Boys track: BV’s Elijah House breaks Jason Bill’s school 800-meter record

The name Jason Bill still resonates in the Bureau Valley Storm track program.

He was the 2002 state 1600-meter champion and a three-time state medalist and is a county and school record holder.

Bill has held the school record in the 800 meters since 2002 with a time of 1:58.3 set at Hall’s Rollie Morris Invite.

Twenty one years later, in the same meet, Bureau Valley senior Elijah House broke Bill’s record with a time of 1:57.

House had mixed emotions about breaking the record, because he had to settle for second behind Streator’s Kody Danko, who broke Bill’s meet record with a time of 1:55.24.

“On one side it feels good to beat that record, because I have been watching it since sophomore year and I have a ton of respect for Jason Bill and what he was able to do,” he said. “But on the other hand, I’m honestly disgusted that I let that Streator kid beat me. I feel like if Jason was there he wouldn’t have let that kid beat him.”

House’s record-breaking feat drew the interest from afar from retired Storm coach Dale Donner, who now does his running around in sunny Florida.

On a reply to the Storm’s Twitter account, Donner said, “Congrats Elijah. VERY IMPRESSIVE.”

In a followup, Donner added, “That’s a heckuva time for this early in the season. I am very happy for Elijah. He is a hard worker. Coach (Dan) DeVenney is doing a great job having him prepared for where he is now. It will be fun to watch this season as he progresses.”