Fast Distance Times abound on new track at Clash at Coliseum

Ryan Watts and Roy Lewellyn set the meet pace with a great 3200m Run race (Tony Holler Photo)

By Michael Newman [email protected]

Lake Villa, Ill – The District 117 Fieldhouse at Lakes High School has hosted a couple of meets to christen in their facility. The Clash of the Coliseum Invitational had 22 teams, more teams that were in their other two meets.

RESULTS | VIDEOS

The combination of a fast track and state elite athletes gave this meet the glow that it deserved to have. Batavia’s win in the 4x400m Relay to end the meet gave them the team title with 67.5 points with Prospect (61 points) and Homewood-Flossmoor (52 points) finishing second and third. Edwardsville came north from the St. Louis area and benefitted from this meet by finishing fourth (40 points) ahead of Plainfield North and Neuqua Valley who tied for fifth with 38 points.

Here is a look at highlights of the events that took place at this meet on Saturday.

DISTANCES

Lakes Coach Travis Sheppard brought teams in that have strong distance traditions. That was evident in the 3200 Meter Run to start the meet. Roy Lewellyn of Downers Grove North was not afraid to push the pace in cross country races during the fall cross-country season. The gun sounded to start the section and Lewellyn bolted to the lead. Ryan Watts of Edwardsville and David Lara of Warren Township broke away from the pack with Lewellyn just after 800-meters into the race. The trio went through the first 1600-meters of the race in 4:36.4.

Lara started to drop off the pace leaving Lewellyn and Watts alone in the front to decide who would win this race. Lewellyn was pushing the pace but ever so the pace was slightly slowing down that next half. They threw a 69.9 400 in between 1600 and 2000. The pace went up to 71 seconds the next 400 and they passed in 6:57.

It was time for Watts to go and he did 100-meters later. He passed with 400 to go in 8:07 slowly opening up the gap on Lewellyn. The North senior was still not going away. Watts closed the final two laps in 66 seconds crossing the line in 9:13.15. Lewellyn stayed close running a huge personal best of 9:14.60 to finish second. The top 11 finishers in the race ran personal bests.

The race was significant for Watts. This was his first track race since he ran at Gately Park last March. An injury dashed the rest of his junior season. He did finish eighth last fall at Detweiller Park. This result shows that he is truly back to full fitness and ready to put down some fast times this spring.

It was strange not to see Luke Wiley of Warren Township start the season in either the 1600 Meter Run and the 3200 Meter Run. “It was nice to change that up,” Wiley exclaimed on social media after the race. Wiley decided to start the season in the 800 Meter Run. The senior did run it outdoors last spring starting that season in this event running 2:04.

His race Saturday improved his personal best dramatically. It was fast especially for an indoor race where the top six finishers ran under 2:02.

Jonah Fallon of Batavia pushed the pace from the gun firing past 200-meters in 28.2. Fallon still held the lead closing in at 400-meters, but Patrick Jamieson of New Trier stormed up front as the group passed that point 57.2. Wiley was content with his position in fourth waiting for his moment to make his move.

That happened sooner than expected. The pace started to slow coming off the curve. Wiley made his move taking the lead with 300-meters in the race. At that point, this section was his. Wiley ran the third lap in 29.4 and close in 30.2 in the final lap to run 1:57.21 with the fastest time in the state this season. Jamieson held on to run 1:59.98 (IL #10) to finish second.

It was no surprise that Nick Falk of New Trier took the lead early in the second section of the 1600 Meter Run. It was a surprise that he covered the first 200 in 28.9 and 400 in 61.8. The 2021 Gatorade XC Athlete of the Year for Illinois was here for business as well as a fast tide. The pack led by Michael Atkins of Wheaton-Warrenville South was more than two seconds behind Falk. That margin stayed that way the rest of the race. Falk seemed to slow down as his splits exhibited. At the same time, the pack behind him tried to close the gap but could not. After a 68 second third 400, Falk closed in a 64 second final two laps to win in 4:20.61.

