IHSA Boys Track and Field State Meet: Dundee-Crown sprinters, Cary-Grove’s Ihenacho in position for titles

Dundee-Crown was eager to return to the IHSA Boys Track and Field State Meet to finish the job.

The 2023 season provided a frustrating end for the Chargers after sprinter Henry Kennedy, who qualified in four events, suffered a leg injury in his first race, the Class 3A 4x100-meter relay. D-C did not make the finals in either the 4x100 or 4x200.

The Chargers had nothing but success Friday. They qualified with the second-fastest 4x200 time and third-fastest 4x100 time in Friday’s preliminaries at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium in Charleston and will have two shots at the first state title in school history.

Torrion Bell, Terrion Spencer, Kali Freeman and Oreoluwa Sobodu ran 41.54 for the third-best 4x100 time. Freeman, Bell, Jeremiah Stewart and Sobodu then went 1:27.69 for the second-fastest 4x200 time.

“They were good, but they could be better,” Freeman said. “We still had iffy handoffs in both. We got off a little too early or a little too late. If we fix that we should be fine. If we get better, we could be No. 1.

“We’ve been working on this since April. We just have to finish our story. We got to Day 2, now we have to handle our business.”

Cary-Grove discus thrower Reece Ihenacho threw 57.97 meters (190 feet, 2 inches) on his final throw to take a lead of nearly four feet into the finals.

McHenry senior Doug Martin ran 1:53.44, his career-best by nearly two seconds, to record the second-fastest time in the 3A 800 meters. Martin was second in his heat to Grayslake Central’s Trey Sato (1:52.52).

McHenry was 3 for 3 in qualifying as the Warriors’ Zeke Galvicius (pole vault) and Hayden Stone (high jump) also advanced.

Ihenacho and teammate Logan Abrams wanted to medal in both throws, but Ihenacho fouled on his shot put throws, while Abrams fouled on two of his three discus throws.

Abrams qualified in the shot put with a personal-best 17.15 (56-3¼). Hampshire’s Gage Homola qualified in both throws.

Huntley’s 4x100 relay came in with the second-fastest time from sectional meets, but missed by two spots. The same four runners – Dom Giuseffi, Lex Giron, Vinny Costa and Talon Sargent – qualified in the 4x200 in 1:28.17.

Other local qualifiers in Class 3A were C-G’s Jameson Tenopir (800), Crystal Lake Central’s Gavin Fujino (pole vault), Huntley’s Jeff Cruickshank and Tommy Nitz (1,600), Jacobs’ Khristos Oludimu (high jump) and Matt Andreano (1,600) and Hampshire’s Vince Scott (triple jump).

Nitz ran the second-fastest qualifying time in the 1,600 (4:11.97) and is one of the top seeds in the 3,200, which is only run in the finals.

Galvicius, Ihenacho and Scott are looking to repeat at medalists in their field events.

Ihenacho, the 3A discus runner-up last year, is trying to join Trojans throwing coach Josh Freeman as discus state champions at the school. He took the lead on his third throw.

“Today was mainly focusing on getting a good mark where I felt comfortable enough,” Ihenacho said. “I feel good about it. There is definitely more left. Warmups were really good, I know I have it in me. I have to optimize tomorrow.”

Martin chased Sato, the Class 2A cross country state runner-up, in their 800 heat to get his best time.

“He made his move at 200 to go, it was nuts,” McHenry coach Dennis Hutchinson said. “He was third or fourth at the quarter (one lap to go).”

Martin was shocked when he saw his time on the big screen.

“My one goal was to qualfiy for the finals,” he said. “I went out at the 400 and Sato made a move and I stuck on his back and kicked as hard as I could.

“I saw the time and had to sit down, I was feeling pretty sick. I almost wish I’d gone a little lighter. The goal is to get All-State and based off that time, I’m totally capable of doing it.”

Huntley’s 4x200 relay had some anxious moments after taking second in the first heat. All heat winners move on, so the Raiders had to watch six more heats before knowing they were in.

“We got in, we’re pretty excited about that,” Huntley coach Chris Maxedon said. “They were like ‘We’re not going to get in.’ I said ‘Trust us.’ But to sit there and have to watch six heats after you was nerve-racking.”

In Class 2A, Prairie Ridge’s Will Gelon and Gerrit Dam both had big days, qualifying in the 800 and Evan Gilleland and Kevin DeGroot in the 4x800.

The Wolves’ 4x200 team of Colin Witowski, Ben Stech, Jack Demakis and Eli Shoufer ran 1:29.49 to qualify.

Woodstock’s Ellery Shutt, Aryan Patel, Cohen Shutt and Ishan Patel advanced with the eighth-fastest time in the 4x800 and can repeat as state medalists. Ishan Patel missed the 1,600 finals by one spot at 13th.

Johnsburg’s Brett Centnarowicz threw his personal-best of 47.08 (154-55 ½) to advance in the discus.

Richmond-Burton, which medaled in the 4x200 the last two years, missed the finals by one-thousandth of a second at 1:29.79 in 10th place.

R-B’s Jack Martens also had tough luck in the 200 where he was 11th, missing the finals by two spots.