Rockford Christian rolls in state track preliminaries
By Andy Colbert Special to the Register Star
May 24, 2018 at 7:38 PM May 25, 2018 at 12:06 AM
CHARLESTON -- Rockford Christian has put itself in perfect position to win the team title at the IHSA state 1A track and field meet.
After Thursday's preliminaries, the Royal Lions lead the way with nine finalists.
How perfect was the hot and humid day at Eastern Illinois University for Rockford Christian?
As expected, RC qualified all four of its relays and 800-meter ace Riley Wells, but also advanced three borderline candidates to Saturday's finals.
"The little wild cards we need are all filling up," said Wells midway through the meet. "Someone like Noah Fulcomer making it was huge."
Fulcomer finished fourth in his heat of the 110 high hurdles (15.29 seconds) and still qualified on time. Pole vaulter Brad Wood (13 feet, 3 inches) and miler Brent Brunner (4:30) were other wild cards advancing.
"I'm incredibly pleased with our execution and the way we ran to win," RC coach Randy Moore said. "I have a feeling we'll be smiling a lot Saturday. No matter what the outcome, we'll have a lot to celebrate. The team we have to watch out for is Colfax-Ridgeview (eight finalists)"
Make no mistake, the star of the show for RC was Wells, who carried three other 800 state placers in his heat to times from 1:55 to 1:56. The finals will be loaded on Saturday with Ian Hussung of Oregon also qualifying as a 1:58 heat winner.
"It's going to take a lot of guts from one of us to beat Riley," Hussung said. "It will be a special race with so many good runners. For any of us to have a chance, we need to attack him with at least 200 left, because nobody beats him the last 100 meters."
Wells, who anchored the 1,600 relay to a 3:25 heat win, is hoping to improve on the 1:52 he ran last year in winning the 800. While other runners around him were struggling to keep pace in the 800, it was more like a training run for him.
"I had a lot left at the end. I'm hoping for under 1:50 on Saturday," Wells said.
Joining him on the relay were Jacob Kennay, Skylar Blanton and Josiah Vogel. Those three and Kody Page won their 800 relay heat at 1:30.11, with Blanton being the difference-maker on the back stretch.
"Skyler really poured it on," Page said. "Going in, coach told us to be who you are. Don't be anyone you're not."
The same four runners has the day's third best time in the 400 relay with a 43.35 clocking, with Lena-Winslow (43.11) and Warrensburg (43.02) ahead of them. The 3,200 relay goes into Saturday with the fifth-best time (8:15).
Le-Win advanced two relays and two individuals to the finals and Forreston-Polo had five events make it, though it was a disappointing day for them.
AJ Christensen will be seeking that elusive first-place medal and showed not just 1A, but the rest of the state how much he wants it. After crushing the competition in 300 hurdles, he was told that he had the second fastest time (37.91) in all of Illinois, regardless of class.
"It just shows that it is not just the athletes from the big schools. Sometimes, 1A gets overlooked," Christensen said. "I felt in the zone today."
Mason Barr of Colfax-Ridgeview beat Christensen in the 300s last year, but was disqualified for showing up late to the check-in tent. A protest on his part was disallowed. Barr does have the second best time in the 110 hurdles behind Christensen, 14.54-14.55.
Christensen later anchored the 1,600 relay (3:27) to the finals. Joining him were Evan Kelsey, Cailean Davids and Brady Webb; they are ninth out of nine finalists.
"What more can you say about AJ. He's amazing," F-P coach Bob Wagner said.
Webb sits fourth in the long jump (21-9) and sophomore Jace Coffey had a PR of 146-5 to make the finals with the eighth-best effort.
"We got off to a bad start in the field events and our 400 relay false-starting, but what Jace did was a bright spot," Wagner said.
Ty Chrisman, Isaiah Bruce, Gaige Schwartz and Rahveon Valentine easily qualified in the 400 and 800 relays and will contend for the top spot on the podium in each with top-2 preliminary times of 43.11 and 1:30.12.
Front-loading the 800 relay allowed Schwartz to hold off anchors for other teams.
"That was our strategy and it worked," Schwartz said. "It gives me more time to compete with the fast anchors and sometimes, a team might think they're beat by then and give up a little."
Valentine made the 100 finals and Bruce holds downs the sixth-best shot put at 50-9.
In the 400, Max Sager of Pecatonica-Durand survived some first-timer nerves at O'Brien Field and advanced to the finals with a time of 51.0.
Sophomore Chandler Ellis of Winnebago snuck in with a 40.70 in the 300 hurdles as the ninth finalist. Oregon's Hussung was a double finalist, also qualifying in the 1,600.