IHSA State preliminaries (5-24-2019)

While everything did not happen as we had hoped for today, we had a great preliminary day at the State Track and Field Meet. We advance six events into Day 2 and are presently seeded to score 40 points, which would be the second highest point total in team history. However, what matters for us and all of the other teams is what happens tomorrow when the points actually matter.

In the pole vault, Trevor Lambert (Sr.) jumped 13’ 6” and just missed qualifying for the finals at 14’. Trevor and Alex Kiefer (Sr.) completed their high school careers today, but we know that their best jumps are somewhere in the future.

Matt Appel (Jr.) moved on to the finals in both the Shot Put and the Discus. His throw of 58’ 9” in the Shot Put is currently ranked 3rd and broke the school record in the Shot Put again! In the Discus, Matt is currently ranked 2nd with a throw of 176’ 9”. Hunter Danton (So.) had a respectable throw of 129’ 9” in his first State Meet and is determined to be back next year with his eyes on the finals.

The 4 x 800 m relay of Chris Keeley (Sr.), Nicolas Dovalovsky (So.), Michael Madiol (Sr.) and Michael O’Connor (Sr.) won their heat to automatically qualify for Day 2. Their time of 7:50.40 is the best mark going into the finals and Michael O’Connor and Michael Madiol did not run their open events today to stay fresh for the finals tomorrow.

Donovan Turner (Sr.) will return to the State Finals for the second year in a row in both hurdle events. Donovan is currently ranked 3rd in the 110 m High Hurdles with a mark of 14.25. Despite a rough start in the 300 m Intermediate Hurdles, Donovan ran 39.33 and is currently ranked 6th.

In our last event of the day, Kel Foley (Sr.), Patrick Hoffmann (Jr.), Jonah Covarrubias (Sr.) and Donovan Turner (Sr.) qualified for Day 2 with a courageous run in the 4 x 400 m relay. The team ran 3:22.40 and is presently ranked 6th.
​
Of course, no points are on the board. Tomorrow has to happen first. What is exciting about this team is the trajectory that they are on. We could not win the conference and we were not even ranked in the top 10 in the State. However, we dominated the Sectional meet as a team and now we are ready to compete and give our best showing among the best teams in the State. We are ready, and in less than 24 hours, we will be ready to look ourselves in the mirror, knowing that we will have given everything we had.