The next three runners were all under 4:26 achieving indoor personal bests. Atkins held on to second with a 4:23.05 (IL #7). Nate Wehner of Highland Park closed in the final meters of the race to finish third in 4:23.99 (IL #9). Nathan Virginelli of Wheaton-Warrenville South was ecstatic after finishing in a huge personal best of 4:25.52 to place fourth (IL #10).

RELAYS

Four teams traded off the lead during the second section of the 4x800m Relay. It was Homewood-Flossmoor taking the lead in the final leg of the race running 8:19.21 (IL #7) to claim the win. New Trier (8:22.70), Edwardsville (8:25.62, IL #10), and Grayslake Central (8:26.76) finished second through fourth.

Three teams under 1:35 in the 4x200m Relay. Prospect took the lead from the start in Section 3 of the event running 1:34.50 (IL #10) to win the section. The Knights then had to wait to see what would happen. Downers Grove North held off Homewood-Flossmoor to win the final section. North’s time of 1:34.71 was not enough to overtake Prospect to claim the event win. Homewood-Flossmoor’s third place time was 1:34.87.

Warren, in Section 3 of the 4x400m Relay, set the standard for the event running 3:32.27 (IL #3) to win their race. They were helped by a 52.4 third leg from Luke Wiley. A strong anchor leg from Jonah Fallon gave Batavia to the event title in the final section with the season’s fastest time in the state (3:29.67).

SPRINTS / HURDLES

Dylan Gramley of Plainfield North laid down a 7.10 time to lead all runners after five of six sections of the 60 Meter Dash. All-state sprinter Reece Young of Wheaton-Warrenville South changed that in the final race of the event. Young did not have his best start but took the lead at 30-meters on his way to the win in 7.02 (IL #5). Gramley finished second followed by Jahari Scott of Lake Forest (7.11) followed by Homewood-Flossmoor’s John Gore (7.12) and Taji Mathis-Akinremi (7.13).

Young scratched out of the 200 Meter Dash. That opened the door for Vince Solano of Batavia to run 23.00 (IL #10) to win the event ahead of Matt Raitano of Prospect (23.23).

The interesting aspect of the 400 Meter Dash in this fieldhouse is that runners stayed in their lanes in all two laps of the race on this 200-meter track. Junior Dominik Balenda of Prospect out of Lane 3 in the final section ran 50.42 (IL #3) to capture the win. Jacob Hollman of Batavia ran 51.11 (IL #6) to finish second ahead of Lukaas Nales of Highland Park (51.91, IL #10).

Jerry Hester of Homewood-Flossmoor started out of Lane 7 in the final section of the 60 Meter Hurdles with one of the slower seed times in that race. Hester snuck up on the competition in this race exploding off the final hurdle to run 8.62 to win the event. Bryce Tuchner of Prospect and Jake Lansdowne of Neuqua Valley both ran 8.76 to finish second and third.

FIELD EVENTS

The highlight event of the meet was the final event that ended the meet. Paul Migas of Lakes cleared a personal best of 15-2.25 on his final attempt to win the Pole Vault. Nicholas Fortino of Batavia cleared 13-11.25 to finish second. Only a sophomore, Migas is currently ranked fourth in the state and has the third highest clearance for a sophomore in the United States.

Jack Novelle of Woodstock cleared 5-11.75 in winning the High Jump.

Personal bests in the top two places reigned in the Shot Put. Clayton Kamp’s best of 53-1 IL #10) was enough to win the event ahead of Elijah Pflipsen of Kaneland (51-8.75).

Tim Maidment of Woodstock started his season with a best of 21-7.25 (IL #7) to win the Long Jump. Sterling Shumpert of Homewood-Flossmoor (20-11.5) and James Ammenhauser of Neuqua Valley (20-11.25) finished second and third. Three juniors led the way in the Triple Jump. Kaiden Miller of Grayslake Central jumped 44-2.75 (IL #3) for the win with Luke Holtmeier of Prospect (43-6.5, IL #6), and Ammenhauser with a 42-6.75 (IL #9) jump to place third.