Track and Field notebook: Michael Marrs adds to family legacy with Sandwich record 100 time

Michael Marrs points with pride when he looks up at his name on the Sandwich track and field record board.

It’s four years, and two generations in the making.

Marrs, a senior who will run track at Eastern Illinois, became the fastest man in Sandwich history May 7. His 10.84-second 100-meter dash at Antioch broke Austin Breunig’s seven-year-old school record.

In doing so Marrs joined his dad, also named Michael, in Sandwich’s record books. Michael Marrs Sr. was part of JV records in the 400- and 800-meter relays.

“His records are pretty old; he can have the JV record and I’ll have the varsity record,” Marrs said. “It’s cool to see both of those M. Marrs names up there for different things. It’s been a huge goal of mine to get my name up there.”

Marrs’ time, then the fastest in Class 2A statewide, according to Athletic.net, has since been eclipsed by Kyle Burgoni of Tolono Unity’s 10.72.

But the times have continued to drop for Marrs this spring. He posted an 11.02 at the first outdoor meet, then a 10.98 in a meet with Kaneland and La Salle-Peru. The Antioch meet with several Class 3A schools was one of Marrs’ few opportunities to compete in an invitational environment before conference and the state series.

“I had a pretty good start, which is where I usually struggle. From there, it was about doing my thing,” Marrs said. “I crossed the finish line and I was more excited about winning the race. My friend Noah Klossing told me my time, and I was super in shock. That was the goal of mine going into high school. It was crazy that I did it.”

Marrs went four for four at Antioch, with wins in the 200 and anchoring two sprint relays.

He still has the 200 school record of 22.22 set by Adam Pennington in 2004 in his sights. Marrs’ best is a 22.27, third-fastest in the state, and he is hoping for a shot at the 400 school record. Teammate Jayden Green has the top triple jump and the second-best high jump in the state.

The lost 2020 season has made Marrs realize what he missed as he competes this spring.

“When Covid hit, I was projected to go to indoor state, that got shut down. A lot of people used it as an excuse to take time off. For me it was the opposite,” Marrs said. “It gave me the drive that I can do well. [During] the offseason I went to the gym a lot, the track a lot, worked on my skills and agility, tried to eat as well as I could. When the season came, I attacked it. We’re still treating every meet like it could be our last meet ever. It’s been a chaotic year, but a good year.”

Yorkville’s Kyle Clabough tops in shot put

Yorkville junior Kyle Clabough wasted no time establishing himself this spring as a state shot put contender.

In the first meet of the season, April 22 against Joliet West, Clabough heaved a shot put 19.96 meters, which converts to about 65 feet.

That mark still has Clabough tops in Class 3A statewide.

“We measured it like three times because it was so crazy,” Yorkville coach Jacob Austin said. “You never know with these weekday meets. Some times it gets mismeasured. He’s consistently throwing over 60 feet. That will medal any year.”

Clabough said that all his other throws were going 59 or 60 feet, but he had practice throws of around 64 feet.

“I was able to pull that off, got the right speed behind it, got a good amount of height. That is what made it go so far,” Clabough said. “At this point I’m working on consistently getting in the 62-to-63-foot range, after that there will be room for a 65-to-66 when sectionals and state come around. It takes a lot of pressure off me for the rest of the year, getting that big throw out there.”

It’s the continuation of a strong year for Clabough, who sat out spring football season to concentrate on weightlifting and avoid injury.

He competed at the Meet of Champions in Chicago and the AAU Junior Olympics in Florida last summer, winning the national meet by 6 feet in rainy conditions.

Clabough, who also has the fifth-best discus mark of 48.42 meters (159 feet) in the state this spring, started working with Roger Einbecker, the throws coach at Waubonsie Valley, when Clabough was in the eighth grade. His freshman year, he started doing a lifting program with Thomas Kraus at West Aurora and he competes with the Hammerman USA club team.

Clabough also puts in the time at home with a circle that he painted in a big grass field directly off his driveway.

“I was gong to play football if it was in the fall, but because it was so close I needed those months to focus on weightlifting and get my technique ready for indoor and outdoor,” Clabough said. “My weightlifting will start peaking through outdoor season. I want to have max explosiveness for conference, sectionals and state. Hopefully I can win all three and get a PR.”

Clabough had his best discus throw at last weekend’s Geneva Invitational where Yorkville took second to Oswego. Also at the meet Yorkville’s Austin Popplewell won the 1,600 (4:25.18), Ivan Westcott ran his first open 800 and won in 1:59.93, and Andrew Garton remained unbeaten in the 100, clocking in at 11.68.

Oswego’s Caleb Wright takes leap forward

Oswego junior Caleb Wright posted a personal best of 21 feet, 9 inches to win the long jump at Geneva, and took second in the triple jump, an event he just started on a couple of meets ago.

Wright, No. 1 sport is basketball, only competed in one indoor meet last spring before the season was shut down by the pandemic.

But Oswego coach Jeff Edwards believes Wright may be poised for a breakout spring and potentially a state medal.

“He’s starting to figure out,” Edwards said. “We didn’t see him at all last year. He’s one of those guys that we usually don’t see until the end of indoor season because of basketball, so it’s been since his freshman year that he competed. Super nice kid, works hard, can’t say enough good things about him.”

Wright said he primarily did basketball training while high school sports were shut down. While basketball skills do in part translate to track, it’s clearly two different sports.

“I felt a little rusty when I came back to track,” Wright said. “I had a little bit of conditioning – for basketball you have to jump for a rebound, so you’re already doing that motion but it’s a lot different for track. In track you’re jumping for a purpose. There is technique to it. In basketball you’re just jumping for a rebound.”

Wright is very busy these days.

He is competing in track, and also training with his Paradise Basketball travel team. Wright has his sights set on qualifying for state, among other goals.

“I want to break the school long jump record, 23 feet,” he said. “I feel I have plenty of time for that.”

Wright also ran the lead leg in the 400 relay, teaming with Dylan Reichard, Mark Melton and Erik Neidlein on a 44.03 PR. Neidlein, returning to form after a hamstring issue during soccer season, ran a 51.55 PR 400 for second at Geneva. Owen Erickson had a 9:49.70 PR to win the 3,200 and Oswego also won the 1,600 and 3,200 relays. Christian Sobecki cleared 13 feet to win the pole vault.