Lockport’s Meyer, Dwight’s Bennett win state titles at IHSA Boys State Track Finals

CHARLESTON – A year ago, John Meyer made an impressive debut at the IHSA Class 3A boys track and field meet when he placed ninth in discus as a freshman.

On Saturday, the Lockport sophomore not only went from the fringes of the awards stand to the very top of the podium, he managed to do it in a different event.

Thanks to a toss of 61-2 in shot put, Meyer beat eventual discus champion AJ Epenesa of Edwardsville by 9.5 inches to capture top honors in the finals at Eastern Illinois University.

On a day where no senior won a title in a Class 3A field event, Meyer was one of three sophomore champions. As was the case a year ago, he was the youngest placewinner in his event in the state’s largest class.

He becomes Lockport’s first state champion in the sport since Kyle Engnell won the 1,600 in 2008. He is the Porters’ eighth state champ and their fourth winner of a field event.

“I set no expectations coming down, I just wanted to do my best,” Meyer said. “My goal before this year was to just get in the finals and medal, until I started getting more success and that’s when I wanted to win. So this feels great.

“When I went from the glide to the spin, it really helped since I improved a lot. It also really helped to stay consistent throughout the season. I know that I can always improve more, and the sky’s the limit.”

Coming into Saturday, Dwight hadn’t won a state title since its 4x400 relay took top honors in 2006, and the Trojans last had an individual champ in 1987 when Tom Wells won the 200.

But those streaks were snapped in the Class 1A meet when senior Michael Bennett took top honors in the 800 with a time of 1:54.06, which was 1.86 seconds faster then the runner-up, Newton’s Joseph Stone.

Bennett hadn’t won any individual medals before, claiming three medals in relays in 2014 and 2015. On his special day, he picked up two more medals, running on fourth-place teams in the 4x800 and 4x400 relays.

“It’s really just an awesome feeling being a state champion, since I never had that before,” Bennett said. “My coaches have really given me the correct training to get me to where I am at right now. Coach told me that I would have to get out and control the race and told me if I didn’t control the race, I probably wouldn’t be No. 1.”

Lockport nipped Minooka, 30-29, for sixth place in the Class 3A meet, which was the best large-school finish at state for both schools. East St. Louis won the team title with 54 points.

The biggest point contributor for coach Tom Razo’s Porters was senior Derrius Rodgers, who was second in both the 100 and 200 and also ran on a sixth-place 4x200 relay.

Rodgers did his best to try to derail Galesburg senior Josh Eiker in both sprints, but had to settle for seconds. He posted a 10.66 in the 100, which was .18 seconds behind Eiker and his time of 22.13 in the 200 was .47 behind the Silver Streaks’ standout.

The Porters senior, who won medals in both sprints last year, also joined classmates Chris Gargano, Jesse Bustami and Sheldon Snapp on the 4x200 relay (1:27.67). His three medals at the same finals ties the program standard set by Dan Schrock and Nick Setta in 1998.

Not only did Rodgers improve upon his school-best sixth-place finish in the 100 from a year ago but he also tied the 97-year old standard for second place in the 200/220, which was established in 1919 by Ed Flink. And he joined Tim Pinnick (1974-76) as the only other Porter to win four individual medals at state.

“It’s been good to race against him because he pushes me so all credit to him and I was happy with my results today,” Rodgers said of Eiker. “He got moved up to 3A this year so I could have been a state champ. Our relay got lane nine but to run a 1:27 out of lane nine is pretty impressive. We know if we had a better lane we could have run a last faster. I loved representing the Porters and will always have a soft spot for them down in my heart.”

After getting shut out in relays a year ago, Minooka not only placed in all three of its relays in the finals but claimed a second and two thirds with many of the same guys competing.

The Indians took second in the 4x100 in 41.73, finishing .09 seconds behind East St. Louis. Then they placed third in the 4x200 in 1:27.09, getting edged by the Flyers for second while Neuqua Valley prevailed. Colin Marchio, Maceo Findlay, Brandon Adams and Justin Wolz competed in both relays. The school’s previous-best in both relays were sixths from 2014.

In the 4x400 relay, Minooka was third in 3:17.31 as East St. Louis beat Neuqua for the title. Wolz started things and Adams was third while Aaron Arroyo got the baton second and Matt Dlugopolski was the Indians’ final runner on the track.

“Everyone kind of had the mentality to avenge last year and I’m proud of how we did,” Wolz said. “It wasn’t exactly how we wanted it to end but we put our best effort out there and that’s all that we could ask for. The reason that we had all of the success this year was that we got points from top to bottom in all events.”

Another strong performance for coach Nick Lundin’s Indians was turned in by Soren Knudsen, who took third in the 1,600 in 4:17.1. He led in the final lap, but got passed by two runners, including the eventual champion, Sandburg’s Sean Torpy.

“I didn’t feel too hot today after not getting much sleep last night, but that’s not an excuse,” Knudsen said. “I just tried to run the smartest race possible and I held position up front pretty well. I knew that this race was going to be 1000 meters for positioning and 600 meters for a race. When I hit the 600 mark, I thought of all the things that motivated me and tried to break it open, hoping that Torpy would be too tired and I could run away from the rest of the field.”

Lemont’s Chris Thompson joined exclusive company after finishing second in the 400 (48.45) to Grant’s Octavian Wells to medal for the second straight year in that event. The only Indian to win multiple individual medals in the sport was Nick Bromberek.

“This season worked out just the way that I wanted it to,” Thompson said. “I came up just a little short but that was the hardest that I’ve ran this season. So I have nothing to complain about since I left it all out there and he was just too fast. After a long year of ups and downs, to do what I wanted to do is special and I’m glad that I could cap my senior year like this.”

Bolingbrook senior Jaylan McConico became the third athlete from his school to medal in a hurdle event a year ago, and on Saturday he became the first to do so multiple times when he placed fourth in both the 110 (14.21) and 300 hurdles (38.36).

“I’m really proud of myself that I got all of the goals that I set for this year and had two school records,” McConico said. “My goal was getting top five in each so I went out and competed and did my best and I got it.”

Seneca senior Ross McCormick won two medals for the second straight year, taking fifth in the 800 (1:58.48) and seventh in the 1600 (4:34.24) in Class 1A. As a result, he became the first Irish athlete to win four individual medals.

Plainfield South senior John Partee won a medal for the second straight year after taking sixth in the 800 (1:54.17). Plainfield North’s 4x200 relay (1:27.61) of Carlos Baggett, Clay Paysen, Joe Stiffend and Hunter Houslet claimed fifth place.

Plainfield Central senior Mike Lyons was sixth in high jump (6-5) while Providence Catholic’s Lucas Weaver placed eighth in pole vault (15-0).

In Class 2A, Lincoln-Way West’s Evan Mitchell was fourth in the 3200 (9:32.75) while Reed-Custer’s Zach Weaver placed seventh in the 400 (50.3).