Track and field: Streator’s Kody Danko breaks 42-year-old record, Bulldogs repeat at Rollie Morris Invite

For the past two years, Streator senior Kody Danko has been chasing the school’s 800-meter record.

On Saturday at Hall’s Rollie Morris Invitational, Danko finally took down the 42-year-old record.

Danko ran a 1:55.3 to break the old mark of 1:56.2 set by Mark Vagasky in 1981.

“It feels great,” Danko said. “It’s just like, finally, is how I describe it. I’ve been training going on two years. I started my sophomore year. I’ve been close to it, and it’s just great to get out here on a day like this where I didn’t have much competition to go out there and run out.

“I think just not putting so much stress and pressure on myself [helped me break it]. When I put a lot of pressure on myself, I seem to run bad. I was just so relaxed and I felt great.”

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Hall’s Isabella Templeton competes in the high jump during the Rollie Morris Invite on Saturday, April 15, 2023 at Hall High School. (Tom Sistak)

Danko’s record-setting performance helped the Bulldogs repeat as team champions at the 13-team invite.

I think just not putting so much stress and pressure on myself (helped me break it). When I put a lot of pressure on myself, I seem to run bad. I was just so relaxed and I felt great.

—  Kody Danko, Streator senior

Streator notched 140 points to beat second-place Aurora Central Catholic by 12. Bureau Valley (94) placed third, Amboy co-op (80.5) finished fifth, Fieldcrest (32) was seventh, Mendota (30) was eighth, the host Red Devils (19) were ninth, Putnam County (15) was 10th, Somonauk (14.5) was 11th, Newark (13) was 12th and St. Bede (seven) was 13th.

“Our main sprinter [Aneefy Ford] is out today, so being able to do it without him says a lot about our team and group of guys,” Danko said. “It’s great.”

The Bulldogs finished with five event champions.

Darius White cleared 1.75 meters to win the high jump and ran with Quentin Goforth, Collin Jeffries and Isaiah Brown to win the 4x100 relay (44.9 seconds). Manuel Nieto won the shot put with a toss of 13.82 meters and Tyke Legeralde won the 300 hurdles in 44.6 seconds.

“It felt pretty good [to win two events],” White said. “I practiced throughout the week with my team and all the encouragement from everybody really got a good end product.”

The Bulldogs managed to win the 4x100 despite being without Ford in his normal anchor role.

“We were missing [Ford] today, but we had the right mindset,” White said.

Elijah House led the Storm. He was runner-up in the 800 with a personal record of 1:57, the 1,600 with a personal best of 4:41.2, and the 4x800 relay (9:12.9), along with Adrian Gallardo, Austin Hanabarger and Andrew Roth.

Amboy’s Ian Sundberg won the discus with a toss of 40.6 meters and placed second in the shot put with a throw of 12.84 meters.

For Mendota, freshman Sebastian Carlos won the 400 by almost two seconds, recording a personal best 52.8.

“I went out strong,” Carlos said. “I feel like I could have pushed myself a little bit harder at the first 100, but it felt great.”

Carlos said he knew it would be a solid field.

“I did look at some of the, times so I knew it was going to be a great competition, but I just had that different mentality, so it helped me through the race.”

Newark’s Zach Carlson won the triple jump with a leap of 11.61 meters.

There was no repeat on the girls side as Princeton took the title with 100 points, beating Aurora Central Catholic by five.

Amboy co-op (77) placed third, Bureau Valley (75) finished fourth, Streator (62) took fifth, Newark (61) was sixth, Hall (43) was ninth, Fieldcrest (41) was 10th, St. Bede (32.5) was 11th, Mendota (1) was 12th and Somonauk (0.5) was 13th.

“Our team is small but mighty,” Princeton’s Morgan Foes said. “Being on spring break means our numbers are lower, but we are able to power through when it’s really needed. I respect all my teammates and all of the hard work they put into the program.”

Foes was the Tigresses’ lone winner, sweeping the throws with tosses of 10.79 meters in the shot put – a personal best – and 36.96 meters in the discus.

“I really used my time off for spring break to work harder in the throws and it helped me today,” Foes said. “The weather was nice and I went in with confidence. My success in both events showed that my hard work is paying off and I’m capable of great improvement.”

Teammate Morgan Richards was runner-up in the discus with a personal best of 32.24 meters and third in the shot put with a throw of 10.06 meters.

Princeton had seven other top-three finishes, including Camryn Driscoll in the 400 (personal record of 1:00.5), Lexi Bohms in the 1,600 (PR of 6:04.1) and all four relays.

While Princeton didn’t rack up event wins, Newark junior Kiara Wesseh did, winning all four of her events.

She won the 100 hurdles in a season-best 15.2 seconds, the 300 hurdles in a personal-best 48 seconds and the long jump at 5.06 meters while anchoring the 4x200 to victory in 1:51.1.

Saturday’s sweep came on the heels of winning the high jump and 100 hurdles and taking third in the 100 and 200 at the Seneca invite on Friday.

“We had a meet at Seneca [Friday] night, so I’m glad to be able to still perform after a lot of hard work last night,” Wesseh said. “Today it was more of the mental aspect because I didn’t get great sleep, not tons of good healthy food. It was just powering through.”

Wesseh had not run the 4x200 this season and had not competed in the 300 hurdles since her freshman year.

“Last year I did do the 4x200 and it was my favorite event, but this year I’ve focused more on the open 200, so I was excited to be able to run it today,” Wesseh said. “The 300 hurdles, I was very nervous because I didn’t really have any footing down for the steps, but it turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be.”

Amboy had two champions in Elly Jones in the triple jump (10.49 meters) and Jillian Anderson in the high jump (1.5m), while Jones also placed second in the 100 hurdles (16.3 seconds), third in the long jump (4.5 meters) and fourth in the 300 hurdles (53.6 seconds).

Bureau Valley’s Connie Gibson, Ashlyn Maupin, Addison Wessel and Kate Salisbury won the 4x100 in 53.4 seconds and placed second in the 4x200 in 1:52.5.

For Streator, Abby Pierce won the 100 in a P.R. of 12.7 seconds and also was second in the 200 (PR of 27.2 seconds) and 300 hurdles (48.2 seconds) and third in the 100 hurdles (PR of 16.6 seconds).