Josh Eiker breaks out with double sprint win; Lafayette excites hometown crowd with 800 win; Zeman’s jump off win in High Jump

By Michael Newman

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Bloomington, Ill --- You couldn’t think of anything better to end the indoor season. Two of 2A’s top schools, Cahokia and Kaneland, would face each other for the only time this year other than the state meet at the end of May. It was too bad that a controversial officiating mistake would cloud the rest of the 2A meet.

Both Kaneland and Cahokia loaded their 4 x 800 Meter Relays hoping to get a great time. Top seeded Springfield was looking for one fast time before they head outdoors. It was supposed to be one of the most anticipated events in the 2A program.

Cahokia traditionally gets out to a big start and they did that in this race. Jalon Monigan broke away from the pack in the last 200 meters to run a 1:58.3 opening leg to give his team a two second lead over Metamora, Stanford Olympia, and Springfield. Kaneland was in the back in seventh.

It got a little closer in the second leg as Springfield, Stanford Olympia, and Illiana Christian were getting a little closer. Kaneland was still back in seventh but they had two sub 1:55 runners, Kyle Carter and Nathaniel Kucera, on the back end of their relay.

The third leg opened up into the battle that was expected. Michael Monigan was holding on to the lead for Cahokia. Illiana Christian had moved up into second. Kaneland and Springfield were fighting for the third position. They came around for the third of four laps in this third leg when it happened. The official in charge of the exchange zone and putting athletes in position for the exchange had already had the anchor men lined up. Cahokia came in and handed off. I stopped my watch getting a split.

5:29? That was a fast third leg.

That is what other coaches thought. Springfield Coach Trae Cotter threw his hat on the ground. Other coaches were throwing their hands up in the air screaming what in the world is going on.

Cahokia had taken an exchange one lap early. The same with Illiana Christian. Kaneland was approaching the mess with Nathaniel Kucera ready to hand off. He ran past yelling “I have one lap to go. By this point, the other schools had realized what was going on and continued. The damage had been done however.

Cahokia’s Tyran Lyons crossed the finish line in 7:29. Not a national record but the best time for the 3000 meter relay. There was confusion in the final 800 meters. Instead of who was going to win, the thought was what is going to happen next.

Disgust was in the eyes of most of the coaches involved in the race. For the record, Kaneland was the first legal team across the line in 8:07.62 with Springfield close behind in 8:07.96. Here again, no one cared of what happened at the end of the race. What were the officials going to do next?

All coaches involved with the relay were called to the middle of the infield. The meet referee explained to the coaches that due to a “meet management error”, the two teams that made the exchange early, Cahokia and Illiana Christian, were offered the chance to run the race a again at the end of the 2A meet after the 4 x 400 Meter Relay. That would not work for Cahokia. The same four runners that were in the 4 x 800 Meter Relay would be running the 4 x 4. Illiana agreed to do this. At the end of the meet, Illiana was by themselves as the 3A field events got underway. Cahokia had to take a DQ. In their hearts, they knew what the outcome should have been.

Milsap said his guys were mad after what happened in the 4x8. It showed in the 4 x 400 Meter Relay. The same quartet had the lead at the beginning of the race and refused to give it up. They did get pressure from Chatham Glenwood and Kaneland but it was the Comanches that came across the line in first.

Cahokia was without Ja’Mari Ward. He had been recovering well after he injured his quad at Nationals. His doctor did not give him clearance to compete. He as at the Shirk Center but just to support his team. It opened the doors in both of the horizontal jumps. Davion McManis (Dunlap HS) was seeded in the middle of the pack, but prevailed by jumping a personal best of 22-8 ¾. Ben Barnes (Kaneland HS, Maple Park) was only an inch and a half back in second place (22-7 ¼). Kaneland got a win in the Triple Jump as Dalvell Triplett jumped 45-2 for the win. Cahokia’s Jalon Monigan finished second.

