IESA Headlines

11 Records Set Saturday At Class AA State Track Meet

EAST PEORIA - It rained records on an otherwise beautiful Saturday for track and field in the Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) Class AA State Final Track and Field Meet at the EastSide Centre.

A total of 11 records fell including five all-time marks. Seven of the 11 records were in the relays. The all-time records that were broken were the girls 4x200 relay and the boys high jump, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay, and the 800 meter run. Including the three records broken on Friday, a total of 14 records were broken during the two day meet.

Cahokia Wirth won the 7AA boys team title with 41 points. East St. Louis Lincoln was second with 34 followed by East St. Louis Clark at 32 and Galesburg Lombard at 21.

Cahokia Wirth also won the 7AA girls title with 53 points to 39 for runner-up Springfield Franklin, 28 for Matteson Huth and the 26 of Urbana MS and Danville North Ridge.

In 8AA girls, East St. Louis Lincoln won the team title with 36 points and won the title for the second straight year. Second was Bolingbrook Brooks at 30 followed by Dunlap MS at 27 with Mundelein Fremont and Williamsville tied for fourth at 20.

In 8AA boys, East St. Louis Lincoln rolled to its fourth straight team title and sixth title in the last eight years. This time East St. Louis Lincoln scored 91 points, the most ever in 8AA history. Second was Rantoul Eater with 36. Pleasant Plains was third at 32 and Rockton Stephen Mack and Edwardsville Lincoln tied for fourth with 30 points each. The all-time record for most team points scored at the IESA state finals was set by East St. Louis Lincoln in 2001 when their 7th grade boys team scored 92 points.

Marcus Mason of Springfield Jefferson set the all-time boys high jump record by clearing 6-5.25. The old all-time record of 6-3 was shared by three jumpers. Mason cleared 6-3.25 on his first attempt and then had the bar set at 6-3.75. He cleared that height on his third attempt. He moved the bar 1/2 inch to 6-4.25 where he once again made the height on his third and final attempt. He moved the bar 1/2 inch again and cleared 6-4.75 on his third attempt. He moved the bar another 1/2 inch to 6-5.25 and soared over that height on his first attempt. He then failed three times at 6-5.75.

In 7AA boys competition, one record was set when the East St. Louis Lincoln 4x100 relay team of Emil Minor, Kendrick Lewis, Terry Herbert and Michealan Raymond knocked 1.13 seconds off the mark with a time of :46.82. The old mark was set in 2001 by East St. Louis Lincoln with a time of :47.95.

In 7AA girls competition, five records were set Saturday including a mark in all three relays. The individual records went to Aaliyah Brown who set records in both the 100 meter dash and the 200 meter dash. Brown blazed to a :12.56 time in the 100 and then followed that with a super fast :25.70 time in the 200 meter dash bettering the record :26.12 that was set in 1993 by Bianca Rockett of Kankakee JHS. In the 4x100 relay, Chatham Glenwood set the record with a time of :51.91. The members of the relay were Crystal Lee, Anika Webster, Taylor Copp and Malina Murphy. The old mark was :52.38 set by East St. Louis Lincoln in 2003. In the 4x200 relay, Springfield Franklin set the record by slightly more than two seconds with a time of 1:48.93. Runners for Franklin were Charday Crawford, Ashton Williams, Justice Collins and Brion Portis. The old mark of 1:50.99 was set by Springfield Washington in 1997. And in the 4x400 relay, Cahokia Wirth also bettered the record by exactly two seconds. The Wirth foursome of Marshay Morton, Desiree Blanks, Joslyne Jones and Konnisha Lockett posted a time of 4:14.48. The old record was 4:16.48 also by Cahokia Wirth in 2005.

In other 8AA boys competition, Lukas Verzbickas set the all-time 800-meter run record and East St. Louis Lincoln set the all-time records record in the 4x100 relay and the 4x400 relay. Verzbickas beat rival Garrett Sweatt of Edwardsville Lincoln in a time of 2:02.60. The old mark was 2:02.89 set by Marshall Creed of Mattoon in 2004. The East St. Louis Lincoln 4x100 relay team of Kevin Baker, Ja'Von Dillon, Isaiah Doss and Bradley Russell posted a record time of :45.72. The old mark was :45.84 and was set by Cahokia Wirth in 2006. The East St. Louis Lincoln 4x400 relay, with double gold medal winner Jeremy Nicholson anchoring, won in a record time of 3:35.57. The old record was 3:36.00 set by Cahokia Wirth in 2004. Members of the East St. Louis Lincoln relay were Bradley Russell, Daveion Bush, Leroy Smith and Jeremy Nicholson.

In 8AA girls competition, the East St. Louis Lincoln 4x200 relay of Bionka Sykes, Dacia Gardner, Ellen Davis and Joymesia Howard posted an all-time record time of 1:46.54 to take the record away from Springfield Washington, which went 1:45.56 in 1987. Lincoln won the relay in Saturday's race by almost five seconds.