesky crosswind that was mostly in her face.
“I wish I could have kept vaulting,” said Kirby, whose school record is 11-6. “You always want to try for a personal record.”
Condia Smith of BHS wanted to up her shot put personal best of 40-4.25, but settled for defending her title at 37-9.
“I was stopping between the kick and the power,” Smith said. “My momentum was all gone.”
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Friday, May 7, 2010
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