Nate Dyer (Kaneland HS, Maple Park) continued to show the strength of his school in the field events picking up a win in the Shot Put. Dyer again improved his season’s best put by going 56-8 ¾ for the win. That performance is currently sixth best. Sam Sikon (Carbondale HS) also PR’d going 53-10 to finish second.

Another crazy happening occurred in the High Jump. Logan Zeman (LaSalle-Peru HS) and Alex King (Massac County HS, Metropolis) were tied on misses as both cleared 6-8. According to the rules, a jump off would take place until the first athlete cleared a height and would win if is opponent did not. Both missed at 6-9. They would go down to 6-8. King, who had fractured his foot before the season started, had re-aggravated the injury and was seeing the trainer. Zeman missed the height. King was told that he could not compete because of the injury.

So the event is over…right?

Wrong. Zeman had to continue jumping until he cleared a height. The bar would keep going down until he cleared a height. It did not matter if King had to withdraw. According to the rulebook, Zeman had to continue. He was exhausted by all the jumps he had to take. He could have knocked over the bar to get it to a lower level. It would have been wrong. Zeman finally cleared 6-2 to win the event. I believe someone needs to revisit this rule. What happens if this happens at a state outdoors and the athlete needs to save his energy for other events??

In the Pole Vault, both Chase Black (Charleston HS) and Tyler Jourdan (Salem HS) cleared 14-6 but could go no higher. Black won the event on fewer misses.

Josh Eiker (Galesburg HS) has taken the Illinois sprint world by storm by starting the month off by running a state best 6.96 twice in consecutive meets. The sophomore had fans scratching their heads in the prelims of the 60 Meter Dash when he only ran 7.13. He got off to a horrible start. It was something he would ponder as he watched the other heats. He wanted to make sure he made the finals which he did.

He got off to a great start holding off Davion McMais (Dunlap HS) by three hundredth of a second (7.01 – 7.04). Eiker came back in the 200 Meter Dash to run the state’s second fastest time (22.36) to hold off Kevion Akins (Cahokia HS) for the win.

The most exciting event of the evening was the 800 Meter Run. Matt O’Connor (Central HS, Burlington) controlled the pace as they went through the first 400 in 56 seconds. That is when the fun began. Kevin Vreogh (Illiana Christian HS, Lansing) passed O’Connor just before that 400. In the next lap, the two traded the lead three times. When the bell rang, it was O’Connor’s turn to take the lead. All the while, J.D. Lafayette (University HS, Normal) held on to his third place position waiting for the right moment. In the final lap, it was Vreogh, then O’Connor on the back stretch. On the final curve, Vreogh started to go by O’Connor once again. At the same time, Lafayette did the same thing. They came off the final curve together. Lafayette had to swing all the way to lane four to get by his competitors. He had more energy at the end to win (1:56.45). O’Connor held off Vreogh for second (1:57.03 – 1:57.12).

More action for the track –

Gary Hickman (Cahokia HS) just came out for track after a season of basketball. His hurdling instincts have kicked in once again. He won the 60 High Hurdles (8.21) just holding off Lucas Ege (Central HS, Burlington) by five hundredths of a second (8.26). Hickman also placed third in the Long Jump.

It was all Simon Thorpe in the 1600. He was consistent throughout the entire race hitting 32 second laps except the second to last lap he threw in a 35. He finished in a season’s best of 4:20.76 some five seconds ahead of Ben Moehrdieck (Vernon Hills HS). Thorpe’s time has been slowly going down during the season. He is looking forward to Arcadia in two weeks.

Vernon Hills received a win by Kyle Whitney in the 3200 Meter Run. He stayed off the pace that Brixton Rill (Fenwick HS, Oak Park set early on. He moved the second half of the race to win (9:40.80) by six seconds over Cody Sondergoth (Dixon HS).

Cahokia’s “bad” luck in the relays continued in the 4x2. Coach Milsap decided to run his frosh / soph squad in this relay in this meet. They were impressive as they were close to Dunlap half way through the race. On the back stretch, Cahokia lost the baton as it hit the back of the Dunlap runner’s leg. Dunlap went on to win the event (1:33.26) just ahead of Burlington Central